The 2017 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Tennis Club, so far as the Men’s Singles is concerned, might come down to the champion being whoever is still standing.
Not long after Andy Murray hobbled through a five set loss to American Sam Querrey, Novak Djokovic had to retire from his quarterfinal match with Tomas Berdych due to a shoulder injury.
Unlike Murray, however, who limped his way through the entire match, Djokovic made it only to the midpoint of the second set.
Djokovic had lost the first set and was behind two games to love in the second.
A suspicious cynic, of which we assure you, there are none on this end of the keyboard, would be tempted to think that the tournament is being gift wrapped and handed to Roger Federer.
It is true that Federer is playing his best tennis at the best possible moment. He dispatched the man that took him out during the semifinal last year, Milos Raonic of Canada, in straight sets, 7 – 4, 6 – 2, 7 – 6 (7 – 4).
Federer will not meet a rested Berdych for a spot in the final, which will be against either Marin Cilic or Sam Querrey.
Federer was at his vintage best against Raonic. The match did not even require two hours to complete and Federer was close to perfection, hitting 46 winners while making only nine unforced errors.
It was his 100th match at the Crown Jewel event of the Grand Slams. Federer has a record of 89 wins against 11 losses in those 100 matches.
Federer won the Australian Open, the first of the season’s Grand Slam events, but expectations of a season Grand Slam were tempered by the reality that he is not particularly fond of the French Open clay. Of his 18 Grand Slam titles, he has only won the French Open once, during the year Rafael Nadal was forced to watch from the sidelines.
