Switzerland’s Roger Federer turned back the clock once again Sunday at the All England Club to defeat local favorite Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 for his record-tying seventh Wimbledon title and first since 2009.
With the win Federer extends his own record to 17 Grand Slam titles, while collecting his first since the Australian Open in 2010. Murray, who has had the unfortunate timing of playing in his prime against the likes of Federer, Rafael Nadal (11 Grand Slam titles,) and Novak Djokovic (5 Grand Slam titles) will have to wait again.
The 25-year-old from Great Britain was attempting to be the first countryman to win at the All England Club since 1936. Personally, he was trying to win his first major while playing in his fourth major final—third against Federer who turned him back in the finals at the Australian Open in 2010 and US Open in 2008.
“It’s tough. Every one has been different ways.” said Murray, according to Wimbledon’s website. “I thought I played a pretty good match.”
He did, though Federer played a great one.
After being broken in the first game of the match after several uncharacteristic unforced errors, Murray kept momentum, even after getting broken himself in the fourth game, to win the set.
But Federer soon got in a groove and wasn’t broken again.
For the match, the aggressive Federer went to the net almost twice as much as Murray (68 times officially to Murray’s 39) and was credited with 62 winners to Murray’s 46.
“I guess I decided in the bigger matches to take it more to my opponent instead of waiting a bit more for the mistakes,” said Federer. “This is I guess how you want to win Wimbledon, is by going after your shots, believing you can do it.”
Federer seemed especially tough after a rain delay early in the third set forced the roof closed, creating the first ever indoor title match at the All England Club.
“He played very, very well the last two sets especially. You know, when the roof closed he played unbelievable tennis,” said Murray, who came up with just one break point opportunity after the roof closed.
Federer has actually been playing unbelievable tennis with more even more consistently of late and the rankings now prove it. With the win the 30-year-old has regained the world number-one ranking for the 286th week in his career, tying Pete Sampras’ record total at the top.
For Federer’s part, re-claiming his number-one ranking for the first time since May of 2010 and vaulting past the younger Nadal (26 years old) and Djokovic (25) in the process, seemed to be an expected event.
“I knew how close I was for the last few years, and some people didn’t quite see that maybe out of different reasons. But I knew and I think the belief got me to victory today.”
Count Murray as one of the observers who saw just how close Federer was to winning another Grand Slam after his two-plus year drought.
“If you look at the matches he lost the last couple years, very, very close matches, matches he definitely could have won,” said Murray. “He could be sitting on 20 Grand Slams if one point or a couple inches here or there. So he’s still playing great tennis. I don’t think you get to No. 1 unless you deserve it.”
Federer definitely deserves it. Murray soon will too.
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