Wimbledon 2018: 3 Players who stand between Roger Federer and history
The Championships, Wimbledon has run into its second week and Roger Federer looks on course to reach his tenth Wimbledon final. The top seed is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament. Federer has been in imperious touch and has gotten better with every passing match.
Federer started off with a commanding 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 victory against Dusan Lajovic before producing a masterclass against Lukas Lacko, smashing 48 winners in the process. In the third round, he breezed past Jan-Lenard Struff.
However, his best performance came against the 22nd seeded Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino. He wrapped up the opening set, 6-0 in just 16 minutes and was in cruise control for the entirety of the match. He won the next two sets 7-5 and 6-4 and marched into the quarterfinals.
The strong South African, Kevin Anderson awaits the Swiss maestro in the quarterfinals. Anderson made it to the quarterfinals courtesy a hard-fought victory against the enigmatic Gael Monfils.
The other half of the draw contains Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Federer has his task cut out if he is to win an unprecedented 9th Wimbledon title. Through this article, we look at the players who could have a say in denying Federer his date with destiny.
#1 Milos Raonic
The big-serving Canadian has been going about his business quietly this year. He confirmed his spot in the last eight after a well-earned victory against Mackenzie McDonald. In the quarter-final, he will battle another American, John Isner.
Raonic does not boast a very good record against Isner, having won a solitary match out of the four games they’ve played. Raonic, however, has a good record at Wimbledon and would fancy beating Isner to reach the penultimate stage at SW19.
His potential semi-final opponent: a certain Roger Federer. The last time Raonic and Federer met in the semi-finals at Wimbledon was in 2016. Raonic emerged victorious on that occasion in a five-set marathon.
Raonic’s biggest assets are his big serve and damaging forehand. He is a power player and has the capability to blast anyone off the court, on his day. If his ‘serve’ serves him well against Federer, Federer could have a new set of questions to answer.
Raonic would want to take the initiative in the points and finish them off early, thus, denying Federer the chance to move him around the court with his ground-strokes. The key for Raonic would be getting his first serves in and attacking Federer with his ferocious forehand.
The head to head reads 11-3 in Federer’s favour but Raonic would want to make it 11-4 at this year’s Wimbledon and deny Federer his place in tennis folklore.
In the upper half of the draw, Raonic represents the best chance of stopping Federer from making it to the title clash on Sunday.