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As a legend stumbles, Canadian Milos Raonic seizes the day and reaches his first Wimbledon final
WIMBLEDON – Once the game falls into place and the belief grows, the last piece of the puzzle for a player aspiring to be the best in the world is the nerve in the biggest moments.
At the other end of the tennis road, it’s often said that the first thing to go – even if the game is still there and the belief stubbornly and deservedly intact – is that very nerve.
The match between Milos Raonic and Wimbledon legend Roger Federer featured both and it may be remembered as one of those changing-of-the-guard moments everyone always wants to point to.
When a clash of this type happens, though, it’s both exciting and bittersweet.
In a Centre Court jam-packed with 15,000 fans trying to will their champion to one more moment of glory, it was the 25-year-old Canadian who took the penultimate step on his journey, remaining steadfast as the legend faltered just enough in a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory that puts Raonic into the Wimbledon men’s singles final against home-country hero Andy Murray.
It is the first Grand Slam singles final appearance by a Canadian man, on the heels of Genie Bouchard’s Wimbledon final two years ago.
“It’s definitely a great feeling, from many different aspects. Obviously what happened here two years ago (losing to Federer in straight sets), I was very disappointed with. Today I sort of persevered. I was sort of plugging away. I was struggling through many parts of the match. He gave me a little opening towards the end of the fourth. I made the most of it. Then I sort of tried to run away with it,” Raonic said. “I did a lot of things well. The attitude kept me in the match. I think that's what made the biggest difference. I was quite vocal, but I was always positive. I was always looking for a solution.”
On the other side of the net, there was a 34-year-old Federer who cruelly flinched at a crucial time. Up two sets to one, serving at 5-6 in the fourth set to send it to a potentially match-deciding tiebreak, Federer was up 40-love. He double-faulted. He double-faulted again. Suddenly it was deuce and on the third break-point chance, Raonic converted, stole the set, and set off to the fifth and deciding set with wind beneath his wide wings.
“Something went wrong. I don't know. I can't believe I served a double‑fault twice. Unexplainable for me really, yeah. Very sad about that and angry at myself because never should I allow him to get out of that set that easily,” said Federer, who just two days before spoke of how much faith he had in his second serve, and how it had helped him out of a two-sets-to-none jam against Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals.
“I mean, he deserved it. He earned it at the end. But I helped him so much to get back into that game. I would like to see a breaker because I was the better player for the set,” Federer added. “Then, you know, I know he's great in breakers and all that, it was always going to be tough. But I would have liked to see him scramble more than that.”
Raonic took the opening, and ran with it. “He sort of gifted me two points, gave me a look. Then I kept sort of plugging away. I didn't take the first chance or the second; I believe I took the third. I sort of just kept trying to do the right things for me,” he said. “A few of the times I was missing, but at least I was hitting the ball with a little bit more purpose at that point. I think it just sort of put the pressure on him and let me sort of get a little bit of the antsiness out. Then I was able to play well from there on out.”
Federer had few expectations coming into this Wimbledon after a season marked by knee surgery, a no-show at the French Open, and very little match play. He hadn’t even played five sets in a match since the 2014 U.S. Open nearly two years ago; here, he played two of them in the last three days.
In the end, he stumbled – literally. As many slips and trips as you see on the grass during the fortnight, it’s a rare sight to see the great Federer stumble and fall – hard. Most of the time, he appears to be dancing on the grass, arguably as secure on it as anyone in the history of the game.
But there he was, flat on his belly on the court in the fifth set, slow to get up and you thought, “Is this how it’s going to end?”
Federer immediately sat down and had his knee looked at by the trainer. But he did carry on. Already, when Raonic set off on now of his now trademarked lengthy bathroom breaks after the fourth set, Federer had his right thigh vigorously and hastily massaged.
The legend calling the trainer has been a rare sight through his career. Part of it has been his extraordinarily good health for much of it; the other side of the coin is that when Federer feels he’s not 100 per cent, he doesn’t play.
Afterwards, he was concerned. Again, those are not typical words.
“Just I hope I didn't hurt myself. Then, is it a three‑day thing, is it a 24‑hour thing or is it more? I don't know at this point. I hope it's not so bad. I walked it off. I was able to finish. But I don't slip a lot. I don't ever fall down. It was a different fall for me than I've ever had.
“I just felt not the same afterward,” he added.
Suddenly Federer morphed from a contender who looked for all the world that he was going to make an emphatic, if slightly unexpected, run for the title into ... an older guy who took a spill, and was concerned he might have hurt something.
On the other side of the net, the killer that is Raonic was in his own world.
“I was actually thinking, ‘Where do I think the guy is going to serve the first serve?’ I was pretty quickly on the other side. Obviously, make sure he's okay. For that moment that I did stop, grab a drink, I was thinking, ‘Which serve do I cover?’ ” Raonic said.
The Raonic legs, with nearly a decade less wear and tear on them and everything to play for, looked fresh and renewed at that point. He could see the finish line, and he made a beeline for it.
When it was over, a bitterly disappointed Federer waited for Raonic, and the two walked off together. There was no false sympathy from the Canadian, just as there hadn’t been when Federer defeated Pete Sampras here in 2001 in their only meeting. Or when a young, brash Jimmy Connors put a beatdown on a 39-year-old Ken Rosewall here in 1974.
“I was very self‑centered at that point. I wasn't really thinking about Roger. I was very focused on myself, proud of the way I was able to pull through that match,” Raonic said. “You know, it quickly also shifted to, ‘Okay, let's get the things in order, let's get myself ready to play the final here.’ ”
Murray, who breezed past No. 10 seed and former finalist Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, will be the crowd favourite. But it will be new territory for him as well. “Obviously first time I'll play a Slam final against someone that isn't Roger or Novak (Djokovic). So, yeah, that's different,” he said.
Some journalists tried to find hidden meaning in Federer’s sweeping gaze around Centre Court as he left. Federer was quick to put that to rest. “I was looking at Centre Court as in thank you for the crowd, thank you for the great feeling that you gave me throughout The Championships. I was fortunate enough to play all my matches on Centre Court. I don't take that for granted,” he said. “That's what I was going through, not thinking about this might be my last Wimbledon. And, yes, I hope to be back on Centre Court, to be very clear for you.”
One day years from now that might be Raonic, waiting for a much-younger, far less decorated opponent before he walks off the court – another of the dwindling opportunities to win one last major gone for naught. But on this day, Raonic was walking towards something – a date with Murray Sunday afternoon, and a shot at his first major title.
He knows that the opponent he faced Friday isn’t the same Federer who won those 17 majors; the 34-year-old’s last Grand Slam title came here, four years ago. He surely hopes to earn another; his legion of fans, in these circumstances, understandably starts to hope and dream about No. 18. This was a great opportunity; he fell just short.
“He has the most decorated achievements and successes in tennis, more than anybody by a good amount at this point,” Raonic said of Federer. “But you're playing who Roger is today, not who he's been the past few years. So you try to focus in on that and what you need to do, try not to spend too much time and attention thinking about him.
Especially for myself, I’ve got to always worry about myself first.”
