Wimbledon: Roger Federer in Wimbledon: “Like a piece of home”

The eternal maestro in eternal Wimbledon: For Roger Federer, the first week at Church Road has started wonderfully – on Monday he starts into the serious phase of the tournament.

By Jörg Allmeroth from Wimbledon

The second week will start for him exactly like the first week. On Manic Monday, the common day of the round of 16 for men and women, Roger Federer opens the programme on the Centre Court at 1 pm local time – seven days after launching the whole Wimbledon tournament on the main square. Federer, the eight-time champion, is a regular at the most famous tennis court, the Theater of Dreams.

But the performances are far from routine for him, the maestro: “Every game on this court is a gift, a privilege,” says Federer, “it’s a special attraction, no matter whether you win or lose. But he hasn’t lost very often, even though this is the tenth anniversary of the historic final of 2008, the five-sentence thriller in which Rafael Nadal overthrew the Swiss, who had been successful five times in a row.

Maybe Federer and Nadal will actually make it back into the duel for two, in the ultimate showdown next Sunday, in the match for the main prize. But this is still a dream of the future, with the eternity of three more tournament rounds in between, the fight against ambitious challengers. The drama of the second, much more intense, tense tournament week. Federer knows he can’t think ahead, even though many see him as a logical finalist in the thinned-out field of the remaining favourites: “It sounds banal. But to look beyond the next game is simply wrong and not professional,” says the 36-year-old family man, who has to prove himself against the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Monday.

The privilege of opening the tournament on the first Monday as defending champion also brings an advantage not to be underestimated. After the first three laps Federer can take a deep breath from Friday to Monday, recharge his batteries and gather for the turbulences of the Wimbledon final sprint. From Monday it will then at best continue to the final Sunday in a two-day rhythm, Wednesday quarter-final, Friday semi-final, Sunday final.

Like I said, at best. Nothing is guaranteed, not even Federer’s obligatory victory against the French expected by the betting offices – if Federer were successful, no state, i.e. no money, could be made with him. Federer also used the free time since the third round victory against the German Jan-Lennard Struff to distract himself a bit from the tournament stress, together with Mrs. Mirka and the twin daughters and sons. “In Wimbledon, the nice thing is that we’re all there together. It feels like a piece of home,” says Federer.

Federer has been going to Wimbledon for 20 years now, initially as one of many. Today as the man who shaped and determined the tournament of tournaments in the men’s competition like no other. The defending champion will play his 104th match against Mannarino in the All England Lawn Tennis Club; the Swiss player is almost symbolic of the claim that the tournament organizers are now spreading as a kind of credo on all channels: “In the pursuit of greatness”. According to the Wimbledon organizers, Federer could continue to play an important role for the club and “The Championships” after his active time, for example as an ambassador. But that’s still a long way off, Federer is still fighting for victories and titles on the pitch.

Federer alone will not represent Switzerland’s interests on the wild Monday of the Round of 16. Belinda Bencic is still in the middle of the big game, and her comeback experiences the best moments at the most important competition of the season. The 21-year-old now faces Angelique Kerber, the German Wimbledon finalist of the 2016 season, in the final round of the last 16 against Kerber, who ended the first week of Saturday’s tournament with a strong performance, beating Japan’s Naomi Osaka.

When asked later about the prospects for the match against Bencic, she was optimistic despite three defeats in the three official matches to date: “I’ve gained a lot of self-confidence. And I think the game on grass is right around here.” On the other hand, you can’t get rid of the feeling that something special could happen here for and with Bencic, a thunderbolt from nowhere, so to speak. The stage is set for further exploits after nine of the top ten players have already been eliminated.

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