{"id":1312361,"date":"2019-07-12T15:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T21:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/11-years-after-epic-federer-tops-nadal-in-wimbledon-semis\/"},"modified":"2019-07-12T15:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T21:48:00","slug":"11-years-after-epic-federer-tops-nadal-in-wimbledon-semis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/11-years-after-epic-federer-tops-nadal-in-wimbledon-semis\/","title":{"rendered":"11 years after epic, Federer tops Nadal in Wimbledon semis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Switzerland’s Roger Federer celebrates defeating Spain’s Rafael Nadal during the men’s semifinals at Wimbledon on Friday.<\/strong>
Ben Curtis | Associated Press | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

WIMBLEDON, England \u2014 Roger Federer waited 11 years to get another shot at Rafael Nadal on Centre Court. This one was a semifinal, not a final. It was settled in four sets, not five.<\/p>\n

Felt like just as much of a classic contest, though, one that anyone present is not likely to forget.<\/p>\n

That, of course, includes Federer, who managed to pull away and beat longtime rival Nadal 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 Friday by finally coming through on his fifth match point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m exhausted. It was tough at the end,\u201d Federer said. \u201cRafa played some unbelievable shots to stay in the match. I thought the match was played at a very high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federer closed in on a ninth championship at the All England Club and 21st Grand Slam trophy in all. In Sunday\u2019s final, Federer will go up against Novak Djokovic, who is the defending champion and seeded No. 1.<\/p>\n

Djokovic overcame Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 earlier Friday to reach his sixth Wimbledon final. Djokovic is eyeing a fifth championship at Wimbledon and 16th major title.<\/p>\n

As entertaining Djokovic vs. Bautista Agut was \u2014 including a 45-stroke point won by Djokovic \u2014 it was merely a tasty appetizer ahead of the day\u2019s delectable main course.<\/p>\n

Not only was this the 40th installment of Federer vs. Nadal, but it also was their first meeting at Wimbledon since the 2008 final. Nadal won that one 9-7 in a fifth set that ended after 9 p.m., as any trace of daylight disappeared, in what some consider the greatest tennis match in the sport\u2019s lengthy annals.<\/p>\n

How excited, then, were the spectators for the rematch, more than a decade in the making? When Federer and Nadal strode out into the sunshine at 4:30 p.m., they were welcomed by a standing ovation before ever swinging a racket.<\/p>\n

Quickly, that greeting was justified. These are, of course, two of the greats of all-time \u2014 maybe the two greatest \u2014 and they lived up to that status for stretches.<\/p>\n

One key, for Federer, was that his rebuilt backhand, hit strong and flat more frequently than it used to be, held steady against Nadal\u2019s bullwhip of a lefty forehand. Another was that he was able to withstand Nadal\u2019s serve, which has improved a ton over the years. Federer amassed 10 break points, and though he succeeded on just two, that was enough, with the last, vital conversion making it 2-1 in the fourth set. And then there was this: Federer won 25 of the 33 points when he went to the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t play well enough,\u201d said Nadal, who lost a five-set semifinal to Djokovic a year ago.<\/p>\n

There was something of an \u201cAnything you can do, I can do, too\u201d vibe to Friday\u2019s proceedings. Federer would kick up chalk with an ace to a corner, and Nadal would do the same in the next game. When Nadal jumped out to a 3-2 lead in the first-set tiebreaker, Federer used sublime returning to reel off five points in a row to claim it.<\/p>\n

Who else but Federer could strike a serve so well that Nadal\u2019s framed response would end up caught by someone seated in the Royal Box, as happened early in the second set? Who else but Nadal could attack Federer\u2019s generally unassailable forehand in such a manner as to draw one so out of character and off the mark that it landed in the third row, as happened later in that set? And who else but Nadal could somehow retrieve an apparently untouchable ball and send up a lob that Federer would shank a leaping overhead, as happened in the last game?<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought probably the biggest points in the match went my way. There were some tight ones and long rallies,\u201d Federer said. \u201cHe plays with such velocity and spins and everything, you\u2019re not always sure you\u2019re going to connect the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one ever has managed to reduce Federer to mid-match mediocrity quite the way Nadal can on occasion, part of why the Spaniard entered Friday with a 24-15 overall lead head-to-head, including 10-3 at Grand Slam tournaments.<\/p>\n

The final stretch Friday must have been agonizing for Federer, who already had wasted a pair of match points when Nadal served at 5-3. At 5-4, Nadal held a break point but let it slip away when he netted a backhand, then bent over and put his hands on his head, exasperation personified.<\/p>\n

Federer\u2019s third match point \u2014 as his wife, Mirka, peeked through fingers covering her face \u2014 was a 24-stroke masterpiece that Nadal took with an inside-out forehand winner. The fourth was saved with a cross-court backhand. But when the fifth opportunity to close it out arrived after 3 hours, 2 minutes, Federer saw Nadal push a backhand long.<\/p>\n

This was the second major in a row where they\u2019ve faced off: Nadal won their windy French Open semifinal last month en route to his 12th championship on the red clay there. But Wimbledon is Federer\u2019s dominion. He\u2019s won 101 matches at the place \u2014 more than any other man at any other Slam, even Nadal at Roland Garros \u2014 and all of those trophies.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Djokovic watched the 23rd-seeded Bautista Agut\u2019s shot hit the net tape, pop in the air and slide over for a winner that tied their semifinal at a set apiece. Walking to his changeover chair, as fans roared with approval, Djokovic nodded and waved his racket, then his right hand, at the crowd, sarcastically encouraging folks to get louder, as if to say, \u201cYeah, good for him and good for you. Enjoy it while you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon enough, he was ending that 45-stroke point \u2014 the longest on record at Wimbledon, where such stats date to 2006 \u2014 with a backhand winner to save a break point, then cupping his ear while glaring into the stands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to dig deep,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

His match was his 36th career appearance in the final four at a major tournament \u2014 and the debut in that round for Bautista Agut.<\/p>\n

Even Bautista Agut didn\u2019t really expect his visit to the All England Club to last this long: The Spaniard was supposed to meet a half-dozen of his buddies on the island of Ibiza this weekend for his bachelor party. Instead, those pals were sitting in a guest box at Centre Court on Friday.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Djokovic took control with his enviable ability to return serves, track down balls and go from defense to offense.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s Federer\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope I can push him to the brink and hopefully beat him. But it\u2019s going to be very difficult, as we know,\u201d Federer said. \u201cHe\u2019s not No. 1 just by chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Switzerland’s Roger Federer celebrates defeating Spain’s Rafael Nadal during the men’s semifinals at Wimbledon on Friday.Ben Curtis | Associated Press | AP WIMBLEDON, England \u2014 Roger Federer waited 11 years to get another shot at Rafael Nadal on Centre Court. This one was a semifinal, not a final. It was settled in four sets, not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1312361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 13:56:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}