Wimbledon Men's Singles Final

 A 114 MPH ace down the T saw Roger Federer clinch his 8th Gentlemen's Singles Wimbledon Title. He had beaten Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 and had become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1976 to win Wimbledon without dropping a set.

At 35 years old, 23 days shy of his 36th birthday, Federer who had been written off following a four year drought at the majors had added to his collection in Australia. He then followed it up with his 2^nd Grand Slam win of 2017 at Wimbledon, which proved that his win in Australia wasn’t a fluke.

The match saw both competitors make tentative starts. Roger Federer hit two double faults in his first two service games. Cilic's forehand kept flying long or wide and he was struggling to get his first serve in.  Federer faced break points in the first set at 1-2, 30-40 and that seemed to awaken the legend. He saved the break points and then raced up the gears. He broke Cilic immediately in the next game to take a 3-2 lead, normal service resumed with each player holding his next service game. Federer reeled off the next 5 games in succession winning the first set 6-3. He took a 3-0 lead in the second set and post the changeover Cilic was surrounded by the tournament doctor and other officials. He was seen crying. At the end of the 1 minute change of ends break the chair umpire said, "time." Federer got up and headed to the baseline like an emotionless machine. The occasion had gotten to Cilic, he seemed lost. Tennis is a cruel sport as once you are on court you have no one from your camp to talk to you. You are all alone.

Cheered on by the Centre court faithful who wanted to see a bit of a contest. Marin Čilić held on to his serve and got in the board in the second set, but that was it before Federer held, broke and held to wrap up the second set just under the hour mark.

Cilic must have been hoping that quicksand would swallow him whole. He was the villain in this pantomime- the one barrier between Roger Federer and his 8^th Wimbledon Title.

Federer wanted this title so bad. According to commentator and German tennis legend Boris Becker, what I felt were random yells was actually Federer admonishing himself in Swiss German. This was when he was just 2 points away from the win and sent a down the line forehand wide.

The final was completely one sided owing to what was later revealed to be a blister on Marin Cilic foot. Only Federer could have carried this final without the crowd losing interest in the match. At the French Open in an almost similar one sided final between Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka, the crowd had lost interest in the match (despite it being the match Nadal needed to win to secure his tenth French Open) and lukewarm applause followed after the points. There was raucous cheering for both players throughout the game at Wimbledon.

Federer got his tactics spot on such as slowing down the pace of his shots which made Cilic have to generate power, as well as get the ball up and over the net and down to bounce within the baseline-not possible unless heavy topspin is applied. Cilic with his flat shots kept hitting the ball long. Federer began racing through his service games and continuously took Cilic to deuce on his serve. In doing so he denied quick holds to the Croat who in a bid to reduce time spent on serve decided to reduce the number of bounces before serve. It was about 6-8 bounces in the latter half of the 3rd set compared to the 16-20 bounces in the initial part of the first set. When Cilic got accustomed to the slow pace of the rallies Federer switched back to quick play which left the 6’ 6” man on the backfoot more often not.

Federer: We've been away for a long time, 5 years to be precise. So good to have you back!

Out of all of Federer's triumphs at SW19, this one would have to be the sweetest.The 5 years since 2012 was the longest he has been away from the Wimbledon Trophy. In the Rolex advertisements he stated that 8 is his favourite number. He was born on the 8th day of the 8th month and was his country flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games which was on 8.8.2008, his 28th birthday.

The win over Marin Cilic was his 91st match win at Wimbledon and 1,111th win overall. He became the first man to win 8 Wimbledon Singles Titles. With his win he broke Arthur Ashe's record as the oldest ever Gentlemen's Singles Champion at Wimbledon. He became the oldest Wimbledon finalist since Ken Rosewall- who made the final in the 1974 edition as a 39 year old. He extended his own record of most Men's Singles Grand Slam Titles to 19, now 4 ahead of second placed Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic with 12 is 3rd among active players.

WHAT'S NEXT
For Marin Cilic, a return to the North American hardcourts where he ended the hegemony of the Big 5 could serve as motivation. For Federer, he heads off into the part of the season traditionally dominated by him, he is 560 points behind 2017 ATP points leader Rafael Nadal and 1205 points behind current world No.1 Andy Murray in the official 12 month ATP rankings.