Hold the back page: Roger Federer is through to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. By getting there for the 18th time, he has beaten the record set by… oh, wait a minute: he has beaten the record he set the last time he reached the last eight in 2019.
That year he broke the record he set in 2018. And that was the year he broke the record he set in 2017. You can sense a theme building here. Jimmy Connors is the next name on the last eight achievement list – he got that far 14 times.
This is Federer’s 22nd competitive trip to the All England Club and in all that time, he has only failed to get to the quarter-finals (or better) three times. So when Lorenzo Sonego set up his meeting with the Swiss, there was a general feeling that the day would not end well for him. It didn’t: Federer won 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
“I’m extremely happy,” Federer said. “Again, tricky conditions – inside and outside – against Lorenzo who is always dangerous but I felt that after that first set, I was able to control things. It was a great match and I couldn’t be more excited to be in the quarter-finals. It’s a big moment and I’m very, very happy.”
There was a telling moment in the clubhouse just moments before the match. The two men were waiting to walk out on to Centre Court and were being given their last minute instructions by Dan Bloxham, the master of ceremonies and the head coach at the All England Club. Sonego was to walk out first but he had not been here before; Centre Court was all new to him.
Given their cue to go, Bloxham sent the Italian on his way. But which way? All Sonego could see in front of him was a doorway and then a wall. “Left; turn left… that way…” Bloxham instructed. Poor Sonego was like the lucky traveller who had been given his first upgrade from economy class to business. He had never stepped through the door and turned left before in his life.
A few paces behind him was Federer, a member of the club since 2003 when he won his first title here; he is chasing his ninth Wimbledon trophy and his 21st Grand Slam trophy in all. There is no place outside of Switzerland where he feels more at home than Centre Court. And he is very used to turning left whenever he boards a plane.
Still, once he had stowed his hand luggage, got his drinks sorted and perused the snacks menu (bananas, power bars and the like), Sonego began to relax and settle in. His grass court record may look a little thin compared to Federer’s (whose doesn’t?) but he did reach the Eastbourne final a little over a week ago and he did win the Antalya title in 2019. He is not unused to life on a grass court.
What he is unused to is life on a grass court with Federer. They had met once before but that was on a clay court at Roland Garros two years ago; Federer brushed past him in straight sets. On Monday, Sonego kept pace with the former champion for the first quarter of an hour or so and then things started to get tricky.
Federer started to apply a bit of pressure; he had a break point – and then another and another. As the game wore on, Sonego managed to extricate himself from the situation, but only just. It had taken nearly 10 minutes but his serve was secure. And then Federer held to love and broke to 15. Just like that. Seven of eight points won. Simples.
But this is not the Federer of old; this is not vintage Fed. He is playing and feeling a good deal better than he did a week ago when The Championships began but he is still a work in progress. No player can bounce back from two bouts of knee surgery and 13 months off and just pick up where he left off. Doing it at the age of 39 increases the degree of difficulty massively. So, having broken, Federer promptly dropped serve to love. We were back where we started.
As Sonego fought tooth and nail to hang on to his serve in the 11th game – seven deuces, four break points – the rain stopped them in their tracks. They had been trying to resolve this game for more than 13 minutes and Sonego was serving to stave off that fourth break point, but the elements did not care.
Play was suspended for the usual 17 minutes or thereabouts as the roof was closed and the lights switched on and out they came again (Sonego needing no directions this time). Unsurprisingly, after all the disruption, the Italian was not at his sparkling best as he double faulted to hand his serve to Federer but, then again, neither was Federer. He needed to save three break points before he could finally wrap up the set. It had all been alarmingly messy for the Swiss and his many, many followers.
But when Federer found himself in a similar position in the second set – breaking for a 3-2 lead – there were no blips, no fluffs and no dramas. The eight-time champion powered through the second set and ran away with the third. This was more like the champion of old.
As Federer prepared for his landing in the last eight, Sonego was putting his seat in the upright position and stowing away his tray table. It might be a while before he gets to turn left with Federer on Centre Court again. Doors to manual and cross check…
Finally a nice mostly stress free match for Federer. His next opponent was expected to be Medvedev. But we got the surprise of Hubert Hurkacz instead. So once again my Polish heart feels conflicted. This will by no means be an easy ride for Fed.
Hurkacz has played him once before so he won't be intimidated. If he doesn't get to overwhelmed by the occasion he could make it into quite a match especially given the way he serves. But if Federer plays clean and solid pulling out his bag of tricks it could also be one way. Really looking forward to this one.
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