Day 9 Preview
Tuesday, 28 June, 2005
We're down to the last eight in the men's singles, with eight different nations represented. It's the third year in succession that this has happened at The Championships; what a testimony to the world-wide appeal and quality of the game.
Tim Henman's early departure means that the home nation is not represented in the colourful gathering of talent, from Roger Federer, the two-time champion, to a Swede, a Spaniard and a Chilean - Thomas Johansson, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Gonzalez - who have never before marched as far as the quarter-finals of this greatest of the Grand Slams.
While it is still very much on the cards that Sunday will bring a repeat of last year's final between the number one and two seeds, Federer and Andy Roddick, Hispanophiles will be hoping for Lopez versus David Nalbandian, Francophiles will be hoping to see the consistent Sebastien Grosjean improving on his two previous semi-finals, and whatever it is you call Australian supporters (Ozzophiles?) will be hoping to see Lleyton Hewitt's back-to-front cap hot in pursuit of the treasured trophy. Should it be a Hewtt-Grosjean final we would have the first occasion on which both finalists wore their caps the wrong way round. A pub quiz gem, this.
Let us begin by assessing the prospects of the man who currently bestrides these Championships, the 23-year-old boy from Basle who means more to Swiss sport than quartz watches do to that country's economy. Federer is doubly a champion of tennis - in merit and comportment -and nothing would give your correspondent more pleasure than to see him join that select group of geniuses who have won this tournament three times in a row, apart from reporting a Henman or and Murray triumph.
Federer is tilting for his 34th successive grass court victory when he takes on the Chilean thunderball Gonzalez, who is peering towards what would be, for him, the promised land of his first Grand Slam semi-final. He is entitled to think he has a chance, not having dropped a set in four rounds so far, bombarding the opposition with 69 aces along the way. The Gonzalez serve and, what's even bigger, the Chilean's forehand, have inflicted much damage on the professional tour but they don't appear to have had effect on the Amiable Alp. Federer has won all four of their previous encounters, dropping only one set.
That grass streak of Federer's is inching him towards Bjorn Borg's mark of 41 consecutive victories. All of Borg's were marked up at Wimbledon, of course, in that incredible run between 1976 and 1981 in which he won five successive Championships and lost in the final of the sixth. Federer's 33 so far have been gained in two Wimbledons and three years of dominance at Halle. In those 33 matches Federer has lost only eight of the 92 sets he has contested. Against this sort of stuff, Gonzalez's biggest weapons in the opening match on Court One this afternoon may be reduced to popguns.
Hewitt will start the Centre Court programme against another Spanish speaker, a Spanish citizen in fact, in Lopez. Hewitt is the only men's survivor besides Federer to have tasted total triumph at The Championships, winning in 2002 before Federer moved into the driver's seat. Lopez is Rafael Nadal's chum and doubles partner and he joins distinguished company in being the first quarter-finalist from his country since Manuel Orantes in 1972.
Hewitt is not the sort to take undue note of such statistics. What is put in front of him is what he is interested in. He is therefore interested only in halting the attractive gallop of Feliciano, the only left-hander remaining form the 17 who kicked off the tournament.
For Hewitt, the all-purpose Aussie, a repeat of 2002 is what he's looking towards, mate.
Centre Court will also host the Andy Roddick battle with Grosjean which, no pun intended, is an engrossing prospect. As Roddick has been revealing in his TV commercials for a credit card company, he expects to be filling the spare seat he has purchased for the flight home from London with the Wimbledon trophy - or its half-size replica that the All England Club permit the winner to cart off into the night.
Since both men are residents of Florida, that dormitory of tennis talent, this could qualify as a "derby" match, except that all France will erupt in celebration should Grosjean sock it to Andy. Roddick has won six of their previous seven, three of them on the grass of London's Queen's Club, and is not in any mood to stop short of another shot at Federer on Sunday.
Also aiming for a repeat of 2002 is David Nalbandian, who lost to Hewitt in that year's final. The (then) unfancied Argentinian, who learned his grass court tennis on a converted cricket field in Buenos Aires, has gone on to success on all surfaces, having reached at least the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slams. His No.1 Court opponent, Johansson, is treading new ground in the last eight on his ninth appearance at Wimbledon and bidding to become the first Swedish semi-finalist since Stefan Edberg in 1993. At 30, he is the oldest man left in the draw, which goes to support Henman's argument that 30 is not too old to be winning this tournament.
Written by Ronald Atkin
