Five years after his last win at Wimbledon, Roger Federer can win the eighth All England Club title Sunday and become the oldest male champion in the modern era.
With his 36th birthday fast approaching, the evergreen Swiss will comfortably succeed Arthur Ashe, who was nearly 32 years old when he won in 1975 as the most veteran Wimbledon champion.
The victory over Croatian giant Marin Cilic will also give him a Grand Slam title for the 19th race and second in three majors this year after sweeping a fifth Australian Open in January after a six-month absence.
“I was hoping to be in good shape when the grass-court season began,” said Federer, who luckily also pocketed Masters from Indian Wells and Miami as well as a ninth grass crown from Halle.
“The first three, four months were like a dream, so this is something I was working on, Wimbledon, to be in good shape. I’m just happy that I’m working here now.”
Federer admits his form in 2017 has been surprised even after he closed his 2016 season to rest a knee injury after his brutal five-set semi-final defeat at Wimbledon to Milos Raonic.
He has 30 wins and only two losses this year and he has reached his 11th Wimbledon final without dropping a set.
‘Incredibly excited’:
Sunday’s match will be their 102nd in the tournament and their 29th final in the majors.
“It makes me very happy to make history here at Wimbledon,” said Federer, who has been tied with Pete Sampras in seven Wimbledon titles since beating Andy Murray in the 2012 final.
“All my dreams came true here as a player. To have another chance to go to number eight now, being so close now at this stage is a great feeling.
“Yes, incredibly excited, I hope to play one more game, 11 final here, all these records, it’s great, I’m so close now.”
While the ‘big four’ rivals Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal failed to even reach the semifinals, Federer has reborn.
He came to Wimbledon after having radically pruned his playing schedule, skipping the entire clay court station.
Wimbledon is just its seventh event of the year; Cilic, 28, is in his 15th.
Federer, who delighted in the spotlight having played all his matches at the Court Center, has hardly bothered on his way to the final.
He lost the service only four times and spent four and a half hours less on the court than Cilic.
Federer also has a 6-1 record in the race over Cilic, the US Open champion. 2014 who has made his first Wimbledon final in Try 11.
However, Cilic’s game is made for the grass and 12 months ago led Federer by two sets to love and maintained three match points in an epic quarterfinal that the Swiss superstar finally claimed.
Roger’s court:
When Cilic won his only Slam in New York three years ago, he demolished Federer in straight sets in the semifinals.
“I do not want to say that it’s more relaxed to get into it because I have a good game against Marin, even though the matches were very close,” Federer said.
“But it’s not like we’ve played against each other 30 times. You feel like you have to reinvent the wheel.
“It’s simpler, in my opinion, I think that’s good in some way, it’s a nice change, but it does not make things easier.”
Cilic is only the second Croat to reach the Wimbledon final after Goran Ivanisevic, his former coach, achieved a memorable title win in 2001.
A win on Sunday would also make him the first Wimbledon champion outside of Federer, Murray, Djokovic and Nadal since Lleyton Hewitt triumphed in 2002.
However, he has only won one of his last 12 games against a top five player in the Slams, even if that was for Federer in New York three years ago.
Cilic has shot 130 aces at Wimbledon this year and dropped only 10 service games.
“This is Roger’s court, where he feels the best and knows he can play the best game,” Cilic said.
“Obviously I’m going to look back, 12 months ago I was to a point winning a game against him here, but it’s still a great mountain to climb.”
