Men's Semifinals
With the men's semifinals in the books, we're into the final weekend at the Big W. Both of yesterday's matches were high-quality, but neither ended up creating a whole lot of drama. Richard Gasquet and his one-handed backhand played Novak Djokovic into a tie break in the first set, but after Djokovic stormed through the breaker, there was never a feeling of danger for the top seed. Djokovic finished Gasquet off 6-4, 6-4 in the second and third sets and booked his spot in the finals for a third straight year. In the other semifinal, Andy Murray continued playing some of his best tennis—serving at 74% for the match with 12 aces and 35 winners to just 17 unforced errors. Unfortunately for Murray, Roger Federer came out playing his best tennis in years. Federer served at 76% and hammered 20 aces along with 56 winners and just 11 unforced errors. Federer, who faced only one breakpoint in the very first game of the match, was simply too good for his opponent and moves on to his 10th Wimbledon final, seeking his 8th title.
Old but Not Buried
For years, pundits and fans have been declaring that Roger Federer is in his twilight—and it's true that he's dropped off from his peak years—but here he is ranked number two in the world, appearing in the Wimbledon finals for the second year in a row. At 33 years and 11 months old, Federer is the oldest man into the Wimbledon finals since Ken Rosewall reached the finals at 39 in 1974.
Doubling Down
Martina Hingis will be returning (twice) to a Wimbledon final for the first time since 1998. Hingis and her partner Sania Mirza (who is the first woman from India to hold the number one ranking in singles or doubles) crushed the fifth seeded team 6-1, 6-2 yesterday to advance to the finals in women's doubles. Later yesterday, Hingis also advanced to the mixed doubles final with her partner Leander Paes.
Sergiy Stakhovsky
Though this isn't strictly part of the Wimbledon narrative, Sergiy Stakhovsky has been making waves because of some ugly and derisive comments he made about players' sexual orientation during an interview earlier this week. Both the WTA and the ATP have issued official statements, with the ATP stating that "this matter is being reviewed internally to determine any further course of action."