Roger Federer advances to his ninth Wimbledon final, will face Novak Djokovic on Sunday
The say that Father Time is undefeated, but if there is one man that is giving him one heck of a fight, it's Roger Federer.
The soon-to-be 33-year-old made his ninth Wimbledon final on Friday, beating Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that was as business-like as the score indicates.
Federer broke Raonic in the first game of the match, and quietly took care of his business to take the first set. He did basically the same thing for the next two sets, moving to 9-0 lifetime in Wimbledon semifinals.
When Federer won this championship two years ago, his first Grand Slam win in more than two years at the time, most thought that would be his ride off into the sunset, a great champion snagging one more title on grass before slowly disappearing into the limelight that is tennis stars in their 30s.
And since that win, Federer has not returned to a Grand Slam final, losing in the semifinals the last two years in Melbourne and dropping in the quarterfinals a year ago at the French.
But this is a different Roger Federer, a man that believes he still has the ability to win this tournament for a record eighth time (he and Pete Sampras both have seven Wimbledon titles). Federer has dropped just one set on his way to the finals, an important stat when you consider fatigue playing a huge factor the longer the tournament goes, and while he is facing a man in Novak Djokovic that can beat anyone in the world, It's Federer that holds the advantage in their career head-to-head matchups.
The problem for Federer is Djokovic is just as hungry as he is. Novak, who won this championship in 2011, has been to the finals in three of his last four Grand Slams before this tournament, but has lost each of them. The 27-year-old hasn't won a Slam since the 2013 Australian Open, and has dropped two of his last three meetings with Federer, the latest coming in Monte Carlo earlier this year.
The craziest stat about the Federer-Djokovic matchup is how little they've played on the biggest of stages in the majors. Only once have these two met in the finals at one of the majors, the 2007 U.S. Open when Djokovic was barely a percentage point of the player he is today. Federer won that meeting, but it will be completely different circumstances when these two take Centre Court at Wimbledon on Sunday, with Federer going for his record 18th Grand Slam while Djokovic looks for his seventh.
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Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shanebaconblogs@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @ShaneBacon!
