“I was very anxious coming here”, the third-seeded Federer acknowledged after saving three match points and coming back from a two-set deficit to beat Marin Cilic 6-7 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3 in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
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So Andy Murray survived a Centre Court thriller to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the seventh time.
And it’s been four full years since Federer last won a Grand Slam title, at Wimbledon in 2012.
He has every reason to go into his meeting with Tsonga full of confidence having won 12 of their 14 meetings, but Murray is deeply respectful of the Frenchman’s ability, particularly on this surface which suits his flamboyant, powerful game.
“I know that I have the talent to do good things”.
But just when the match appeared to be spiralling out of control for the agitated Scot, the 2013 champion rediscovered his early authority to dominate the decider and set up a semi-final with Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (left) and Andy Murray shake hands after their match. “I try to get the crowd into it as much as I can when I’m playing a home tournament”. “If he plays well, I’m not on my game, I can lose that match for sure”, said the second seed. “I came back strong on the third and fourth, but I didn’t play well in the fifth”.
Murray had three break points at 4-3 in the fourth set, meaning he was one point away from serving for the match.
Since then he has lit up the Tennis world, but it has been a constant question of ‘what if?’ He has made the semifinals of both Wimbledon and the French Open twice, along with the Australian Open once, but never reached another final.
Berdych was the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2010, his only appearance in a Grand Slam final, after beating Federer and Novak Djokovic along the way.
“Two days ago I was five all in the third set, 15-40 against me, two sets to love down, and I came back”.
“Since I’ve been playing Wimbledon the last 10 years, I’d probably say seven or eight of those years, the expectation has been extremely high and the pressure’s been unbelievably high”.
So everything can happen in tennis.’ Reflecting on his form and upcoming match against fan favourite Andy Murray, Tsonga doesn’t back down and thinks he has something more to produce on Wimbledon courts.
“What he told me today was ‘Go out there and leave it all out there.’ I showed a lot of emotion out there, always positive, and I think that’s what got me through mentally”, he said.
This is the 25-year-old Canadian’s second Wimbledon semifinal.
Raonic made the semi-finals in 2014 and has brought in John McEnroe to help steer him to a first major.
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On the way he gave the British public palpitations, dropping two sets in the quarter-final against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.
