Very hard fall

We said the other day that Roger Federer had to be taken into account in this edition of Wimbledon after beating Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the round of 16, who had just won their previous three games without losing a set. But the Swiss collapsed this Wednesday in a bad way in the quarterfinals against an opponent that was not the one that in theory should have corresponded to him, Daniil Medvedev, number two in the world, but Hubert Hurkacz (18th), which had eliminated the Russian in a surprising way. As well, the 20-year-old Pole, who had never made it this far in the Grand Slams, passed the 20-year-old winner and eight times champion of the British tournament, which he also sentenced with a donut in the third round (6-3, 7-6 (4) and 6-0 in 1:48).

Without energy or spark, despite not accumulating too many hours on the court (9:22 before the quarterfinals), Federer found no response to the simple but very solid game (only 12 unforced errors) from an opponent who took advantage of a very bad day for the Swiss in all aspects, starting with the serve, and who was barely able to generate four break opportunities in the entire match and took advantage of one. If he had not thrown the second set overboard, when he dominated it 3-0 with a break advantage and then played a disastrous tiebreaker, in which he also had no luck (he slipped when trying to shoot), He could have fought for a clash that ended in a very sad way for him, with that painful 6-0 that he had never conceded at Wimbledon, where he may not play anymore. The central dismissed him with a great ovation while saying goodbye, maybe the last goodbye.

“I do not know what to say. It’s super special to me. It’s a dream come true, to play on this court and against Federer, whom I saw as a child, “said Hurkacz., meritorious protagonist of what may be, who knows, the penultimate opportunity for Federer, at almost 40 years old, to really fight for a major, on the field, the grass, which best suits his game. On this occasion, it did not appear even in the uploads to the network, sometimes when they did not play, neither in his one-handed backhand, a failure as during almost the entire championship, nor in a loose and unintentional drive that hardly helped him.

Even when?

Only he will know what happened to him and perhaps explain it, and it would not be fair to forget that he did not play for a few months to undergo surgery on his right knee. But it hurts to see how rivals win those who would have looked, said with all due respect, over his shoulder in other times. So far this year he has been defeated by Basilashvili, Andújar, Auger-Aliassime and Hurkacz. The question is how long will his greatness sustain him.

Results and calendar men’s box.