It’s not unusual for there to be a bitter sweet flavour to the changing of the guard. It’s a process that the players appear to understand and respect and as much as it is a farewell, this week at Wimbledon has also witnessed a welcome cycle of regeneration. For semi-finals such as those today that means drama.
The issue of players replacing the people they once looked up to first arose on Wednesday after Roger Federer swept aside Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-final. He was asked about playing against idols. Federer understood the import of the question and while it placed him in an elevated position, the question was also freighted with the idea of unavoidable decline.
If Grigor Dimitrov can beat Novak Djokovic, he may meet his idol Federer in Sunday's final. Today Canadian Milos Raonic does just that in the semi-final. Federer did not shy away from the issue, his thoughts drifting back to the beginning of his surge towards the top 13 years ago.
“I did have that moment here on Centre Court in 2001 when I played Sampras,” he said. “That was my big moment. It was my first time on Centre Court. It was my first and only time I ever played against Pete. Huge occasion. Five sets. Had it all, you know. I’m happy we never played after that, so that one remains the only one for me.”
Federer can see himself in Dimitrov and in Raonic because their moments have arrived and he knows it. There was no misdirected emotion from Federer spilling over the elimination of Sampras and so 23-year-old Raonic will meet Federer in an iconoclastic frame of mind and with a view to shoving 39 aces down his pipe as he did against Nick Kyrgios in the quarter-final.
Canadian man
He also has history with him, as the last Canadian man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals was Robert Powell in 1908.
There is a real sense that the four at the top have been cracked and with Murray and Nadal gone, Djokovic occasionally fluttering in matches and only Federer appearing unflappable. The Kyrgios defeat of Nadal confirmed that away from clay he is mortal, while Dimitrov’s stunning beating of Murray was abject and complete. While Federer is narrowing in on his eighth title here, the mood from the younger players is unabashed and bold.
“I’m going to step out there and I’m not playing the seven-time Wimbledon champion,” said Raonic. “I’m not playing a 32-year-old man. I’m not playing a father of two sets of twins. I’m not playing the guy that’s won whatever he’s won, which I could probably list quite vividly.
“I’m playing a guy that is standing in my way. I’ve got to focus on everything that’s there, on the situation, how best to deal with it to give myself the best possibility . . . So there’s no point to talk about it. I’ve got to step up and do it.”
Even more than Raonic, the Dimitrov objective is full of purpose and engaged in the concept that the top four players are there to knock down. And he’s happy to use his elbows to be at the head of the queue.
Both humble and breathlessly confident in his ability, he knows the value of winning and taking out Djokovic on the way and perhaps Federer in the final makes it a more powerful statement. He was asked about fearing other players. “Well, first of all, fear is out of the picture,” he snapped.
For belief
All of the players actually look to Wawrinka for belief as he defeated Djokovic and Federer on his way to winning the
Australian Open
this year. Wimbledon is just bigger and reeks of Federer’s aura.
“As I said, it was around the corner. I didn’t know it was THAT around the corner,” said Dimitrov of beating top players. “But, yeah, I mean, what can I say? We want to win. I think the younger guys, we want to come on that stage. We strive for this. I think we’re thirsty for that. We want to prove ourselves.
“Again, it’s just a different stage for us. But we need to establish ourselves I think even better than what we’re doing right now.”
There’s little war talk from Djokovic or Federer. Federer need only read his diaries for 2004. The four majors ran won, third round, won, won. In 2006 it was won, runner-up, won, won. In 2007 it was the same as 2006.
It is, though, the second last match and they say the deeper players go into a tournament the more experience takes charge. Both matches today ask whether that still holds or if the men’s game has reached a critical point which may redefine it. Dimitrova and Ranoic believe so.
In a more light hearted exchange, Dimitov was asked if his girlfriend Maria Sharapova talks to him or gives tips on how to be a Wimbledon Champion. "Well, tips?," he said. "She says, Win it. What can I say? I think that's a good tip."
