As expected, Murray was not troubled by Berdych. The other semi between Federer and Raonic was a less straight forward affair. Federer could not recover from an early break in the first set that he nicely gifted to Raonic with a double fault. Still, the swiss had half-chances in several return game so it felt like breaking the Raonic sever could happen. In the second set, the possibility became very real as Federer manufactured break points in a couple return game. On these four occasions, Raonic came up with good serves or, once in a rally, Federer proved a bit too passive.
It's always something difficult to balance right. On one hand, Raonic was making a number of unforced errors, so giving him the opportunity to miss is a legitimate strategy. On the other hand, if he does not miss, it feels like a wasted opportunity. The problem as whole in the match is that a number of time Federer was too passive and found himself defending and not manufacturing enough meaningful passing shots (despite Raonic's less than stellar volleying skills) and when he decided to be aggressive he often made poor choices (most notably, trying to wrong foot Raonic with approach shots down the line instead of making use of the open court - I understand that in Net Play 101 on grass you want to do that to have better coverage and weak replies, but if you never go to the open court, you never wrong foot people so the replies are not so weak. On top of that, off short balls, you can play with so much angle going in the open court that it's a winner 9 times out of 10, so you just say 'Bravo' if the guy scores a winner off a Hail Mary running forehand passing shot).
Still, Federer dominated the breaker and broke mid way through the third to find himself with a significantly less stressful 2 sets to 1 lead. As a symbol of this change of fortune, Raonic who during the first two sets accompanied boneheaded unforced errors with a relaxed smile, probably in a conscious effort to not go down on himself, was more and more irritated by the increasingly poor quality of his play. Still, helped by his serve and a decidedly not very opportunistic Federer, Raonic hung around in the fourth set and stearted to play better at the end of it. As everyone was ready for another breaker with Federer serving at 5-6 40-15 and not having faced a single break point since the early stages of the first set... shit happened. And I mean big sticky stinky shit. Federer, probably looking for another career first, served two double faults back to back to bring Raonic to deuce!
The canadian did not ask for a couple more, he was glad to try and find the break by himself from there. Federer saved a first break point, but a second serving of shit was in order as during his footwork to regain position at the net, he stuck the tip of his feet in the grass, twisted his ankle and fell. After a small break to get the physio to check his knee, Federer reminded what clutch his. To save the break point, which was also a set point, after a face plant and an injury scare... he landed a wide first serve on the line and dealt with the short reply with a forehand winner full of authority! Balls of steel! Sadly that was a last hurrah as Raonic still manage to break to force a fifth set.
Energized by this unexpected turn of events, the canadian played at a much higher level in the fifth against a shell shocked Federer who barely managed to avoid a 6-1 (not that 6-3 is much better since a loss is a loss).
As expected, Raonic was not so lucky in the final against a very agitated Murray. The scott made light work of his service games and put a very high number of return back in court, conceding only 8 aces through the match. Add his knack for passing shots, his sense of anticipation and his court coverage, and Murray was clearly the better player through and through. He dealt well with a little scare on serve in the beginning of the third and let Raonic get away with a couple poor games where he missed relatively easy shots for his standard. This bit Federer in the ass, but Murray got away with it, as he crushed the canadian in the breakers of the second and third sets for a second Wimbledon title!
Well done Murray who did not crumble under the heavy weight of the favorite's mantle. He discarded Kyrgios, Berdych and Raonic with ease and only found himself in trouble in the quarter final when Tsonga rallied back from two sets down to force a decided. But even then, Murray found an extra gear to close the match 6-1.
On a side note, that must be the first time in a while that a Grand Slam winner did not have to beat a member of the Big Four to lift the trophy. I'll get back to you on that. The times, they are a-changin'!
