Andy Murray says that Roger Federer’s serve is in good form. Really good form. The two-time major champion penned a sort of ode to the Federer serve in his latest BBC column. Here’s what Andy had to say about the experience of trying to return Federer’s offerings on Friday during their Wimbledon semifinal.
Read the whole column here
“At one point on Friday I looked up at the scoreboard and it was 3-2 and he'd served nine aces, and I thought, 'What's going on?'” Murray wrote. “It was his best serving performance in one of our matches and not just by a little bit, by far.”
The statistics back up Murray’s assertions. As Federer has aged, he’s done a better job of holding serve at Wimbledon:
Murray continued: “Obviously you go into a Wimbledon semi-final against Roger knowing the level is going to be higher, but I didn't feel like my tennis wasn't where it needed to be,” he wrote. “When I was in the rallies, I felt fine. The level was there. It's just that his serving was so good that I couldn't get into enough rallies to make it count.”
He added: “I tried moving and changing my returning position as much as I could, and I won more than my fair share of points when he missed the first serve, he just didn't miss enough of them. I would be interested to see the ball placements of where they actually landed because it felt like they were all right on the line, or very close.”
Federer will have to be good on serve again on Sunday when he meets Djokovic in the final. If Murray is considered one of the best returners in tennis, Djokovic is considered the best. Federer faced 15 break points in the 2014 Wimbledon final against Djokovic, surrendering four breaks in the 6/7(7) 6/4 7/6(4) 5/7 6/4 loss.
Federer holds the 20-19 lifetime edge over Djokovic at Wimbledon. They have split two career matches at Wimbledon.