1 Response to wb21hurkacz_federer

1. Voo de Mar says:

   December 30, 2025 at 3:46 am

   Points won by each set: | 29-21, 45-42, 29-15 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   34 % Hurkacz – 30 of 88
   21 % Federer – 20 of 93

   The last match in Federer’s career. The Swiss, entering 40th year of his life, came back after a 13 month-break – first he’d skipped a few events due to injury following the Aussie Open ’20, then Covid-19 hit the (tennis) world, and the Swiss wasn’t interested in competing with empty stands in the last quarter of the ’20 season. In the first months of the year 2021 it was still far away from normal, but Federer came back, and it seemed he was treating a few events he took part in, as a preparation for Wimbledon – his best Slam (8 titles). It’d be a Sampras-like fairy-tale if he finished his career as a champion. The first round had been tough (Mannarino), but Federer [8] was surprisingly good in his another three matches, therefore at least the final could be expected within his grasp given the draw… The match against Hurkacz [18] – a quartefinal debutant in Slams, Federer began optimistically, striking four winners in his first service game; afterwards he was a shadow of his former self though: his movement slow, the speed of his first serve much below his standards, his forehand erratic – actually every time he was moved on the baseline sideways, he made an error. Under those circumstances people could have asked “Why is he leading 3:0* (deuce) in the 2nd set playing so poorly?” Perhaps Hurkacz realised the biggest win of his life would be inevitable after the opener, and it made him tense. He broke back though, and in the tie-break Federer went from bad to worse – he lost three points he should have won, the third one was the worst as he stumbled having a put-away volley, and barely hit the ball which dropped behind his back – it looked surreal. Hurkacz won the tie-break 7/4 with a big serve, and played freely in the 3rd set. Federer wasn’t good enough to lead with a three game cushion in the preceding set, he wasn’t so bad to lose a bagel set either, but it somehow happened. On the first match point he made a casual forehand error. It was his 22nd Wimbledon (record: 105–14), he didn’t enter as many editions in any other Slam. During his very long career, he didn’t play at Wimbledon only in 2020, but that year the edition was cancelled due to Covid. Hurkacz became the second Pole advancing to the Slam semifinal (previoulsy it happened also at Wimbledon, eight years earlier as Janowicz had won an all-Polish contest).

   Serve & volley: Hurkacz 0/1, Federer 7/13

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