WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND— “I was thinking about it midway through the match, actually,” Roger Federer said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’m playing Stan’ kind of thing. It hit me midway through the second set.”
Federer was thinking about Stan Wawrinka, of course, his friend and Swiss Davis Cup teammate, as well as the man he would ultimately beat today in their Wimbledon quarterfinal, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4.
“It goes in phases,” Federer said, describing what it's like to play a friend in such an important match. “You need some energy to push yourself. You want to win the match. You don’t necessarily want to beat him, but you want to win the match. So that’s the odd part. It plays its role during the match.”
Novak Djokovic described a similar feeling a couple of days ago, and admitted that at times on court he questioned whether he should try to hit a certain shot when he’s facing a friend. It’s a phenomenon that has had its effects on the men’s game in recent years, mostly to the benefit of the top players. Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal have toweringly one-sided records against their countrymen.
Federer was 13-2 against Wawrinka coming into their match today, but he had lost their last meeting, in Monte Carlo, in April. Wawrinka seemed to still be riding the high from that win in the first set. He broke Federer at 2-1 with two bomb backhand winners, and finished it 6-3 with a bullet forehand, his 10th winner of the set. It looked like Wawrinka, who was pumping himself up after every good shot, had more than enough mental energy to push back against his friend.
“He really came out of the blocks unbelievably strong,” Federer said.
But was Wawrinka physically ready to go all the way? He saw the trainer at the start of the third set, and he admitted to having a problem afterward, though he wouldn’t reveal the specifics.
“It was tough to play three days in a row,” said Wawrinka, who had matches postponed because of the rain here, “especially when you played the third against Roger. Cost me a lot of energy at the beginning of the match to play that level....The second set was really, really important. I did a few mistakes in the tiebreak. It’s tough to play him. He was serving really well. Was tough to read his serve.”