LONDON—Asked what he missed most about professional tennis, Pete Sampras once said that it was the feeling that would come over him an hour before the Wimbledon final. He would start to feel sick, because he knew the whole world was going to be watching.
That’s how most players talk about Centre Court. On the one hand, they wouldn’t trade the chance to play on it for anything; on the other, walking out there is the most nerve-wracking experience of their lives.
On Sunday, Roger Federer wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. With his 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 win over Marin Cilic, he won his men’s-record eighth Wimbledon—for the first time, he did it without dropping a set—and his men’s-record 19th major title. After limping out of the same arena 12 months ago with a knee injury, and wondering if he would ever be back again, this was one of the most gratifying wins of Federer’s two-decade career.
For Cilic, though, his first experience in a Wimbledon final was nothing short of a nightmare. Two days earlier, at the end of his semifinal win over Sam Querrey, he had begun to feel pain from a blister on the ball of his left foot. Tournament physios had worked on it before the final, but the pain persisted through his practice on Sunday morning.
“They did as much as they could,” Cilic said. “Every time I had to do a reaction fast, fast change of movement, I was unable to do that.”
After being broken at 2-2 in the first set, Cilic’s game quickly unraveled. His swings were late, and he lunged for the ball, rather than taking little steps to set up. By the end of the set, knowing that the pain wasn’t going to cease, he was in tears.
“It was just a feeling that I knew that I cannot give my best on court,” Cilic said, “that I cannot give my best game and my best tennis, at such a big match.”
Watch Roger Federer's championship-sealing point: