Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on another collision course at US Open
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Version 0 of 1. When Marin Cilic arrived properly on the tour by reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open four years ago, there were plenty of good judges who hailed him as the player to perhaps one day end the domination of the game by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The respected tennis commentator Bud Collins was perhaps Cilic’s biggest fan as the young Croat raced through the card in Australia four years ago, and predicted that here was the player to start turning over some apple carts. Well, Novak Djokovic slipped in before him, followed by Andy Murray (who beat him in that semi-final in Melbourne before losing to Federer in the final) and Cilic slid inexplicably into the shadows, never quite marshalling all his considerable resources once he had broken into the top 10. On Saturday, seeded 14, he gets another chance – and nobody can say he has not earned it. This time the player trying to stop him reaching his first slam final is Federer, who, at 33, is playing tennis every bit as delightful as he was in 2010, perhaps better on occasion, and he will be favoured to do to Cilic what he did to Gaël Monfils in the match of the tournament on Thursday night. He will probably prefer not to have to come from two sets down, save two match points in the fourth and go five sets to do it, but the Swiss sharpened his tools so impressively in the closing moments that there is very little enthusiasm for Cilic’s chances in the semi-finals. He did a good job on Tomas Berdych in his quarter-final on Thursday afternoon but the talented Czech again let himself down and was dumped in three tempestuous sets. At times, however, Cilic played with the fluidity and vision that makes him so good to watch – from the stands. At his best, as Collins pointed out, he gives opponents nightmares because of his variety. That can also be his undoing, as he overreaches, and, if he makes that mistake against Federer, he will do well to extend the contest past three sets. Federer has also undergone a metamorphosis in recent years, but a considerably different one. As his younger rivals stick to their programmed formula of baseline attrition, Federer has continually fine-tuned his tennis and stands pre-eminent among net raiders in this era. In beating Monfils 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 he showed a full range of his gifts over the three hours and 20 minutes it lasted on Arthur Ashe, winning 53 of 74 points contested at the net against one of the most deft racket masters in the game. It provided one gasp-inducing exchange after another, tennis to rouse the romantics. Perhaps this semi-final will revisit some of those moments. In the other semi, between Djokovic and Kei Nishikori, there should be few surprises. Neither player is going to depart radically from reliable scripts that have brought them to this point of their careers, although the Japanese No10 seed is bound to find something different occasionally with which to test the world No1, who was stretched to near breaking point by Murray in the quarter-finals. Against Murray, Djokovic had to dip into his deep store of physical resources for the first time in the fortnight – and, with the benefit of three-and-a-half hours less time on court to that point, he was too strong for the Scot at the finish. Against Nishikori he has a similar advantage. Nishikori has long been regarded as one of the most accomplished players on the tour but perennially fragile, succumbing to injury before or during matches. However, since he retired in the third set after establishing dominance over Nadal in the Madrid Masters this summer, he looks to have recovered to full health. And how he needed his body to be in good shape as this tournament moved towards its closing weekend, after surviving back-to-back five-setters against Milos Raonic and Stanislas Wawrinka in preparation for a player regarded as the beast of the game. The prospect of going five sets with Djokovic surely is a daunting one for him and, if he does manage to hang with the Serb for that long, it is unlikely it will be as a winner. So many times in his career Djokovic has gone the brutal path to victory, on memorable nights that have garnered him seven majors, and he is again hungry for more after a worrying longueur since winning Wimbledon. But then those interludes between slams increasingly have not roused his interest since he found his way to the top of the mountain. They are resting points as he fuels up for another fight in the main arenas of the sport. It is in slams – and especially beyond the first week – where Djokovic turns into something almost unrecognisable from the player who started the tournament. He nearly came unstuck against Murray, and that scare will sharpen him up for Nishikori. It is difficult to see any result but a Djokovic win, perhaps in straight sets, because his opponent surely has already gone to the outer limits of his physical resources. It is looking like a Djokovic-Federer final. |