Roger Federer: The Greatest

It sounds ridiculous to say this about the finest tennis player to have lived, but 2018 could well be Roger Federer’s year, given the state his competitors are in.

- Adi Mistry & Alshaar Khan

ROGER FEDERER IS OUT OF POSITION

Sometime during a heavy trade of ground strokes on the adcourt side – Federer planted firmly at the edge of the doubles tramline and converting all his backhands into inside-out forehands - Marin Cilic decided to give up on his flat, double-handed replies and to change things up with a single-fisted slice. The ball, instead of going deep to Federer, barely crossed the tape, fell into the service box and angled away from him, drawing the Swiss towards the net and well away from the face of the singles court. Federer got to the rapidly dropping ball with a lunge on his backhand side and flicked it back with desperation to Cilic, who, now, was presented with an open court to put away his winner.

Cilic, standing 1.98 metres from the ground, has the wingspan of an adult albatross. With Federer nowhere in his peripheral vision, the 29-year old Croat pummelled the tennis ball straight down the middle of the court, a stroke focussed more on placement than power, and the first bounce of the ball was within an inch of the opposite baseline. Against any other player not named Roger Federer, this shot was destined to bounce a second time before coming into contact with a tennis racquet. But because this was Federer, he had already made up his mind to find a way to return a sure-shot winner.