Fed Express delivers but the package arrived faulty and broken, but he survives for another day

By Paul Lagan at AELTC 

Roger Federer v Adrian Mannarino
6-4 6-7(3) 3-6 6-2 RET.

Roger Federer is still in Wimbledon – he  was lucky – he admitted it after his opponent Adrian Mannarino retired injured one game into the fifth set.

“One point can change a game, a match, a career,” said the 38-year-old Switzerland icon.

On his serve in the seventh game of the fourth set, Federer had a lucky point win. The Frenchman then collapsed to the grass, struggling with what seemed like a thigh strain.

Ten minutes of physio later and he crawled back onto the Centre Court.

He duly lost his serve and the game and set. He was a broken man, literally.

Then one point into the final set, he packed it in.

The 33-year-old has never got beyond the first round at Wimbledon, this was his best chance ever – sadly a muscle gave way and his dreams of a career-remembering victory crashed onto the lush green grass.

He got the plaudits from the crowd, who to be fair wanted a Federer victory, but were on the verge of seeing the collapse of a star.

 The multi-Wimbledon champion was so lacking in confidence under the roof of Centre Court that it felt as if we were witnessing the end of his illustrious Wimbledon career.

He will have to up his game and fitness if he is to get into the second week, let alone another final.

There were the odd break point for the man from Switzerland, and sloppy shots into the net from both players as the opening set went with serve .

That was until the vital 10th game with Federer 5-4 up and 30-40, Mannarino played a low approach shot to the net, which Federer punished with a classic, back-hand cross-court shot, that fizzed past the Frenchman giving the number 6 seed the opening set.

The second set, followed the somewhat drab exertions of the first, both players holding their serves with relative ease.

Federer got the crowd going, not by his trademark thumpers down the line, either forehand or back, but by his occasional foray to the net, where he inevitably won the point.

Twice Federer faced break points on his serve in the fifth game and on both occasions he produced top class first serves to force Mannarino back and win the game.

Normal service – literally was resumed with Federer taking a 5-4 lead with some sparking first serves and deft play.

But he threw away the 10th game, over hitting relatively straightforward drives to give Mannarino the chance to see out his serve to take the set to a tie-break.

There were two mini-breaks in the first three points bringing the game to serve – a crazy miss-hit by Federer saw the ball fire out of court, that gave the Frenchman the chance to take a 4-1 lead with a net chord drop shot, opening up Mannarino’s options to take the set with ease, which he duly did and won the tie-break 7-3.

Federer went two love down in the third set. He looked leggy and confused. He decided to change his racket, changing the sequence of events in a hope of altering the momentum created by Mannarino.

And it worked – just.

Four times Federer had a break point but it wasn’t until the fourth he managed to crack the resistance of Mannarino.

That brought the set back to serve which Federer won to draw level at 2-2.

But age or the lack of concentration appeared to affect Federer as he lost his serve to put the Frenchman in pole position to take the set as he raced to a 5-2 lead.

And he then polished off his serve to take a two sets to one lead.

A brilliant winning drop shot from Federer to win the opening game the fourth set got the crowd off their feet.

They saw that as the confirmation that they could start shouting and cheering for him.

They sensed this could be the end of his Wimbledon career but was willing him to stage another remarkable comeback.

This continued as Federer rolled back the years to break Mannarino to lead 2-0 in the fourth set. The winning point, another great rally with a deft drop-shot finish.

With Federer suddenly in the ascendency, the crowd got a whiff that England footballers had taken the lead against Germany in the Euro 2020 knockout match at Wembley, and suddenly the Centre Court roof felt like it was blown off its hinges.

As Federer won a lucky point to make it 15 all in the seventh game, Mannarino collapsed to the ground.

A couple of minutes passed, Federer went over to see if he was okay, then the trainer was called to check on him.

After 10 minutes play resumed and Federer finished of the game to lead 5-2.

The Frenchman hardly looked like he could hold his racket let alone finish the match as he struggled to move. And he duly lost the game and the fourth set.

After one point in Federer’s serve, the Frenchman waved the white flag and surrendered.

Game, set and match