Roger Federer will be desperate to prove to his critics that he has still got it in him to win a Grand Slam. After losing the Australian Open, he had spoken about speaking about his form in another six months time and the time is here. Federer needs to win these remaining three matches to ensure that he can prove that he still belongs.
Of course, a win here in the quarter-finals will also boost his chances of making it a record seventh Wimbledon title, equalling with Pete Sampras’ record.
Federer steamrolled over most opponents but it was in the fourth round, he dropped his first set. It was Mikhail Youzhny who managed to get the better of Federer in a tie-breaker, but that was as far as he got and lost the next three sets to bow out.
Federer’s opponent in the quarter-final will be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 12-seeded, who had earlier beaten Rafael Nadal in the Queen’s tournament before Wimbledon to enter the final. There, he lost to Andy Murray.
In this year’s Wimbledon, Tsonga has had some tough opponents and survived the challenges from David Ferrer, Fernando Gonzalez and Grigor Dimitrov. The advantage that Tsonga has is his huge serve and a killing forehand that makes it good for a tournament like Wimbledon.
Between the two, Federer and Tsonga, they have played five matches with Tsonga having lost all but one. The one match that he did win against Federer came in the Rogers Cup, winning a tie-breaker in the final set. This is the one reason that it will be difficult for Federer, unless he can find early form and continue with it.
Federer goes in at 2/11 while Tsonga will be 26/5 to cause an upset.