Despite of third and final set fight back of Safin, Federer registered his fifty first straight win on grass court. In Wimbledon 2007 defending champion Roger Federer overpowered Marat Safin by a straight set victory 6 - 1, 6 - 4, 7 - 6 ( 7 - 4) and booked his seat very convincingly to the third round of the tournament.
I knew the danger against Marat
. Federer of course remembered his two losses against this Russian in the past. That was the only point of concern for him. On the other hand, Safin had a lot of things of concern. Playing World No. 1 in his own favourite surface (which is eventually the least favourite surface of Safin), was not an easy job. The result was as expected. Federer sailed through the first set. He smashed Safin by 6 - 1 in that set. Second set was 6 - 4. When it was looking like one of the smooth sails for Federer, Safin bounced back in the third set itself and pulled the set to tie breaker. In third set only he found some of his touches and served well as per expectation. But that time it was too late. In words of Federer himself,
I expected him to serve well in one of the three sets and he did in the third but by then it was too late and obviously I played a great tiebreak.
Though defeated in French Open, Federer still is undoubtedly the best player of the game at this moment. Rolland Garros is not one of his favourite surfaces. But still he managed to play the finals in his most disliked surface. This shows the depth of his talent. After beating Safin in Wimbledon he once again has shown his class. It is really becoming a myth now, however brilliance may you have in yourself, while facing Federer in grass it becomes a complete different story altogether. He won like a winner, completing the game by one hour and thirty nine minutes.
A visibly exhausted Safin was not happy with his performance.
It was my first time on Centre Court for many years and it was strange for me. It took me two sets to get used to it. I’m not taking anything away from Roger but it was tough to play my game
At the same time he added he could not see anyone beating Federer at this year’s Wimbledon.
Tennis pundits came forward with their comments. All are more or less convinced about Federer’s possibilities of winning Wimbledon this year also. McEnroe (Former tennis player and BBC sport pundit) says
Safin is playing some unbelievable tennis but yet he still can’t break Federer. He has to keep positive, but it must be demoralizing
On Federer’s possibilities of winning the tournament he said,
I’m not sure Federer has to win the French Open to be considered the best of all time. His class is undoubted in the modern game and, anyway, with the amount of time he has on his side, who’s to say just how many titles he might go on to win
Source: BBC Sports
