Roger Federer has warned Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray it will take a
huge effort to stop either him or Rafael Nadal winning yet another
Wimbledon title.
Australian Open champion Djokovic has made a
powerful start to his bid for a first Wimbledon crown, while Murray’s
superb form led some pundits to tip him to end Britain’s 75-year wait
for a men’s champion.
But Federer remains on course for a
record-equalling seventh triumph after moving into the quarter-finals
with a 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over Mikhail Youzhny on Monday.
The
16-time grand slam winner faces France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last
eight and is seeded to face Djokovic in the semi-finals.
In the
other half of the draw defending champion Nadal ground out a four-set
win over dangerous Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round.
Nadal,
who is seeded to meet world No.4 Murray in the semi-finals, has
appeared in four of the past five Wimbledon finals, while Federer has
only missed one final here in the last eight years.
With that in
mind, Federer, searching for his first grand slam since the 2010
Australian Open, believes it is too soon to talk of the old guard being
unseated by Djokovic and Murray.
“We’ve got to wait and see how
this turns out because it could be a repeat of the Djokovic and Murray
final in Australia and then I was wrong. If it’s not the case, then I
was right,” Federer said.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care if I’m wrong or right. I know where my game is at. I know where Rafa’s game is at.
“He
was going for four grand slams in a row in Australia and when he loses
suddenly it’s a new era. I just struggle when it goes from one extreme
to the next.
“I don’t need to get into all that fuss. I just need
to straighten the record sometimes, otherwise people go in a direction
that’s just ridiculous.”
