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The roar from a crowd on tenterhooks reverberating across the All England Club is as sure a bet as any that a favourite is on the brink.
Down two sets to love against an inspired opponent, it is the stage at which mere mortals would start hitting panic stations. Not so Roger Federer. As with most predicaments in the soon-to-be 35-year-old’s career, he has been there, done that.
Nine times before he had fought back to win after dropping the first two sets. His 10th escape draws him level with Boris Becker and Aaron Krickstein for the most in the Open Era. And it could well be his greatest – three match points saved to deny No.9 seed Marin Cilic, the 6ft 6in Croat who had won their last meeting en route to the 2014 US Open.
It was only the second time the Swiss great had stood at match point down before tilting the ledger in his favour. Mercurial Frenchman Gael Monfils was his victim first time round and that was the precursor to his aforementioned thrashing at the hands of Cilic in New York.
“I've had some good ones. This one is definitely huge because it's Centre Court at Wimbledon. Still, gives me the chance to win the tournament. This is a big one,” Federer said of his comeback on Wednesday. “
This one is definitely huge because it's Centre Court at Wimbledon
Twice before he had pulled off the great escape on Centre Court at Wimbledon. In the opening round of his 2010 campaign he denied unheralded Colombian lefty Alejandro Falla, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-0 and again in 2012 he would prevail, this time in a third-round encounter with Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Fives times he was within two points of crashing out that day before running away with it 4-6, 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-1.
The preface to this encounter is what makes it arguably Federer’s greatest comeback. Having battled back from knee surgery following the Australian Open, and after a back complaint ended his run of 65 straight Grand Slams at the French Open, Federer was managing a body starting to show signs of age.
He had lost to young guns Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev in his two lead-up events, in Stuttgart and Halle, and was a distant title favourite to Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray heading into the event.
“To win a match like this, to test the body, to be out there again, you know, fighting, being in a physical battle and winning it is an unbelievable feeling,” he said. “It was an emotional win, always when you come back from two sets to love, but because of the season that I've had, it's wonderful.”
It was an emotional win, always when you come back from two sets to love, but because of the season that I've had, it's wonderful
In the 2012 French Open quarter-finals, Federer had rallied for a 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 comeback over Juan Martin del Potro with victory tying Jimmy Connors’ record of 31 Grand Slam semi-final appearances. Del Potro, though, had been struggling with a knee complaint.
Some will go further back into the archives, highlighting his 2005 escape in the Miami Masters final, as among his greatest. Having fallen in his first encounter to a teenage Rafael Nadal at the same event 12 months earlier, Federer narrowly prevailed in the second showdown of what would go on to become a great rivalry. Surging back from two sets down and 3-5 down in the third set tie-break, he reeled off 12 of the last 16 games for a 2-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-1 triumph.
Still, Federer was drawing on memories of another come-from-behind triumphs when staring at defeat to Cilic. “I thought of the Tommy Haas match after I saved those break points and went up 4‑3,” he said, in reference to his 2009 fourth round match at the French Open, which he claimed 6-7(4), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2. “I think that was four, three breakpoints, something similar. I did believe in that moment... but also for the tournament. Not only do I want to win this match, but I want to go further.”
Federer will prefer not to dwell on the last time he saved a match point from two sets down against Monfils. That was the precursor to the Cilic hiding.
A luckier omen would instead come from the last time he survived from two sets down on Centre Court. That was against Benneteau in 2012, the year he would go on to claim his 17th Grand Slam title.
