For much of the first week of Wimbledon the media spotlight centred on the glorious British weather, the achievements of Heather Watson and the antics of Nick Kyrgios.
Andy Murray was rarely out of the news and, in the second week, Novak Djokovic’s thrilling two-day tussle against Kevin Anderson generated column inches.
Surprisingly, there’s been little fanfare around Roger Federer, the seven-time Wimbledon champion who has been quietly advancing through the draw.
Yet here he is, at the age of 33, in the last four of Wimbledon for the 10th time in his career following his 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 trouncing of Gilles Simon in one hour and 34 minutes. “I’m very happy to be in the semis again. The road is long getting here,” Federer said.
On paper, the clash with Simon was never supposed to be this easy. Although Federer led the head-to-head 5-2, the 30-year-old had pushed him the five-set distance in both of their previous Grand Slam meetings. Except that they had never before played on grass, and this was Federer’s domain.
On Wednesday he was determined to show who was boss, breaking the Frenchman’s opening service game with a sublime backhand winner that fizzed past Simon at the net.
I still feel like I'm fresh and I've got energy left in the tank for hopefully a great match with Andy
Rain interrupted play briefly after 14 minutes' play and Simon never recovered. Federer, with frequent forays to the net, quite simply denied him the opportunity of finding any rhythm.
Although the Frenchman broke Federer for the first time in 68 service games at The Championships at the end of the second set, the world No.2 broke straight back.
Simon had the chance to get his head together shortly afterwards when the heavens opened for a second time but the rain delay proved fruitless when the players returned to court with Federer leading 6-5, 15-0.
Three points later he had fired down an ace to close out the set and went on to cruise through the third, sealing a place in the last four with a winning backhand volley.
Did the rain delays hinder or help? “I think, actually, it was good,” Federer said. “Second set, I came out, served great at 6-5, 15-love. Ran away with it in the beginning of the third as well. So today I don’t want to say it came in handy but I definitely came out with the right game plans. It’s clearly also nice, in a rain delay, to be in the lead so you’re more relaxed in the rain delay rather than too concerned.”
Simon said: "I think Roger played a great match, especially on the serve. I had a lot of pressure because of that. From the first point in the match, he served perfect. He never gave me any occasion. The only break I did was really good. I just played a perfect game to break him.''
Federer, who is through to his 37th Grand Slam semi-final, last lifted the trophy here in 2012 when he defeated Murray. He now faces the British No.1 again.
“I still feel like I’m fresh and I’ve got energy left in the tank for hopefully a great match with Andy,” Federer insisted.
“I just hope the crowd gets into it and enjoys a good match and that we can play well. I have received a lot of crowd support over the years, and so has Andy.”
