The Dream Final. British tennis fans were salivating at the prospect of a Wimbledon final featuring Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
A day of drama Friday brought that prospect to reality as Federer dethroned the defending champion and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic with some supremely effective grass-court tennis 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, and then, with the roof open and an evening sun carving shadows across the famous Centre Court, Murray survived a gallant effort by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat the Frenchman 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
So British tennis came out of those shadows for the first time in 74 years. It was in 1938 that Bunny Austin reached the final here before losing to the great Don Budge — two years after Davis Cup colleague Fred Perry had won the title. Emulating Perry is the next task Murray faces, once he recovers from the emotion of this unforgettable afternoon.
Whatever the outcome, Sunday's final should be as good as it gets. Federer, a six-time champion, is recognized by many as the greatest player of all time and keeps on converting skeptics to that way of thinking by refusing to bow to the passing years. Should he win the title, Federer will return to No. 1 in the world at age 30.
Murray is the best player Britain has produced since Perry and, by sheer consistency and willpower, has kept himself in contention for a Grand Slam title. In the past seven Slams in which he has played, Murray has reached the semifinal or better in six, and this will be his fourth appearance in a final at this level. Persistence reaps its rewards.
For a while it seemed as if Murray would stroll into the final, so dominant was he against a man he had beaten five times in six previous meetings. But Tsonga was a semifinalist here last year, and his big, bouncy, all-action game is ideally suited to grass, so it did not come as a surprise when he got back into the match as Murray's level slipped a little in the third set.
Everything seemed under control again from a British point of view when Murray broke for a 3-1 lead in the fourth, but then Tsonga unleashed his talent in outrageous fashion, sweeping a glorious one-handed backhand cross court for a winner that clipped the far line and then nudging a little, delicate half volley over the net to leave Murray stranded.
Suddenly it was 3-3, and the fans were in agony when Murray had more break points at 15-40 in the eighth game. He lost his footing behind the baseline on the first and then had to fling himself full length at a huge Tsonga forehand in an attempt to win the second break point. He got his racket on the ball but couldn't control it and Big Jo escaped.
Then it was Murray's turn to fret and struggle and send the watching millions into torment once again as Tsonga unleashed a most enormous forehand to take himself to 15-40 at 4-4. Big first serves got Murray out of that corner and then Tsonga tamely put a forehand wide to allow the Scot to hold. With Jo, you never know what you are going to get.
More fingernails were bitten when Murray double-faulted at 5-5 and went 15-30 when he slapped a forehand into the net. But the second serve has been Murray's savior in these championships, and he unleashed one at 98 mph — the second fastest he had hit — and dug himself out of trouble.
Poor Tsonga was struggling by this time. He had been hit below the belt earlier in the match when Murray fired at him from close range, and,as the match went on, it was clear Tsonga was still feeling the little finger of his racket hand that he had hurt at the Queen's Club three weeks ago. Two errors put him down 0-30 down at 5-6 and he never recovered. Murray, measuring his returns with laser-like accuracy, forced more errors and it was all over once a final challenge had been decided by Hawk-Eye as the two players stood talking at the net. They embraced. The crowd roared, and Murray had a little cry.
"I feel a bit relieved, a bit excited — it's hard to explain," he said. "It was tough losing that third set. I tried to stay calm but it's not easy. There's a lot of pressure when you're on court. You've just got to focus. I did well to hang in there because he started to play really well."
The first semifinal was played under the roof, and although opinion varied, I was not surprised that the lack of wind helped Federer more than his opponent. Djokovic, who has admitted to not feeling particularly well this past week, started in very subdued fashion and Federer pounced to take the first set. The Serb then upped his game and tied the match, and it was still anybody's to win until Federer broke when Djokovic gave him two set-point opportunities by putting a smash long. He saved the first but, after a probing rally, Federer sneaked in and put away a smash of his own.
"I didn't recover from that break of serve," Djokovic said. "After that it was really difficult to come back. I think what I did bad, and wrong, today was my first shot after the serve. I missed a lot of those. I didn't move as fast as I was supposed to and didn't get on the ball."
Federer pinpointed the surface as a crucial factor. Though it was their 27th meeting, it was their first on grass.
"The surface does make our match quite different," Federer said. "We barely had rallies in the first couple of sets, which was surprising. We did a lot of first-strike tennis, a lot of winners out there. It makes it more explosive. Maybe a touch unpredictable. I thought when I missed my chance early on in the third, I might pay for it dearly. Almost did when he had break points at the end of that set."
But this was a match that was never going to slip from Federer's grasp.
He is now into his eighth Wimbledon final, which is a record, and who knows when he will stop confounding his critics and rewriting history. On Sunday he will face a man on the cusp of something exceptional, a man whose pen is also poised on the page of history. All we can hope for is a great contest.
