It was a historic breakthrough for Roger Federer, who became the first male player to win Wimbledon eight times and stretched his playing record to 19 Grand Slam titles following the winning against Marin Cilic of Croatia.
But it wasn’t a historic Wimbledon final. What spectators will commemorate is Marin Cilic’s despair, who appeared having an injured left foot — based on the strap around it — and then appeared to stress the injury when he slid and fell during the 5th game of the match between Federer.
At the beginning of the 2nd set, the trainer and doctor were summoned to tend to the Croatian player at a changeover. Cilic’s pain soon overcame him and he sat crying into his towel while his opponent discreetly switched ends and came back to the tennis court.
Viewers were worried that it might be the end of the match. Ten men had already retired in these Championships due to injury. The last time it occurred was during the 1911 men’s final.
Cilic did at least decide to go on, and as a result, he demonstrated an almost impossible feature: converting the spectators against Federer on Court. It wasn’t because they wanted the Croatian player to win, but they just wanted him to continue the battle, and lengthen the match nearer to the 2-hour mark.
The 35-year-old tennis player ended the match 19 minutes before the said mark.
As for the fans, who may have felt a bit shortchanged, there was always the mixed-doubles match to drooling in eager anticipation.
