Only the elements can halt Federer

Published on Saturday 3 July 2004 00:27

SOMETIMES rain seems to be a sentient force, taunting those underneath the clouds. Yesterday in south-west London was one of those occasions.

Several times Roger Federer and Sebastien Grosjean trotted out on to Centre Court for their men’s singles semi-final. And just as they began to knock up, the rain returned, forcing them back to the locker rooms, and the spectators back to the Pimm’s tent and ice cream stalls. On such days here, optimism does gallant battle with the realities of the British climate. Time after time Chris Gorringe, the chief executive of the All England Club, speaks to the crowd over the public-address system, assuring them that brighter spells are on the way, and that if they hang around long enough (and spend enough money on souvenirs while doing so) there may be play later on.

There are two reasons why no-one here likes admitting defeat and calling an early halt to a day’s play. One is the refund policy: under an hour’s play, and everyone gets their money back; between one and two hours, 50 per cent of the ticket price is refunded. The other reason - at least on years such as this, which has already had two days rained off completely - is the schedule for the fortnight. Having reluctantly gone ahead with People’s Sunday six days ago, the tournament organisers are extremely loath to let the championships extend into a third Monday, something which last occurred in 2001 for the men’s final between Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter.

By late afternoon, only one session between Federer and Grosjean had actually got under way - the first, which began as scheduled around 1pm. The score was 3-2, 40-30 to Federer, who had broken the Grosjean serve in the very first game, when the rain forced the players off for the first time.

As the showers continued throughout the afternoon, and with even worse weather forecast for today, the organisers decided they would have to re-jig their schedule to have a fighting chance of finishing the championships as planned tomorrow. The match between Andy Roddick and Mario Ancic, which had been due on Centre immediately after the Federer-Grosjean clash, was moved on to Court No1, while both women’s doubles semi-finals were put off until today.

Just before 6pm the covers came off again, and play recommenced on both courts, with No1 beginning slightly before Federer resumed his service match. Whatever frustrations the champion may have felt during the delays had been easily dealt with, as he showed by returning more or less immediately to the top of his form.

Holding serve comfortably, the No1 seed then broke his French opponent for a second time in the set to take a 5-2 lead. Grosjean, the conqueror of Tim Henman last year, is one of the best grasscourt players in the world, but even he has no way of coping when Federer is in such good form, and the Swiss player wrapped up the first set in 30 minutes.

Had there been no breaks in play the time would have been just after 1.30pm, but in reality it was 6.15pm. Having been made to wait so long, Federer did his best to catch up, and was soon a break up at 4-3 in the second set.

Grosjean made a decent attempt to fight back immediately, but could do no more than take his opponent to 30-30 before Federer forged 5-3 ahead. A poor service game from the Frenchman then saw him lose 6-3 to give Federer a two-sets-to-love lead. Grosjean rallied in the third, and had a break point to go 3-2 up. But, just as the opportunity looked to be within his grasp, he needlessly sent a forehand into the net and the chance was gone. Federer won the next to take a 4-2 lead when, at 7.15pm, the rain returned.

Roddick, meanwhile, although not having things quite his own way, had at least been doing a similar job to Federer. The No2 seed just got the better of the first set against his unseeded Croatian opponent, winning it 6-4, and then went 3-2 up with a break in the second. He was 4-3 ahead, but breakpoint down on his serve, when the match was suspended.

Just as Henman had risen to the occasion in his fourth-round match against Mark Philippoussis only to fall dreadfully flat in the quarter-final with Ancic, so the latter failed to play at the top of his game for two matches in a row. He had excelled himself against the Englishman, but lacked that necessary edge against Roddick, who was himself a few notches below his best.

Perhaps, on such a dreary day, both just felt a bit below the weather. Everyone else did.