There is something about grass that the seven time champion relishes. Probably its his footwork that makes him glide on worn courts where others crash and burn. Or may be its that aura of royalty that sits so lightly on his shoulders as it does in the spectator box. Roger Federer may not be his former self on other surfaces but put him on grass and he is a force of nature even in the twilight of his career. The post match remarks lay bare the disappointment that he carried with last year's shock exit. But this year has made amends. Well, almost. The Swiss maestro is in his ninth Wimbledon final. He has won seven of the previous eight having lost out to his nemesis in one. On the other side of the court would be another indomitable former champion in Novak. The new guard has been thwarted, only if temporarily. The Dimitrovs, Kyrgyoses and Raonics of the world will have to wait another year to make an attempt to topple the hegemony of old. Djokovic has been making grand slam finals with the same regularity as Roger used to do in his prime. The hitch however is that the Serb has been on the losing side more often than not and that would rankle. The two always serve up a delicacy and there won't be any let ups on center court come Sunday in probably the biggest tennis match on the tennis calender. A betting man would put his money on the younger contender but with Federer having lost just one game on serve whole tournament, the advantage may be nullified. Would it be a record breaking number eight for the man from Basel? It would certainly be an icing on what has been an already good year with a second set of twins arriving. Maybe the four young Feds will be in presence to see their illustrious father grace the trophy one more time. Amen to that.
There have been stutters and falls on the ladies side of SW19. With Serena getting knocked out early, it was Sharapova's tourney for the taking. But the German Kerber had other ideas. What we have left now is a former champion and an attack minded Canadian to fight for the spoils. Kvitova has the experience to go all the way but Genie Bouchard would have the crowd on her side. Their won't be any dearth of power tennis on show and unless the young and exhilarating Eugenie gets caught in the headlights of big match nerves, we may have a new queen on the lawns of Wimbledon. Its time to sit back and enjoy a couple of humdingers on grassy knolls.
The Maracana awaits its boys. The first set of quarters in Brazil have thrown up a South American and a European contender for the football world cup. Brazil are through against free flowing Columbia and Germany managed to scrape through in a scrappy affair against France. Whether the Ticos can upset the Dutch and the Belgians can get pass Messi would become clear in a night. The tournament that started with a deluge of goals is now turning into a more tactical affair with nettings becoming as rare as Asians in the second round. Most knock out matches have been won on slender margins and that does take the sheen off the marquee event. Whether we will see something special in the home stretch is debatable but what is not is that the home crowd will have their interest perfectly piqued for the semis. Its been an up and down affair and what the neutral would want is for the talented Netherlands to break their unfortunate duck on the world stage.