No one will ever be like him. Or at least at the moment it is very difficult to imagine. Roger Federer, at the dawn of 34 years (he will turn them in exactly one month), liquidates the French Gilles Simon in three sets and wins yet another semifinal in a Grand Slam tournament: now they are 37 (of which 23 consecutively, another record), Connors always further away with 31, not to mention the others.
The eternal Swiss champion reaches the finish line in his favorite garden: that of Wimbledon, on whose grass he has already ringed quite a few primates: 7 victories, like Sampras and Renshaw, including 5 consecutive (equaled Borg in the Open Era), but also 9 finals in all including 7 consecutive.
The "7" is a number that often appears in Federer's records: the Wimbledon final is always played in July, which is the seventh month of the year; the Basel champion has the record of 237 consecutive weeks as number 1 Atp (302 in all, absolute record) and – as everyone knows – he has won 17 Grand Slam tournaments, at the moment three more than Rafael Nadal, still active, and the legend Pete Sampras.
Federer hasn't won a Grand Slam since 2012 (at Wimbledon) and last year he reached yet another final on the lawns on the western outskirts of London, losing to Novak Djokovic. The scoreboard would suggest the same final this year as well, but while this piece is being written it is not yet known who the opponent of the Swiss will be in the semifinals (most likely Murray). Excluding Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have undoubtedly been the most difficult opponents of the former number 1 in recent years: with the former he has a winning percentage of 51% (20 to 19), with the latter 52% (12 to 11). But it's a detail, because history will take its course.
