ITF

ITFWORLD SUMMER 2017 13 www.itftennis.com TOP Federer and Nadal reasserted their Grand Slam prowess with historic victories at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, while Garbine Muguruza and newcomer Jelena Ostapenko triumphed for the women. Ravi Ubha reports. like Nadal, win the same Grand Slam tournament 10 times. "I'm incredibly surprised how well this year is going, how well I'm feeling, how things are turning out to be on the courts, how I'm managing tougher situations, where my level of play is on a daily basis," Federer said to the media. "I knew I could do great again maybe one day, but not at this level. So I guess you would have laughed, too, if I told you I was going to win two Slams this year. I also didn't believe that I was going to win two this year. "I don't know how much longer it's going to last. But I just got to always remind myself that health comes first at this point. If I do that, maybe things are actually possible I didn't think were." Unfortunately for Cilic — who was bidding to become the second Croatian to win the men's title at Wimbledon after his charismatic former coach, Goran Ivanisevic, in 2001 — his body let him down on arguably the most important day of his professional life. A tiny blister on his left foot had gargantuan consequences as the towering, soft-spoken 2014 US Open winner simply could not function properly. He realistically had no chance against the man who was playing in his second home and Cilic knew it, weeping into his towel in the second set. It was the lone dramatic spell in the 63 61 64 result. The finale had promised much, since Cilic nearly upset Federer one year ago at Wimbledon. ON Federer is the first man to win Wimbledon on eight occasions

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