Roger Federer became the first man to win Wimbledon eight times and extended his record to 19 Grand Slam titles with victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
Federer claimed his 19th Grand Slam title 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 and at 35 is Wimbledon’s oldest men’s winner of the modern era, succeeding Arthur Ashe, who was almost 32 when he won in 1976.
The Croatian world No6 had slipped during the first set, which Federer won 6-3, seemingly hampering his movement from that point on, and with the score 3-0 in the second, the player was in tears while a trainer and supervisor attended to him.
It seemed as though Cilic was on the point of abandoning the match, which would make him the firstA�WimbledonA�finalist to withdraw since 2011. However, after lengthy treatment he continued and received warm applause for winning his subsequent service game.
Federer soon broke again to wrap up the second set and although Cilic appeared to recover in the third set, the Croatian was helpless as the Swiss broke again in the third set and held on for victory.
“It is cruel sometimes,” Federer said of Cilic’s physical difficulties. “But Marin fought well and is a hero, so congratulations on a wonderful tournament.”
Federer Passes Sampras in Wimbledon Haul
Federer surpasses Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, who won their seventh titles in 2000 and 1889 respectively, with only Martina Navratilova still ahead in terms of Wimbledon singles titles on nine.
He has won two of the three Grand Slam titles so far this year, having returned from a six-month break to win the Australian Open in January.
With 19 major titles he extends his lead over Rafael Nadal in the men’s game to four, and now stands joint-fourth on the all-time list with Helen Wills Moody, five behind Margaret Court on 24.
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