Praise for Federer

Federer smash

Roger Federer has advanced to his seventh consecutive Wimbledon final and the nature of his victories this tournament have recalled the imperious Federer of old, and certainly not a player who, before this year's French Open, many commentators had called a spent force.

The players he has beaten en route to the final match where Andy Roddick waits have been unanimous, this is a player still at the peak of his powers.

"There aren't really any weaknesses. I think he moves such smooth ways and has such good defensive play. The slice bites a lot. You know, when you think sometimes you might get a relatively easy volley, he kind of either dinks it in front of you, or he made two spectacular slice lobs over my head at important points," said Tommy Haas, the former world No.2 who lost their semi-final in straight sets.

"He's maybe like best player ever, but on the grass he's, you know, by far best I think. I mean, he don't like when the ball jumps higher, and over here, you know, everything is around his waist because the ball jumps lower. I don't know. It suits his game unbelievable I think. The reason why he was No. 1 and also why he's maybe the best player ever is because in the tight situations he can play his best tennis. It is difficult, sure," said Ivo Karlovic, who had not lost a service game all tournament until he was undone in straight sets at the hands of Federer.

"I think he's the biggest favorite. If he plays well, I think he's gonna win. But, you know, he definitely need to play well every match. I think he played well, like always when we played. He's a great grass court player, and I think he's the faster surface he plays on, I think the more aggressive he plays," said Robin Soderling, having lost to Federer in the French Open final, the Swede was beaten again in the fourth round here.

"It's always nice to play against him. It's a funny boy. It's always nice, so actually it's quite funny. Unfortunate that most of the time you gonna lose. It sounds maybe stupid, but always if I play very aggressive he just had the better answer and put me on the right foot. So, yeah, he was just too good," said Philipp Kohlschreiber, the only player to win a set off Federer at the tournament so far — and that was via a tie-break.

"I think Federer has a good return. I don't think that it's incredible. He doesn't break serve as much as a lot of the guys. But he'll make Andy play. And Andy gives him enough chances, Roger's gonna take them. That's the one thing he needs to serve very well, especially at the start of all of the games to try and get ahead, not give Roger that chance to sort of swing freely at balls. If he can always sort of stay 15 up, 15 Love, 30 Love up in games, it's gonna be tough. But obviously Roger is the favorite. If he plays his best and passes well, then there's no reason why he can't win," said Andy Murray, the player who lost to Roddick in the semi-finals.

"He conducts himself as all champions do. He's just a super champion," Venus Williams, back-to-back champion and ladies finalist.

"I like how he hates to lose," Serena Williams, ladies finalist and current Australian and US Open champion.

"I believe he is the greatest player of all time. He has won Grand Slams on all four surfaces, he has won 14 in total and is on the verge of winning his 15th here," Boris Becker, three-times champion and youngest winner here.