Serena Williams cheering on England but World Cup is no distraction for Roger Federer

James Benge10 July 2018

After 20 years, on and off, of summers in London, Serena Williams can tell when there’s something different about the city. And there clearly is this year.

Like so many in this country, the seven-time Wimbledon champion has found herself gripped by World Cup fever, enamoured by the achievements and England team who will play their first semi-final in 28 years on Wednesday night.

Williams, who booked her passage into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a straight sets win over Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina, declared her support for the Three Lions last week, tweeting: "I’ve spent a lot of summer weekends in London in my life but something feels different about this one!"

So, is football coming home? “Well, it's not coming home to America,” Williams joked.

In Pictures | Wimbledon 2018

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"It's interesting because when I'm here in London, Wimbledon, it's the atmosphere, seeing all the English just get so excited. You can't help but root for the team.

“Oh my God, what a game [the 2-0 win over Sweden] was. Those goals were just incredible. They were playing so aggressive. Man, they really brought, like, a power game to that. I thought that was really cool.

“I just love it. [It’s] so fun to watch. World Cup is a special time of the year. I just get almost depressed. I'm like, Oh, only two more matches, then one more. What is going to happen to my life after that?

“I don't know what I'm going to do for a couple of months. I'm going to be a little bit low. Hopefully I'll recover and just wait for the next World Cup.”

Wimbledon may be a largely World Cup free zone but organisers could find themselves facing a major headache later in the week, particularly if England beat Croatia to reach the final.

The Moscow showpiece kicks off at 4pm UK time, less than two hours after play gets underway in the men’s final on Centre Court.

On current form, Roger Federer is likely to be competing in the SW19 final but professed himself to be more concerned about how those in the Luzhniki Stadium would be keeping across events at the All England Club.

REUTERS

“it's going to happen anyway, if I'm going in the final or not, the Wimbledon final will take place, and so will the World Cup final,” Federer said.

“I'm more concerned the World Cup final will have issues because the Wimbledon final is going on. They'll hear every point, Wow, Love-15, 15-30. The players are going to look up in the crowd and not understand what's going on at Wimbledon.

“That's how important Wimbledon is to me and to us over here. Maybe you should ask the questions over in Russia, how they're going to feel about Wimbledon being played at the same time.”

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