Painful exit for Federer at Wimbledon

It’s the first time since 2002 that Federer has failed to reach the final. Since losing in the first round eight years ago,Federer had played in the championship match a record seven consecutive times. He won the title six times and finished runner-up once,bolstering his reputation as the greatest player of all-time.

Winner of a record 16 Grand Slam titles,Federer said he was unable to play his best tennis Wednesday because of pain in his back and right leg. “I couldn’t play the way I wanted to play,” said Federer,who had been chasing the record of seven titles won by Pete Sampras and 19th-century player William Renshaw. “I am struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue. That just doesn’t quite allow me to play the way I would like to play. It’s frustrating,to say the least.”

Berdych ripped a clean forehand winner on his second match point to become the first Czech to reach the men’s semifinals since Ivan Lendl in 1990. “It’s really tough to show this crowd how I’m just feeling now,it’s amazing to play in this stadium,to play such a great player as Roger is,and be here as a winner is just really amazing,” the 20-year-old Berdych said.

Drops to World No.3

With this loss,Federer will drop to No. 3 in the ATP rankings next week for the first time since Nov. 10,2003. Since winning the Australian Open in January,he has failed to win a tournament. Federer said his leg and back have been bothering him since the grass-court tournament in Halle,Germany,the week before Wimbledon. He hadn’t previously mentioned any injury problems.

“When you’re hurting,it’s just a combination of many things,” Federer said. “You just don’t feel as comfortable. You can’t concentrate on each and every point because you do feel the pain sometimes. You tend to play differently than the way you want to play.

“Under the circumstances,I think I played a decent match,” he added. “But I’ve been feeling bad for the last two,three matches now. If there’s anything good about this,it’s that I’m going to get some rest.”

Federer was clearly outplayed on Wednesday. The 6-foot-5 (1.96 m) Berdych was on the offensive for most of the match,smacking first serves consistently in the 130s mph (above 210 kph),winding up to rip forehand winners and not buckling under pressure. He hit 51 winners,compared to 44 for Federer.

Berdych will next face Novak Djokovic,who swept past Yen-hsun Lu in straight sets to reach the semifinals for the second time. The third-seeded Djokovic never faced a break point as he beat the 82nd-ranked Taiwanese player 6-3,6-2,6-2 in less than two hours on Court 1.

In the other quarter-final matches,No. 2 Rafael Nadal came back from a set down against Sweden’s Robin Soderling to register his place in the last four. Nadal beat sixth-seeded Soderling 3-6,6-3. 7-6,6-1 to set it up with Andy Murray,who won 6-7 7-6 6-2 6-2 over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.