The eldest man at the Roland Garros aged 39, Federer had cruised when claiming the first set but the Swiss legend then found himself embroiled in a stern exchange of views with official Emmanuel Joseph as well as Croatian rival Cilic.
The incident came in the second set when Cilic let Joseph know his unhappiness with how long Federer was taking to retrieve his towel point-after-point.
“I thought…,” Joseph said in his mother tongue.
“..But you think wrong.. Like you thought wrong just before!” Federer interrupted.
“I listened when you were speaking to me, now listen to me when I’m speaking to you,” he demanded.
“I’m going from one corner to the next, I’m not doing it on purpose.”
After Federer said he was fully aware of the rules, Cilic replied: “You were not playing too slow but, on a few occasions, I was waiting for you…
“That’s fine [getting your towel] but, I mean, you’re playing like this all the time…”
Losing the second set after losing his head, Federer recovered well to rally to a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over Cilic, and therefore notched back-to-back match triumphs for the first time since competing in last year’s Australian Open.
“I had very good moments, in the tie-break in particular, and I served really well to finish,” remarked the 2009 champion afterward.
“It shows me that I still have something in the tank, it’s super important for confidence.”
Losing the first set, he came back to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 overall, and this was his second ever victory at Roland Garros to improve his record to 2-4 there.
