Federer Grows His Record Collection

SW19 has been home to a slew of magnificent moments over the last few weeks and in no disappointment culminated to the most wondrous 4 hours of 2009's Wimbledon during the gentlemen's championship match. Despite the mounds of youngsters on tour, a few old timers starred on Sunday: Roger Federer, who has dazzled, if not spoiled, us over the fortnight, and Andy Roddick, the sole American man to grace the Wimbledon final since legendary Pete Sampras.

Roger, with classy wins over Robin Soderling, Ivo Karlovic and Tommy Haas, was in perfect form to take on the hard-hitting, big-serving Statesman. From the onset, neither was showing much venerability but it was only a matter of time before Federer would break the Roddick serve and rush off with the trophy. Little did we know that Andy really didn't have anything else to do or anywhere else to go and was ready to stay a while. Holding his own service games like the pro that he is, Andy was able to claw out a break of his own to grab the first set 7-5.

Still, no worries. Roddick took the first set from Fed in their 2004 meeting but was still unable to capture the title. The second set, though, turned out to be just as close as the first, both taking care their serves with ease and turning to a tiebreak to move on. Immediately, Andy found Fed flat footed and with unreturnable body serves & his faithful backhand flew off to a 6-2 lead. The end seemed all too near for Federer. He did get one break back with his signature backhand flick crosscourt to the open lawn to approach his own service points with resurgent energy. A couple of aces drew Roddick to again claim the set for himself but Roger was able to get his own racket on the bullets to create a complete reversal. Federer drew an error to level the match.

Roddick dusted himself down as the third set was almost a duplicate of the second with another tiebreak looming. This time, it was Federer who ran off to a 5-2 lead and unlike his opponent, did not let the opportunity drift, closing it out 7-5. The Swiss maestro was just one set away from re-writing the history books.

Andy was long was finished though and broke for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set. He recovered from love-30 when serving for the set at 5-3 to continue a three-year stretch of 5-set final matches. And it was a marathon. The 5th set was the longest in men's Grand Slam final history with the American forever trailing. While both faced some tension, each was able to up his ace count in the route of erasing danger -- almost a tribute to Pistol Pete who had traveled half the globe to witness such a spectacle.

At 7-all in the 5th, we were reminded of last year's match at which point Roger was finally broken. He held this time, as did Andy. 8-all, we play on. A few love and 15 games later, 11-all... we play on. Finally in the 30th game of the set, 14-15, Roddick faced the first break point which was also a championship point. With this point Federer was on the verge of sitting alone atop of the sport of tennis with 15 Grand Slam titles while regaining his world #1 ranking. Merely two shots after the serve, it was all over. Roger Federer, with this lone break of Andy Roddick's serve, had made history exactly where history was meant to be made. On Centre Court. Wimbledon.

Anything you can do...

If all you were looking for was a match of stats, 22rd seed Ivo Karlovic and 9th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put on quite the pleasing show, particulary in the serving department. This was the type of match, frustratingly to both opponents, where 15-30 served as an opening, a look at a second serve was precious and a successful winner came off a 3-shot rally.

The first set was comprised of bullets fired from both service lines. It wasn't until 5-all with Karlovic serving that Tsonga saw an elusive love-30 opportunity. Though, in classic Ivo-style, the Croat threw in 4 consectuve aces, numbers 11-14, to hold. Tsonga held easily, serving up a few aces of his own, to push a first set tiebreak where the two traded aces and unreturnable serves before Karlovic earned a minibreak, drawing Tsonga to hit a forehand just milimeters out. They stayed on serve for a 7-5 win to Ivo.

JW, clearly disheartened, was able to protect his serve again through the second set and this time come out the victor in another 7-5 tiebreak. On to the third, not much changed until the latest game. Tsonga serving at 5-6 faced a break point and with a second serve Karlovic was able to volley his was to a two sets to one lead.

The fourth set seemed to just fly by as the Frenchman lost only one point on his serve while Ivo just better him. They might as well have met in the centre and agreed to advance straight to the tiebreak, which saw 3 total minibreaks... one more for the Croat who will meet Fernando Verdasco in the round of 16. Undoubtedly Karlovic will look to let his service coast through the match and cement his title as the King of Aces.

Fire Power

This year's Champions at Wimbledon have not been without drama and excitement but the first week's most enticing match came from a few very unusual suspects. Both at 29, born and raised on clay, 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez and former world #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero fought for a spot in the final 16 this Saturday. Gonzo, with his almost frightful forehand, has just recently come onto the radar as a true contender at the majors and was concerned the favourite over Ferrero who many concern to have peaked six years ago when he won Roland Garros.

The level at which these two were playing was fantastically high from the onset with many beautiful serves (though especially lovely from JCF's super smooth motion), 20+ shot rallies and quintessential one-two punches. Gonzo, as expected, captured an early break and though he did allow Ferrero into his own service games the Chilean held his own and was able to take the first set 6-4.

JCF, who had played superb lawn tennis to enter the third round, relied on his years of experience to overcome any discouragement. He kept the second set supremely tight by running Gonzo to every corner of Court 1. Finally, at 5-6, Ferrero was granted a break point and somehow got his racquet on a remarkable serve, continued to construct the point to Gonzo's backhand before charging the net for a winner and the second set. The third set seemed to find Juan Carlos very much at ease, holding with little trouble while Fernando was a bit more sluggish but still took care of his serve. As almost a repeat of the last set, Ferrero found an opportunity at 4-5 to break and to up a two to one set lead.

Gonzo, clearly frustrated, took JCF's first game of the fourth set to numerous deuces before snatching it away from the Spaniard. He went on the grab the fourth set, 6-4, despite an unruly public announcement which alluded to the completion of this match on Centre Court. Both players were put off by the rude interruption though, luckily, did not end up exchanging courts for their fifth set.

Ferrero apparently enjoyed the way he closed out his prior two sets and instead of securing an early break, he waiting until Gonzo was serving at 4-5. Sadly, the Chilean double faulted to hand over the game, set and match but otherwise put on an extraordinary three-hour match with his fellow, charming, Spanish-speaking opponent.

Rollin' into and out of Wimbledon

As most desperately office-ridden tennis fans, Friday morning was spent hopelessly refreshing my Google search on world #1 Rafael Nadal: is he going to play Wimbledon? Speculation and rumours flew about until the statement was finally given: No. The answer is shockingly 'No.' The champion will not return, this year, to the green grass grounds and defend his title after an uncharacteristic loss on the French clay. Citing painful tendonitis in his knees, Nadal is simply not at 100% and has too much respect for the game and its premier tournament to play when he cannot set forth his best effort.

Nadal's absence seemingly leaves the fortnight wide open for Roger Federer to not only snatch back his Wimbledon crown but also regain the coveted #1 ranking that he held for a record four years. The Swiss star, who recently set foot into an elite group by winning the French Open, will be facing a new type of pressure. Even though he indisputably reigned on Centre Court for five straight years, he was always thought of as the favourite. This year everyone is already saying that in 15 days Roger will have his 15th Grand Slam winner's trophy. He is not merely expected win; he will win.

Oddly enough, the only tangible impact Nadal's withdrawal can have on Federer shows itself if he appears in the final. If the past five years tell us anything we should be able to neatly write, in pen, Roger's name on the final Sunday's roster, but his path to victory in Paris was anything but smooth. Many of this year's entrants will be taking a note from Robin Soderling's performance just weeks ago and will probably walk onto Wimbledon's lawns without anything to lose, giving the usual contenders new worlds of trouble. Regardless, I expect to see a lean and improved Andy Roddick resurrect and an aged rivalry will old buddy (and fellow married man) Fed.

Superb on Sundays

Minus the triumphs of finally completing the career Slam and tying Pete Sampras' record 14 Grand Slams, the 2009 Rolland Garros final was merely another day at the office for Mr. Federer. He did what he usually does on final Sundays and it was none the easier this time around.

As he so often does, and as we are all so used to seeing, Roger dismissed his opponent by merely cloaking Soderling with fear and doubt. Similar to last year's US Open where Andy Murray was featured in his first Grand Slam final, the breakthrough Swede could not find the level of play he exhibited the rest of the tournament, allowing Federer to draw out errors and comfortably capture his first Coupe des Mousquetaires.

Perhaps the Swiss did get somewhat lucky for the first time in four years to not face the still undisputed clay court master, Rafael Nadal, across the net. Even though both are gracious, worthy champions, Federer continues to shows his dominance -- most notably by reaching 20 straight Grand Slam semis.

Many may try to peg this victory as a chance win, but history will surely prove to show more class. It does not matter who he ultimately defeated, Federer is indisputably the greatest tennis player of this generation.

Pressure Enough

Roger Federer has enough self-inflicted pressure from a personal pursuit of history without the onlooking world adding its own. Arguably, Roger fell victim to stress when he struggled during his matches against Tommy Haas and Juan Martin Del Potro, the latter of whom had never even taken a set away the Swiss superstar until yesterday when he got a hold of two.

Sunday will mark Federer's fourth consecutive attempt to capture the Roland Garros title, when a successful victory will finally complete the career Grand Slam and silence the critics. The former world #1 clearly has lots to worry about, not even considering a child on the way, and deserves no more from anyone else.

Sure we love Roger and it's doubtful that even Magnus Norman will full-heartedly be pulling for Robin Soderling, but he need not worry. Roger Federer will forever be the beloved tennis idol, with or without a dirty French trophy.

Not Even Close

While the 5-set, apparently tight 6-7, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 score of Roger Federer's round of 16 battle against Tommy Haas suggests that an epic clash of wilful opponents had occurred, it was perhaps one of the most listless, uninspired matches of this year's French Open.

Rarely is a player up two sets to love and not considered in control of the match. Haas was in that exact position with all but the taste of victory over the former world #1. Federer, though uncharacteristically dull, did not lose a point on his serve the entire first set until the tiebreak and even at that point didn't seem to make an effort to level the match. Instead, as done in the past, he dug himself a nice big hole - almost to give more reason to put on a show of droppers, aces and backhand winners up the line. Certainly the German played a large role by self-destructing right in front of the largest beast willing to take open prey, but there was never any substantive thought given to Fed's potential loss.

In fact, when Nadal was down two sets to one, commentary turned to Federer winning Roland Garros. When Roger was down two to love, talk moved to the looming 5 sets (which ended up lasting merely 3 hours). This only goes to show the absurdity of the general will to want Federer to win the career grand slam. Just remember though, Rafa lost by some amazing fluke that possessed Soderling. Roger won by one... this time.