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.
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.
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