(Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
The final of this year's Wimbledon was set yesterday as Roger Federer and Andy Roddick produced sublime tennis to defeat respective opponents Tommy Haas and Andy Murray.
A third Wimbledon final for Andy Roddick, and he faces yet again the Swiss maestro. 2004 and 2005 saw him fall to the sword of Swiss and he'll be hoping it doesn't happen again. A recent rejuvenation under coach Larry Stefanki leads us to believe he has every chance on Sunday, but all eyes are on one Mr. Federer.
A win on Sunday will see Federer overcome the current record of 14 Grand Slam titles, held by Pete Sampras and himself, and rightfully place him back at the pinnacle of men's tennis, world number 1.
An injury-riddled 2008 saw Roger Federer torn from his throne at the top of the game, stripped of his Wimbledon Crown and humiliated several times by Rafael Nadal, all in the space of six weeks. As the end of the year drew close, defeats to Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Ivo Karlovic, and other players he would normally steamroll were a regular occurrence. Critics, the media, fellow tennis players, everyone, was quick to assume that this was "the end of an era."
But there was one man who never doubted Federer's ability, Roger Federer himself. An awesome performance in the semi-final and final of the US Open saw the Swiss hold onto his title for a fifth successive year, and many doubters were put rightfully back in their seats. It wasn't long however until they had more to chew on, as Federer was beaten yet again by the definitive Spaniard in the final of the Australian earlier this year.
The beginning of the clay court season got under way, a season where Rafael Nadal was as invincible on clay as Roger Federer on grass. But as seen in last years epic SW19 final, anything is possible. A week before the French, the Swiss crushed Nadal in the Madrid Masters, 6-4 6-4, and out of the blue Nadal was beaten at Roland Garros by underdog Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
An obvious jump to conclusions stated that it was now or never for Federer, and even the great man himself couldn't argue too much with that. The amount of pressure was unparalleled, so much as to even affect the Maestro.
Federer's forehand was calculating more errors than winners, and it wasn't long before he found himself match points down against Juan Martin Del Potro. Coming through that match he faced, ironically, Tommy Haas in the semi's, and this time had to come from two sets down, 3-4 in the third. He did so with great spirit, and washed away Robin Soderling in the final to claim his first french victory of his career, thus completing the career grand slam, joining an elite group of five others achieving the feat.
The pressure was off Federer coming into Wimbledon, Sampras's record was tied at 14 slams, he'd won the elusive French, and had taken a welcome break as he pulled out of Halle. This showed in the first couple of matches at the All England Club as he produced some ridiculously extravagant tennis.
And now he finds himself in a familiar situation, another Wimbledon final, his seventh in a row, the first man to achieve this since 1924. And he has every reason to be confident too, an 18-2 head-to-head record with A-Rod suggests Roger Federer is the name already carved onto the wall of fame for a sixth time, and two victories over the American in previous SW19 finals only add to Federer's superiority.
Don't count the big serving American out though, Larry Stefanki is an intelligent being, and he will know full well that if his man serves like he did in the semi then he has every chance to upset his overwhelming opponent.
Everything is to play for.
2 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete