Roger Federer Gets His 15th Slam After Titanic Struggle with Andy Roddick

(Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

All this tennis luminescence, on hand to witness his crowning achievement.

What pressure?

Just another day, and another victory for Federer, 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14, right?

Sure.

As the Wimbledon men's final got underway, we were immediately treated to a glimpse of both Federer the immortal and Federer the human. Roger, surprisingly flat at times, and typically divine at others, seemed to be slipping in and out of both characters today on Centre Court.

And Roddick, seemingly impervious to the pressure and enjoying playing the role of spoiler yet again, also proved that he was not immune to it all. His epic meltdown in the second set tiebreaker happened just as Federer was slipping into his immortal costume.

With four set points in the tiebreak, Roddick was one nasty serve from a two sets to love lead against Federer—something he had never held in their previous 20 encounters.

What has always been second nature for a power player like Roddick—strangling a tentative opponent when he's down—suddenly became impossible. He burned through set points like a tennis luminary burns through frequent flyer miles.

It was the beginning of the end for Roddick—before he had even realized that the match was his for the taking it no longer was. Or was it the end of the beginning? The way that Federer seemed to change from hunter to hunted, from believer to doubter, it was truly hard to tell.

This was a tense match from the beginning, with Federer unable to find the comfort zone that we typically see him in, and Roddick happy to benefit from that fact.

Neither player could challenge the others serve until the 11th game of the first set. It was Federer who earned the first opportunity to take the set, as Roddick committed a cluster of unforced errors (his first three of the set) and found himself facing not one, but four break points in total.

On the third, it appeared that Federer had broken through with a forehand winner, but a Hawk-Eye challenge by Roddick reversed the outcome of the point.

After fighting off the last of four break points Roddick quickly found himself with a chance to break the Federer serve. The Omaha native did just that, as Federer punched a down-the-line forehand wide and much to the surprise of everyone, the first set was Roddick's.

The second set was similar to the first, with neither player yielding on serve.

Federer, however, seemed to be playing under pressure. It was as if he was unsure as to whether or not he wanted to shed his human skin and slip into the velvety smooth epidermis of the immortal.

One had to wonder if he had mistakenly perceived that the person across the net from him was Rafael Nadal. How could it be that he was in danger of going down two sets to love against his long time rag-doll?

However unimaginable, it was true.

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