Federer vs Roddick : When the Game Turned Cruel

How many times has one wondered how nice it would be if tennis had a tie or a draw. The 2009 Wimbledon finals between Andy Roddick and Roger Federer would have made you to think just that. It was a classic. It was a thriller. It was brilliant to say the least. It was beyond tennis.

The match started well with both players holding serve until the twelfth game when Roddick broke Federer’s serve to take a one set to love lead. The second set saw no breaks of serve and went into a tie break. It was tight.

Andy Roddick’s serve kept getting better and better. He was leading 6-2 in the tie break and had a chance to get one hand on the coveted Wimbledon trophy, but he let go all of his four set points and his chances dipped a bit with that. Federer took the set, carried momentum into the third set and won it 7-5 in the tie break.

People who thought that Roddick had lost it mentally, were wrong. He was serving at his best, broke Federer in the fourth game of the fourth set and went on to win the set 6-3. Things were getting tighter. The final set began. Both players started to serve well again.

The scoreboard read 6-6. Roddick had a slight chance when Federer was serving 15-40 down in game number  17 in the set. But Federer held on. It then became 10-10, and then 12-12. This was a point in the match when neither of the players deserved to lose. If only tennis had a tie or a draw, this would have been one.

And then it became 14-14. Federer has a millions of fans around the world and in SW19, but the guy Andy Roddick is, one could just not stop loving him for the way he was playing. Never before would one have seen tennis of such high quality from Andy Roddick. He was at his absolute best.

But then something cruel happened. It was game number 77. Roddick who was holding his serve so well, let slip and what a slip it was! He was broken for the first time in the match and it cost him the title! Federer finally won 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14 after 4hours and 16 minutes.

Federer was elated, Roddick was devastated and understandably so. The way Andy Roddick played was commendable. The defeat was so cruel on him. I really hope he comes back next year to Wimbledon to win. He deserves a title here.

The fact that the player on the other side of the court was Roger Federer, made all the difference. With due respect and credit to him, there are moments in the sport when only players like Federer can make happen the improbable. And he showed it when he fought back from 2-6 down in the second set tie break.

He has been a terrific player over the years, the most successful in tennis history yet with 15 Grand Slam titles to his name and he deserves every bit of it. The victory could not have been sweeter for him with the likes of Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and Rod Lever watching the match from the Royal box.

What a final it was! So exhilarating, and the longest in Men’s Grand Slam Finals in history at 77 games. It was a perfect match.  Too bad that one person had to lose, but that is the way sport is. At times, it can be cruel.

Cheers,

Aswath