I was already rooting for Roddick but Roger gave me another reason...those mongrammed plastic raquet covers. Jeez what a pretentious twatwaffle this guy is.

um ... a lot of players have those, including club players i've seen on court. Try again.

Not the racquet bag...the clear plastic cover that individually wraps the newly strung racquet. You don't see club players with those...even McEnroe and Robinson commented on how they'd never seen them before.

oh ... then that changes everything.

OMY! How many of you were thinking...Roger is going to be down 2 sets?
That was a fantastic come-back in the tie break. OK, a little chokey from Andy.

DAMN! I was just about to write "UH-OH" then Roger pulls off the second set! The funny thing is, i don't think i'd be as upset if Roger lost to Andy than if he lost to anyone else. I sort of want to see Andy cry like a baby when he wins. It turns me on.

Plus, I don't think Andy will have too many more chances, and I'd love to see him win Wimbledon.

McEnroe annoys the hell out of me. Just shut up John and let me watch the match without you yammering on.

It would have been so easy for Roddick to pack it in after losing that huge lead in the second set tiebreak and then to lose another tiebreak. But it is so great to see him fighting and competing with federer from the baseline. Fifth set again!

lmao! Somebody had to say it!

oh ... my ... god.

that is all.

This was one of those classic great matches where I could not be upset no matter who had won. I am a Fed fan so am overjoyed at his 15th Slam but have to have greatest admiration for Roddick as well. Both are champions on this day.
My only concern was that breakfast at Wimbledon would turn into dinner at Wimbledon or that Mrs Federer would give birth on the court.
Wow, this was one great day. Nice seeing so many former champions in the Royal Box.
If only the women could provide such excitement.

Roddick gets a huge amount of points for this match and his grace in losing. What a match. I kept wondering whose arm was going to falter first. That was an AMAZING display of serving prowess on both player's parts.

Bravo x 5.

And yeah, yeah, I guess x15, too.

One classic after another in the men's finals this era. It's great to witness.

I kept saying that all during the match.

NBC gets a little bit of back credit for keeping short the commercials between games.
But wow, the commercials about #15. Immeidately!

How very cool that the previous champions were interviewed. This has been an awesome tennis week. For the men....

Hold onto those seats you've been keeping warm for 5 hours...they might just broadcast some W women's doubles!

BBC review of the match. I missed that Roddick went to the lockerroom after the 2nd, maybe during a commercial break.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8133424.stm

Excellent Freudian typo.

All of a sudden I am missing those times when the winner crawled up into the stands to hug their loved ones.

Ugh,thanks tealsea. Guess you were responding while I was editing. Maybe it was Roddick who "messed"causing the need to run to the locker room.

Hopefully Andy gained some fans - or at least some newfound respect - from some of the haters out there. But a loss is a loss, I guess.

Can Andy consolidate this run and really impose himself during the US Open Series and possibly the Open itself? He definitely has reinserted himself into the conversation of possible champs!

It has to have boosted Andy's confidence and he should now be regarded as a real contender at the US Open. Being in the final at Wimbledon is a great achievement and playing the way he did today is something to be proud of even with the loss.

I haven't watched the match yet, don't know if I can bring myself to cue up the tivo. But my heart breaks for Andy, to lose a W final 16-14 in the fifth. It shows just how much he's improved, though. The old Andy would have been routined in straights.

I agree....Once he sits down and gets over the disappointment of losing, he'll realize that he played 2 matches of his life back to back. That's gotta pump him up or tick him off for the US Open. But he'll have fire in him, BIG TIME.

By the way, did NBC and McEnroe do an interview wirh Andy? Or did he walk right by Mac like Connors used to do when he lost? I must have missed something.

I feel so bad for Roddick too, although I'm happy for Federer. There was that game in the final set on Federer's serve when Roddick got to 15-40. He was playing out of his mind. I felt like he got every serve back in play and was playing unbelievable shots and then Federer launched two aces to save both break points. Roddick played his absolute best, and just came up short. It reminds me of the Dementieva-Serena semifinals match.

In both cases, though, Elena and Andy should be feeling pretty confident going into the U.S. Open. Their perceived weaknesses (Elena's serve and Andy's backhand and return) appear not to be a problem anymore.

As for Federer, that's gotta be nice to have Borg, Sampras and Laver there to greet you in the player's lounge. It's like three Gods of tennis came down from Olympus to welcome him, and he's not even done yet. How many slams can this guy end up with? People used to talk about 20 and then there was a question if he would really ever break 14. Now it feels like 20 might not be such a farfetched thought. Things change so quickly in tennis. And you can no longer say that Federer has never demonstrated a champion's fight and a champion's heart in winning his slams. His last two slams were not easy at all. His talent alone was not enough to get him the trophies.

Thats the best Andy has looked In YEARS IMO. Too bad he gave the second set to Federer, or the outcome would have been different. I should really be interested in a possible rematch at the US Open.

I don't think that just an opinion. I think it's undebatable fact. Yes, that little wobble in the 2nd set was critical. I actually thought Fed was in deep doodoo, but I think he also played some of his classic miracle shots. It was sooooo close. Toward the end, I was wondering whose arm would fall off first.
Andy couldn't have done much better. I wasn't even there, and I am still marveling at it all.

I would think Andy has an advantage at the Open, what with Roger saying grass is his best surface, and Andy having won there.

Grass? Did you get a look at the Centre Court the last few matches? Literally no grass beyond the baseline. A dirt court. Lots of slips due to an almost clay like need to slide. Venus and Roger both had trouble with that.

I love Federer like everyone does, he's incredible, a great #1, etc, but poor Andy. What a heartbreaker, really my heart went out to him for what could have been....

I guess maybe the worn out grass was the downside of the hot dry weather at Wimbledon this year. Actually for a few minutes in the fourth set, I was worried that Andy's spill was going to be decisive, but he seemed to shake it off pretty fast.

I would like Andy to start thinking of this "best tennis of his life" as not playing above his head, but rather his new base level. Now he knows he once again can play with/beat *ANYONE* in the world on a fast surface. He needs to go back to expecting to win matches against people. He held for 38 consecutive games against Roger! And broke Roger twice in that time. I think Stefanki will be helpful in getting him to realize that he's just begun to tap his potential, and really is AS GOOD AS ANYONE IN THE WORLD right now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8135340.stm

BBC interview with Andy,he says todays loss felt worse than his 2 prior losses to Roger at Wimbledon.

How could it not? He played superbly and fell just short. (He's had some really painful 5 set losses at Wimbledon and in his career, esp Davis Cup.)

That volley error at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak was more flagrantly haunting than Dementieva's tentativeness during any of her potential knockout moments against Serena...but he should be proud that he recovered from that moment. I thought the match was over at that point.

BPJ, I agree with you a ton. I've just sat back and said nothing and kept it moving over the years when the mocking and hating of Andy would click into gear here. All's fair even when it gets tiresome. Because he's salty and a street brawler on court, he'll never be everyone's favorite. But he's always been true.

Federer showed great resilience to win this title. His mental resolve is strong in a way that it hadn't been in some time. Laver and Nastase and Santana are such great characters.

Garber and another writer on ESPN are reporting that Andy was "wilting" in the last game. I didn't think that was the case, but it's difficult to tell on TV unless the guy is cramping. In the last game he missed several first serves and each point he lost was an unforced error. Seemed mental to me - he served from behind in the set and Roger was holding easily. It felt inevitable that Roger would win after Roddick couldn't break leading 15-40 on Roger's serve. Roger started serving even better than he had been after that game, and he started getting to 30 on Roddicks' serve regularly.

I'm with the posters above. Andy can play with anyone. Hope he inspires Blake and Fish to work their asses off. Looking forward to the summer and seeing Roddick make a run at the Open.

yeah and that was the set he won 6-3. I was worried too. That would have been a lousy way for the match to end, Fed to move up, etc. Showed you how strong Andy is. I am mighty impressed with the strength and fitness of that young man. H worked hard to get in that condition. No one can do it for you. And Stefanki knows his stuff.

OK, I gotta say this.
I just watched the match again on dvd. No commericals. It went pretty fast. Plus it's 115 outside and I had some time.
I am amazed at the number of times Roddick did a reverse Nadal.
He actually ...well let's say he adjusted his frontal privates. It was over and over and over. Sometimes at every point. Not having that problem, I can't guess what was going on, but it seemed to get to the point of another nervous habit. Gawd, I hope not. it's so undignified. A lot of people are immitating and complaining about Nadal's ass-picking, I consider this worse--almost lewd.
I have a student who developed that habit once, but he got over it. There is help Andy! I wonder if anyone will say anything to him.

Funny ... i didn't have a problem with seeing that.

Wow, such a great match! Was hard to pull for Roger with Andy playing so well. I'm glad Roger pulled it off and what an accomplishment 15. Anyone else get a little put off that they refered to him several times during the post match interview as "The greatest tennis player ever" or something to that effect. Even Sue what's her name the British sportcaster who always does the first interview on court made reference to being the best tennis player with the 15.
I'd agree he's the best Men's with his 15 wins. But hey didn't Martina win 18 grand slam finals in singles? 9 at Wimbledon.
Just funny that they didn't say men's. Not trying to drag up that old thread about who's the greatest. Just found it odd

Add my voice to the ones copngratulating Federer. But I also feel bad for Roddick. Sometimes these losses can be devastating for the loser and can take a Looooong time to get over psychologically. It happened with Capriati after a particularly wrenching loss to Seles.

Roddick does look great. His 15lb weight loss and improved conditioning allowed him to keep up with Federer
for 4.5 hours. It's only after 4.5 hours that he finally blinked and lost his first serve game.

I feel bad for Roddick. But I appreciate again how gracious he is after a loss. His funny comments post-match are always a hoot.

He will be a force in the hard court season, If he can stay strong mentally.

and last... like someone else already said, Blake and Fish should see this as an inspiration to improve their own situations. If you saw Fish during Wimbledon, you saw how big his ass has gotten and how jowly his face is. Get on the treadmilll Mardy!

Phew!!! Ok..got some catching up to do. So the boyfriend and I made our way back from vacation yesterday morning from Mexico. I was up at 7 and got to see Federer lose the first set and win that incredible second set tiebreaker. In a way, they said that Andy stole the first set from Roger so I felt as though Roger got the second set in the same way....even!! Had to catch a shuttle to the airport, my bag was 10lbs overweight and I was damned if I was gonna pay $150 extra. So after reshuffling and then going to duty free, I come out and see tennis on the flat screens at a bar in the airport. Its 6-6, fifth set. Now because international flights you have to arrive about 2 1/2-3 hours early, and Los Cabos is such a small airport, we had plenty of time. So we watched, and watched, and watched. I think I was the only American rooting for Federer. Then finally about 20 mins before we had to board, Roger pulled it off.

Congratulations to Roger on his 15th grand slam title, 6th Wimbledon. One thing I haven't heard is that he now is someone who has won the French/Wimbledon double, and BACK TO #1!!!!!!!!! I do have to give props to Andy though even though I think he's a prick. I feel a LITTLE sorry for him. He really did give everything he had out there yesterday. He was able to keep up with Federer, although at times Roger still made Andy look slow in my opinion. But, that loss and that second set tiebreaker are going to be haunting Andy's dreams for years to come. I hope he can make some noise at the open, but honestly I think more contenders are at the Open then at Wimbledon. Murray won't have the pressure of his home crowd and hopefully Nadal will be back healthy again. Then of course there's Roger.

Speaking of pressure, it had to be incredibly tough for Roger with all that tennis royalty there, Sampras there, and knowing how much of a favorite he was going into the match. He didn't play his best, but he still won. Roddick couldn't have played any better and just couldn't get it done. But hats off to both. Amazing Wimbledon. Amazing men's final for the third straight year. Now the pressure is really off Roger. He's got his French Open, is now solely the men's tennis player with the most grand slam titles...I mean whats left for him?

Ah ha! So you noticed it too.

As Jake rightly pointed out, Roddick's downfall yesterday was his Return Game, or more accurately his lack of one. Agassi had said years ago when he won there that its not too difficult holding your serve at Wimbledon; breaking the other guy on grass is what's nearly impossible. By the time the 5th Set came I honestly didn't think Federer looked all that worried, even as each game dragged on. He was out-acing Roddick by a considerable margin. When you add up the winners, Federer was able to get 107 shots past Roddick without Andy's racquet touching them. It was a lot like the numbers Kohlschreiber put up against Andy when he beat him in Australia a year ago, firing 104 winners past Andy that night. These numbers are a direct reflection on movement. If Roddick can leave enough court open for guys to pound winners past him that often, then he's not moving all that well to the ball. Watching him yesterday, Andy's slightly quicker on his feet now, but he's not any lighter on his feet. He doesn't change direction well. More than a few times he feet were planted solidly on the ground, waiting to see which direction Federer was going with his shots. Those moments cost him. And since the match was so tight, a few more correct anticipations by him might have sealed the deal for him.

I hope he comes back to what he showed yesterday, but I do think it'll take a while. Those 4 Set Points in the 2nd Set are likely to linger. You can bet Federer never believed he'd be locked in a 5th set at 14-all before the match started. Andy was heroic in losing yesterday, and in retrospect it seems fair to say that he's the second best player of Federer's generation - the guys in the 25-32 range. He's been to more Major Finals of that age group, 5, and lost four of them to Federer. But when you consider other guys from that group - Ljubicic, Davydenko, Ferrer, Robredo, Ancic, Youzhny, Lopez, Verdasco, Haas, Blake, Fish, etc. have never even been to a Major Final, Andy's career really does stand out. A loss like yesterday's can have some tremndous silver linings. I hope this one does for him.

Roddick played so well against Murray and Federer. Each of his opponents had a lot of pressure on him, so that helped Roddick. But, as seen many times in the past, that didn't get him the match. Roddick looked much more physically alert compared to his usual. Alert, aggressive, and intentional in pushing the play without sacrificing defense. Don't know if losing weight made things lighter in his brain, but he showed more this tournament than I recall seeing.

Murray also played well, imo. Both here and at the French. Granted he wanted to win, and had good chances. However, his first French QF and first Wimbledon Semi....continuing his upward trends. With his best surface ahead of him.

Federer won. Great job. Third final in a row that was intense, where he had the chance to lose. No rollovers these. Having won the French and completed the career slam, the pressure was significantly reduced. Then with Nadal out even less pressure. Of course, going for #15 was pressure...good job of delivering.

What's next for Federer....now, perhaps, he can concentrate on beating his top opponents Nadal, Murray, and Djoko. Both Murray and Djoko are at their best on hard, and Rafa has had his number. There's still work to be done to substantiate the title of greatest. Now, he can do it while already having won the most majors. Piece of cake, no? lol

In this discussion of Roddick's return game--which has never been a strength, after all--it's worth mentioning that he did break Federer twice. Fed's previous three opponents never broke him, and the last two never even managed to get a break point.

The ace count's a little misleading. While Federer managed to get his racket on more balls, he couldn't do much with them. Roddick got 54% of the serves back in play; Federer was only a little bit better at 58%.

Roddick has gotten a lot of flack for failing to match up to Roger over the years, but he's been to more major finals and won more tournaments (27) than a number of hall-of-famers. He has shown great consistency over the years, which you can see both from his lengthy stay in the top 10 and his excellent career winning percentage (.760--higher than Andre Agassi).

That said, I don't know that it's so clear he's the 2nd best player of his generation. Hewitt has an extra slam on him, just as many titles, and a long stint at #1.

Fair enough. Although Hewitt's been in one less Major Final than Roddick (I think he has anyway: US Open 2001; Wimbledon 2002; US Open 2004; and Australian Open 2005), Hewiit only had to face Federer in Major Final once, Roddick had to face him four times. And I think it's also fair to say Hewitt's run at #1 was an opportunistic one. He sorta fell in between the Sampras - Agassi generation and the advent of Federer. And moreover, I think Roddick has spent as least as long in the Top 10 as Hewitt and maybe longer now. Hewitt hasn't seen the Top 10 in a few years now. But that said, kudos to Hewitt for his resurgency since the new hip. He had a terrific run here.

Okay, so for the record, here are the various Year-End rankings for players of Roger's and Andy's generation, starting in 2000 (the year that Safin beat Sampras in Flushing Meadows, harkening the changing of the guards):

Federer (15 majors, 5 finals)
29, 13, 6, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2

Hewitt (2 majors, 2 finals)
7, 1, 1, 17, 3, 4, 20, 21, 67

Roddick (1 major, 4 finals)
156, 14, 10, 1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 8

Safin (2 majors, 2 finals)
2, 11, 3, 77, 4, 12, 26, 58, 29

Ferrero (1 major, 2 finals)
12, 5, 4, 3, 31, 17, 23, 24, 55

Nalbandian (0 majors, 1 final)
245, 47, 12, 8, 9, 6, 8 9, 11

I think Roddick over the next couple of years has the opportunity to really burnish his legacy and land squarely in the Hall of Fame. He's starting to clearly distance himself from Lleyton, having won the past 5 encounters to level their H2H at 6-6. But boy, it would sure be nice if he had that one additional major win...