Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009

Another Wimbledon Winner

When the fifth-set result resembles a football score, you know you've seen a classic Wimbledon tennis match. In the 2009 men's final, Roger Federer outdueled American Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 to win a record 15th Grand Slam title. After it appeared that both players would keep acing each other all night long, Roddick finally blinked in the 30th game of the final set, shanking a forehand on match point to give Federer the victory. It was the first time Federer broke Roddick's serve all match. At 77 games, Federer-Roddick was the longest men's Grand Slam final in tennis history. No one thought the epic '08 Wimbledon battle between Federer and Rafael Nadal, who missed this year's tournament with an injured hamstring, could ever be equaled. Maybe so. But Federer-Roddick was a brilliant encore.