No.15! 
But not an easy one by any length of imagination. Anyone who saw yesterday’s final knows that halfway into the match, there were more chances of him returning with the plate for a second consecutive year than breaking Pete Sampras’ record in front of the legend himself. Andy Roddick, for a good 4 and a half hours, was the better player. If quality of tennis played could be a measure, then probably Roger would end up second best. And I am not saying this because Andy Roddick is my favourite or something, I am saying this based on what I, and many many more people worldwide, saw.
En route to the final, Federer had dropped only 1 set , and Roddick had dropped 6. Honestly, Federer looked in murderous form. He looked a calm man. His disposition of Robin Soderling and Ivo Karlovic were ample proof of the comfort level he was in, at the Center Court here at SW19, London. Roddick, on the other hand, had been dominant, but not breezy. He had a few stutters. His match against Lleyton Hewitt was an epic. But overall, he was looking good, strong, and a much better player than the one who played against Federer in the 2005 Wimbledon final.
Coming into the match, right from Game 1 of the first set, Roddick was on top. His blistering serves and ground-strokes were proving to be a bit too much for Federer, who played some his brand of tennis to keep up with him. And as if this wasn’t enough, Roddick tough a leaf out of the 5-time Wimbledon champion’s book and played some delightful passing shots which left Federer stranded in the middle of the court. 5-5. Federer had 2 break points. Roddick serves 3 bombs, and breaks Roger’s serve to win the set 7-5. In the second set, both kept their serves and it took a tie-breaker to decide the winner of the set. Roddick was leading 6-2 in the tie-breaker at a point. He squandered all his set-points to hand Federer the set. The third set saw another tie-break and Federer won it 8-6. Fourth set; Roddick blows away Federer to win it 6-3. 4 sets of tennis so far, and Roddick hasn’t been broken. It was getting tough for Federer, but he kept showing his class to actually send down double the number of aces than Roddick. Every time he was in trouble, he would hurl an ace. The fifth set was absolutely epic. Both players played their best tennis of the match and nobody gave the other an inch until it was 8-8, and Federer was serving 15-40. Roddick had the chance to land a big, big blow, but Federer served some more aces to make it 9-8. Roddick kept serving with tremendous pace until it was 14-14. Federer then kept serve to make it 15-14. More than 4 hours of tennis, and Roddick’s serve still hadn’t been broken. This was the game that changed it. Federer broke Roddick, and won the Wimbledon. One couldn’t help but think, this bloke had served at an average speed of over 130 miles per hour, and astonishingly, kept his serve for 4 hours!! One bad service game, and it was over. Oh.. sport can be so cruel sometimes!
Quality wise, this match was way way better than last year’s final between Federer and Nadal. Andy Roddick probably played the best 4 hours of tennis of his life. Roger Federer became the best ever to play this game by becoming the man to win most number of Grand Slams with 15 titles to his name.
