DownSwinging.com

Nobody who watched the Men’s singles Final yesterday in SW19 can help but lament the eventual downfall of Andy Roddick, the world’s number 6, to top-ranked Roger Federer. Let’s get all of the obvious congratulations out of the way. Congrats Roger. Congrats on topping Pete Sampras for most grand slams won by a singles player, 15. Congrats on winning your 6th Wimbledon in 7 years. Congrats on playing a brand of tennis that resembles the play of a robot. You are clearly the best tennis player that has ever lived, and you handle it with astonishing humility. That aside, yesterday I felt the most disappointed I have ever felt, and probably will ever feel, at the end of a tennis match. This one was Roddick’s. I was certain, after seeing Roddick dispatch Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals, that this tournament could be a special one for the aging American. Sure he’d been here before, but his game seemed so much more solid. After hiring Larry Stefanki as his new coach last December, and supposedly handing all of the reigns over to the world-renowned trainer, Roddick’s one-dimensional game has suddenly seemed much stronger. His perennially weak backhand, looked like a strength at times, while his overpowering forehand and serve seemed more dominant than ever. Sure Federer was supposed to win, but that is not how the match played out.

With Roddick’s impressive 2009 tiebreak record at 24-4, many felt that if the American held his serve, he would be in with a decent shot at preventing Federer from claiming the trophy for the second consecutive year. This held true, as Roddick stormed the first set, giving up very few points on his serve and even breaking Federer to avoid the tiebreak, winning the first set 7-5. The second set was a deadlock. Neither man giving an inch on his serve. This set was destined for the tiebreak. Roddick proved that he is even more dominant than the world number 1 in these situations by jumping out to an emphatic 6-2 lead, giving Roddick 4 set points. This was his moment, but he choked. Federer won the next 9 points in the match. The third set provided more of the same, after another stalemate, the tiebreak left everything up for grabs. This time it was Federer who jumped out to the early lead, but he held on. Roddick broke Federer in the 4th set, and won it comfortably 6-3. So with it headed to the decisive 5th set, everyone wondered, how many games will this one go? Roddick had broken Federer twice, while he himself had yet to be broken. This had all the makings of an epic. And it was. 30 games later, Federer was pumping his fists and Roddick was battling the tears. It was too hard to watch.

During the customary post-match interviews, Roddick said all the right things, voice-cracking and all. He truly played well enough to be a Wimbledon champion, he just missed that killer instinct that he has lacked his entire career. That being said, this was far from “same old Andy”. Federer tried (he really should have left it) to console his counterpart by saying “I lost a very difficult one on this court last year” to which the quick-witted Roddick responded “Yeah, but you’d already won five.” When the camera went to his face, it was clear he was not joking, he felt robbed. This always frustrates me in sports. Seeing winners, who have too many winner’s medals to count, trump the guys who just want one so badly. Its always impossible to watch, and even tougher to try and understand. To the question, “How does it feel to have the trophy back?” Federer responded, “A little funny.” Thus, providing us with another quote from the Swiss marksman, that surely made Roddick want to yack his vitamin water all over center court. Federer now has his sixth Wimbledon title. Why can’t Roddick just have one?