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Published: July 5, 2009  Srdjan Suki/European Pressphoto Agency Roger Federer with the championship trophy after winning the men's singles final match against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in London on Sunday. WIMBLEDON, England — Andy Roddick had hoped to make Roger Federer wait for another Grand Slam tournament to win his record 15th singles title. But despite playing what looked very much like the match of his life on Sunday, Roddick could only succeed in delaying Federer’s celebration on Centre Court. On and on the fifth set stretched, further than any fifth set has ever stretched in a Grand Slam singles final. But in the end, Federer’s phenomenal serving was just a bit better than Roddick’s phenomenal serving. Cruel as the idea began to seem, the match had to finish. When it did with a forehand mishit error from Roddick, Federer roared and walked to the net all alone in the history books after breaking his tie with Pete Sampras, who is now second on the career list with 14 major singles titles. “Sorry Pete; I tried to hold him off,” said Roddick to Sampras, who was sitting in the front row of the royal box after flying in from Los Angeles on Sunday morning. Sampras certainly got his money’s worth for the trip as Federer held off Roddick by the unprecedented score of 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14. Federer, who has now won Wimbledon six times, served a personal record 50 aces in a match that took 4 hours 18 minutes. But Roddick was, on balance, the more successful server: holding 37 times in a row before finally being broken in the last game. “It was a crazy match with an unbelievable end, and my head is still spinning,” Federer said in his post-match remarks to the Centre Court crowd. “But it’s an unbelievable moment in my career.” It was also a much happier ending at Wimbledon for Federer than last year, when he lost one of the greatest matches in tennis history against his Spanish nemesis Rafael Nadal. There was no chance of a replay this year after Nadal withdrew from the tournament before it began with knee problems. But this year’s final, a very different spectacle in terms of rhythm and tactics, certainly deserves a place on the short list of great Wimbledon matches, as well. “It was an epic, it really was,” said Sampras, looking and sounding weary with the jet lag and his long day in the front row that he shared with the other former tennis greats Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg and Manuel Santana. “He’s a friend, a great player, a good guy,” Sampras said of Federer. “Fourteen is a lot in the ’90s. He’s got 15. He could get 17, 18 majors when it’s all done. He’s a stud.” But it was difficult on Federer’s latest big day to focus too heavily on him. “I feel bad for Andy; I really do,” Sampras said. “This was his chance. He came up short. The great ones, at the end, they have just a little bit more.” Roddick, a 26-year-old American, has long been Federer’s foil, losing 18 of their 20 previous matches and never even pushing Federer to a fifth set in their seven meetings in Grand Slam tournaments. He was beaten by Federer in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals and lost to him again in the 2006 United States Open final. But at a stage in his career when others might have lost faith or motivation, Roddick has improved his game and fitness, shuffled his support team once more by hiring Larry Stefanki as his coach, and become better at channeling his considerable ambition and nervous energy into the tennis task at hand. Roddick held it together remarkably well on Sunday, even after he blew a huge opportunity to win the second-set tie breaker, which he led by 6-2. But Federer managed to reel off the next six points to even the match at one-set apiece as Roddick failed to convert on any of his four set points. The one that will surely stick with him is the fourth, which he squandered at 6-5 by missing a high backhand volley with Federer out of position and a relatively open court available. Roddick left Centre Court immediately and when he returned he still looked disoriented, heading to the wrong side of the court and asking for the ball when in fact it was Federer’s turn to serve. But to his credit, Roddick kept his focus and kept slamming in huge serves under pressure, but not only huge serves. His two-handed backhand, once considered a major liability, was a strength, and he hit multiple passing shot winners down the line with Federer pushing forward. Roddick also volleyed well himself, hitting crisp and intelligent approach shots against a man whose whipping topspin passing shots are among the best in the sport. Even the baseline rallies, which have favored Federer in their previous matches, were more balanced. But this match was not defined by the ground strokes. It was defined by the serving as Federer and Roddick hit aces and winners in bunches; they combined for 77 aces and 181 winners. They kept the rallies short and the marathon match moving along at a much brisker pace than last year’s epic tussle between Federer and Nadal, which took 4 hours 48 minutes. It was not until 10-10 that the fifth set passed the four-hour mark.
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