Roddick and the Wimbledon Waterloo

Another Wimbledon 5-setter final! Finally the great Federer is facing competition worthy of his accomplishments. And what a great one this was.

My heart goes out to Roddick though. I was never a Roddick fan. I always thought the most he brought to the game was a typical arrogant bravado, chest-thumping and feeding off the occassional home crowd advantage. A monster serve does not a champion make. And the guy sometimes looks like he's on steroids when he's playing, what with all the racquet breaking and other histrionics (especially hollow considering he's won only one Grand Slam till now).

The Roddick this Wimbledon saw was a different man. Uncharacteristically calm and composed in his games, a game much diversified from his signature thunderous serve. His victory against Andy Murray was sheer perseverance against a hostile crowd. And then he pulled a rabbit out of his hat...almost!

I mean what more does he have to do to beat Federer! Five sets (almost six if you consider the length of the last one) and broken just once! Serving in the upper 130s in the fifth set! Genuine plays far away from his usual "power-hits", trapping Federer several times with flight, speed and might I say, "Federerisque" placement of strokes. He did what few others have--come back from 2 consecutive Federer sets and drub Federer 6-3. The champion may have won today, but according to me, clearly not the better player of the day. The match truly reminded me of the Federer Nadal 5-setter in 2007 (the one that Nadal lost). The resemblance was at several levels--Nadal came into that match after long, gruelling games, showed uncharacteristic grit on grass and simply ran out of steam in the end. Roddick came into the final after a 5-setter with Hewitt and a gruelling duel with Murray. He didn't run out of steam, just luck. He's increasingly looking like the Ivan Lendl of this generation.

Federer looked less than his best. Unforced errors, unbelievable misses and moments of diffidence considering his crushing record against Roddick. Roddick deserves full credit for bringing Federer face-to-face with much of his own game and almost getting an upper hand. Its not easy at all changing your game and on-court personality like that after so many years. He has earned a new fan today.

A small footnote on Federer's post-match speech. This player is known for his extraordinary humility in the face of his stellar achievements, but this comment was a bit uncalled for: "Andy I know how you feel. I was in the same situation last year, and I managed to come back and win here..." paraphrased). He most probably didn't mean to, but that comparison was a bit unfair (as Roddick pointed out "yeah, but you had already won Wimbledon 5 times by then"). Normally Roddick comes off as arrogant to me, but that retort was fair. Losing the throne after 5 years must have hurt a lot, but it cannot be compared to being defeated for the third time in the same tournament by the same man, and this time due to anything but superiority of play! Federer should've pictured himself at the receiving end of it from Nadal after Roland Garros...Hopefully Federer will realize he mis-spoke.