Wow, this was one heck of a championship match – talk about top notch tennis. Federer is just on a whole other level compared to the rest of men’s tennis. I certainly think he’s the best player ever. I mean, the guy is only 25 and he has 11 majors. Roger Federer has won 11 of the past 17 Grand Slam titles. If he wins the U.S. Open in September, he’ll have 12 already! I’m pretty sure he’s going to break Sampras’ 14. Roger’s won 5 straight Wimbledon, 3 straight US Open, and 2 straight Australian Open! Even Pete Sampras wasn’t as dominant as Federer.
As for the Wimbledon championship match, it was pretty close through the first 3 sets. Nadal only lost serve once early in the 1st set, but broke right back. Federer was able to win the 2 tie-breakers in the 1st and 3rd sets, but lost a break in the 2nd and eventually lost the set. Then the 4th just ran away from Federer as he was broken twice as Nadal led 4-0 and won the set at 6-2. It actually got a bit scary there because it looked like Federer was coming apart. That was something I’ve never seen before. He was even arguing with the referee to turn off the Hawk-Eye electronic line system.
But of course, he dug down deep and pulled out some phenomenal play in the 5th set. In the 5th set, he gave Nadal 4 prime break chances being down 15-40 twice on serve. If Nadal had broken Federer either of these times, I think Federer would’ve lost because up to that point, Federer had not broken Nadal (since the beginning of the match). But every time he got into trouble, Federer came up with huge serves and huge plays. He was able to carry the momentum over and broke Nadal twice to win the match, with the final point coming after some great strokes and an overhead smash.
You gotta give credit to Nadal though, he’s the only person that can even challenge Federer and he’s only 21 himself. Nadal keeps improving every year so one can only wonder what the future holds for this Federer/Nadal rivalry. If it wasn’t for Nadal, Federer would have 2 consecutive French Open titles as well. That would make it 13 wins out of 17 Grand Slams, which needless to say would be pretty incredible. But I think it’s good that Federer is not completely uncontested – it makes tennis much more interesting.
In a lot sports, it’s arguable who’s the best. You can debate people’s strengths and weaknesses and argue all day long about who’s better. But if you follow tennis and you watch Federer play, there’s usually no doubt that he is the best. Don’t be fooled – Federer makes it look easy with his calm, smooth demeanor but very few can do what he does. He can hit any shot for a winner, he can return the best serves, and he can go to the corners and lines on command. It’s really pretty amazing how talented and well-rounded he is.
Some other coverage:
NYTimes: Federer Wins His Fifth Wimbledon Title in a Row
ESPN: Federer worthy of five straight after fifth-set performance
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