Roddick looks to derail Federer
WIMBLEDON, England - A year ago, plenty of people were feeling sorry for Roger Federer.
They were sending him letters with good wishes or - believe it or not - tennis tips. They were offering advice about how to deal with a perceived drop in performance and ideas for how to beat Rafael Nadal.
“If you achieved a lot, like I did, for so many years, and then you don’t win some tournaments, people say, ‘Oh, you’re already on the decline,’ very quickly,’’ Federer said yesterday. “I hope it just opens some eyes, these last few months.’’
Yes, indeed. Look at Federer now.
When he steps onto Centre Court to face sixth-seeded Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon final today, Federer will be trying to collect his 15th Grand Slam singles championship, breaking a tie with Pete Sampras for the most in history.
Asked about Federer’s bid for No. 15, Roddick replied: “I’d love to delay it for another Grand Slam.’’
Federer is playing in his seventh consecutive Wimbledon final and 20th Grand Slam final overall, both records. It’s also his 16th final in the past 17 major championships.
The only one he missed in that span was at the 2008 Australian Open, where Federer lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Federer later said he’d been recovering from mononucleosis at that time, but still, the chatter began: What’s wrong with Roger?
“Sometimes,’’ he said, “it’s not fair towards certain players.’’
Federer then lost to Nadal in the French Open and Wimbledon finals, and fell to No. 2 in the rankings after a record 237 weeks at the top.
But Federer won a fifth consecutive US Open last September and, after a five-set loss to Nadal in the Australian Open final in January, completed a career Grand Slam by winning his first French Open title last month.
That allowed him to tie Sampras with 14 major championships.
Roddick won the 2003 US Open, but he is one of the many unfortunate souls who chose to play tennis for a living and happened to have been born around the same time as Federer: Roddick will turn 27 in August, a few weeks after Federer turns 28.
Roddick is 2-18 against Federer over their careers. That includes 0-7 at Grand Slam tournaments, 0-3 at Wimbledon, with losses to Federer in the 2003 semifinals and 2004 and 2005 finals at the All England Club. Roddick also lost to Federer in the 2006 US Open title match.
“He never gives up. It hasn’t been easy for him the last few years.’’ Federer said about Roddick. “Americans have a lot of expectations. They were spoiled with Sampras and [Andre] Agassi and all those before that. For them, it’s not good enough to have someone in the top 10; they want somebody who is No. 1. It’s great to see him back in a final.’’ 