Wimbledon - Federer's 'crazy' year continues

Eurosport - Sun, 05 Jul 21:12:00 2009

Roger Federer spoke of his crazy year after beating Andy Roddick in a stupendous Wimbledon men's singles final to become the most prolific winner of grand slam titles in men's tennis.

TENNIS 2009 Wimbledon Federer - 0

The Swiss, whose incredible 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 victory was his 15th career grand slam and sixth at Wimbledon, is now the holder of three of the sport's four big prizes after capturing the French Open title last month for the first time.

American great Pete Sampras, whose record of 14 grand slam titles Federer equalled in Paris, looked on from the Royal Box as the Swiss told the crowd what the moment meant.

"It has not really one of those goals you set as a little boy but, man, it has been quite a career," Federer, who pulled on a white tracksuit top with the number 15 emblazoned on the back, said.

"It feels amazing but this is not why I am playing tennis for, to break all these records but it is definitely one of the greatest ones to have.

"This year's crazy, I told you. Things didn't look so good when I lost in the final of the Australian Open, which was still an unbelievable result.

"To come through and battle back and win Paris and now Wimbledon back-to-back, something Bjorn (Borg) did a couple of times, it's amazing."

A year ago, Federer's five-year reign at Wimbledon was ended by Nadal, he then hit back to win a fifth consecutive US Open then in February he lost again to Nadal in the Australian Open when he broke down in tears.

After marrying long-time girlfriend Mirka in April he finally ended years of near misses at Roland Garros.

Borg, who managed five Wimbledon singles triumphs was sat alongside Sampras, who has seven, and four-times winner Rod Laver as Federer finally overcame the gallant Roddick.

"Thanks very much for coming," Federer said to California-based Sampras. "I know it's a long way but you know you are a member we like to see you here and it's such a pleasure to play in front of such great legends.

"I was here last year and I didn't have it (the trophy) but it feels great. It was a crazy match and it was an unbelievable end. My head's still spinning, it's an unbelievable moment."

Federer, who lost a similar epic against Spaniard Nadal last year, spared a though for Roddick, who only dropped serve once in the match, in the final game.

"Andy played an unbelievable tournament and don't be too sad, I went through some rough ones as well, one on this court last year, and I came back and won," Federer, who returns to the number one ranking, said.

Roddick quipped that Federer had already won five Wimbledon titles when he lost to Nadal but Federer added: "I won five but still it hurts, so you're going to come back and win it, I hope so.

"You're an unbelievable guy and you played unbelievable today. Unfortunately there has to be a winner and today I was on the lucky side."

Reuters

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  1. rf....... win and­ win.............rf.................good, better and he­ is the­ best.......................rf.........................n­ ot nadal, not­ djokovic...............................rf..............­ ...............the best­ sport-man........................................rf....­ ............................swiss,­ swiss..........................rf

    From bruno_rf_al, on Thu 9 Jul 10:56AM

  2. Guys hate me, I don`t care.. but this is simple fact:­ from now on Nadal, Murray and Djokovic will KICK a s s,­ of "the best tennis player that ever walked­ happily on planet earth" ... I think it is a real­ honour ;-)
    Bravo Lucky Luke !

    From Igor K, on Tue 7 Jul 10:08AM

  3. Recently, I discovered a hot place – SeekTall Co m --­ where many sexy tall singles who like sports and­ chatting there. I'm an open minded girl from UK, I­ also like discuss sports and love with tall guys on it.

    From winluney06, on Tue 7 Jul 9:05AM

  4. Federer you are amazing - so glad you won, not that­ boring american. Roger is the greatest ever!!!!!!!

    From justgetsnasty, on Mon 6 Jul 7:03PM

  5. ROGER IS THE GREATEST PLYER.
    LET 'S TELL THEM SPEAK­ NONSENSE WORD
    THEY ARE LIKE SIMON REED!!!!
    ROGER I LOVE­ YOU VERY VERY MUCH
    YOU ARE CONQUER POEPLE'S­ HEARTS
    YOU ARE AN ICON
    YOU ARE THE BEST OF HISTOY
    YOU­ ARE THE CREDIT OF TENNIS

    From asal l, on Mon 6 Jul 3:12PM

  6. #24 igor K,..where did d cat go to? ohhhhh­ puleeeeeeeeeze!!!! 15GSLAMS..who can compete wit dat?­ dis is RFED'S time and he is still winning. its a­ fact dat if not for Nadal, roger wuld ve had more slam­ titles at RG and others and wuld ve bin smashing his­ own records...andy roddick played d match of his life­ and still lost...i love andy roddick but he got beaten­ by the BEST...he did all he culd but still­ lost..why?..cos he played d best man ever!!!pple shld­ accept dat and stop complaining. if its not his serves,­ its his jacket or wat he said in an interview...and pls­ stop dis nadal business..its getting really­ boring..nobody broke his legs.he just didnt show up to­ defend his title..why? or maybe ur golden clay court­ king is diminishin as well?..isnt it too soon to be­ suffering from injuries and stayin away frm big­ tournaments? if u haters dont like roger winning pls­ raise up winners to challenge him..or maybe he uses­ magic to play? if i won 15 SLAMS i would sure luv d­ world to knw about it... humility my foot...15 SLAMS is­ not a joke!! ask almost there andy roddick he ll tell u­ how it feels to loose!...if he wears a crown instead of­ a bandana y not? they re his achievments. wat re yours?­ GIVE THE GUY A BREAK!!!!!at least roddick did.

    From ande e, on Mon 6 Jul 2:10PM

  7. I am a Federer fan, but missed Nadal not being at­ Wimbledon. No one can argue with Feds achievements.­ It's amazing he is 2 or 3 years past when he played­ his best tennis but still wins slams. It shows how good­ he is. But although I'm glad he still plays he will­ from now on inevitably get beaten by more people all­ the time. Roddick played really well yesterday but as­ Becker said Federer has played better. He is not going­ to get any better now and younger hungrier people will­ start to beat him. The history books will say he is the­ best ever, with only Laver now as a possible equal. But­ by playing on past his best some people out there now­ will say that others are better than him. But remember­ they are only better now, not overall. This must always­ be remembered.

    From LD, on Mon 6 Jul 12:38PM

  8. federer beat nadal 2 times in­ wimbledon.and is the­ only who beat him twice in clay.if­ you take RG out u­ get two wins in GS for both.nadal is­ the best clay­ player.they played more finals in clay so­ u get a­ great head 2 head advantage

    From sousa_peres, on Mon 6 Jul 11:45AM

  9. Simply terrible!! He made a few comments about winning­ and knowing about loss.. Its very easy to forget that­ amongst his many wins, Fed also knows about loss and­ the greatest loss of all, was not being able to get 6­ consecutive wins at Wimbledon last year.. That was no­ ordinary loss and yes, he had won it 5 times but the­ 6th time would have made all the others shine that­ little bit brighter. Nadal took that from him and will­ be a loss he will remember for the rest of his life. He­ spoke about the greats present but still had a word for­ his most formidable opponent, Nadal. His words about­ Roddicks loss might seem flimsy to people but to Fed,­ talking about last Wimbers and his loss should have­ made more sense to someone like Roddick (who­ understandably might not have been very receptive at­ the time.)..
    Fed is the greatest of all time and the­ other greats came in to see his performance and the­ opportunity to watch history being made.. Lets all­ stand and be glad that we watched tennis history being­ made. Nadal will come back and Fed will keep playing..­ May the better man win in the future but for now­ Federers record of 15 Grand Slam titles stands alone -­ untouched, unblemished and unattained by another!!!

    From fraggle, on Mon 6 Jul 11:24AM

  10. "number­ 15 emblazoned on gold on his sport­ wear"

    Note that in the Champions League final in­ 2008, United players came out to claim the trophy­ wearing "European Champions 2008"­ T-shirts.

    Same happened with Barcelona.

    Same happened­ with LA Lakers winning the NBA.

    So? RF needs to­ celebrate his deserving claim of the record.

    Greatest­ of Them All!!!

    Should we not just be gratified that we­ witnessed history in the making?

    R.I.P. Michael.

    Come­ on Tiger!!!

    From Toh Yong, on Mon 6 Jul 11:16AM

  11. "number­ 15 emblazoned on gold on his sport­ wear"

    Note that in the Champions League final in­ 2008, United players came out to claim the trophy­ wearing "European Champions 2008"­ T-shirts.

    Same happened with Barcelona.

    Same happened­ with LA Lakers winning the NBA.

    So? RF needs to­ celebrate his deserving claim of the record.

    Greatest­ of Them All!!!

    Should we not just be gratified that we­ witnessed history in the making?

    R.I.P. Michael.

    Come­ on Tiger!!!

    From Toh Yong, on Mon 6 Jul 11:13AM

  12. roger has 15 grand slams...he s just 27-28 and had the­ last 4 years nadal to handle n win...if nadal wasnt­ there prolly he would have 20 GS...so u guys cool down­ a lil and congratulate roger...he s really great to­ have and to watch...a real super star

    From manos, on Mon 6 Jul 11:02AM

  13. Just know a great cel eb site ___BigTalls CO M___­ where you can me et many big beau tiful wo man and hand­ some guys.

    From Erica S, on Mon 6 Jul 11:02AM

  14. First things first, what an amazing achievement by­ Roger Federer, Congrats!!! Second, All I want to say­ about his personality to all those mispercieving people­ in this forum is that they should not CONFUSE arrogance­ with self confidence. Arrogance is a result of no self­ confidence.. And self confidence is not something that­ Roger lacks, and that of course has its reasons.. 15­ GRAND SLAM TITLES!!!!!

    From rubendelange, on Mon 6 Jul 10:53AM

  15. @ Igor K on 24
    Igore brate..
    Ammmmmmmmm
    Jel ti to­ pokushavash da kazhesh da je Roger Federer mish?
    To­ bash i nije racionalno...

    From Vladimir, on Mon 6 Jul 10:36AM

  16. I can now congratulate Serena and Roger for the job­ well done. The pose for the picture of the two great­ players are enough consolation for me at the all­ England Club gallery. In fact ranking is nothing but­ winning. You can be seeded no 1 ranked no 1 in­ wimbledon and being a white lady from Russia makes no­ difference. Look who is laughing and being immortalised­ in All England Club trophy room. Serena and Roger.­ Where is Safina, not invited as no 1?

    From Augustine A, on Mon 6 Jul 10:34AM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    He;s been lucky Nadal was not around to stop all this­ craziness...I cant stand the swiis. nadal please get­ well soon and come back to do what u do best...Federer­ knows Nadal is the only man who will ever beat him in a­ granslam and that scares him......VAMOS RAFA...V is for­ victory

    From Immac Reno, on Mon 6 Jul 10:26AM

  18. #89, your dream of those oldies to come back will never­ materialise as Martina tried to come back and failed.­ Kim clijster with only one GS title can't be­ expected to do better with the younger ones. I am­ pretty sure she won't beat Laura Robson if she­ returns.. Justin was battered to defeat and she left..­ She didn't win wimbledon only excelled at RG. So­ where is your reasoning? Men and women pysiology are­ different hormonally and physically. If you are born of­ a women you should have respect for womanhood and that­ is what they represent not a physical show in the­ tennis cours. All of you crying women's tennis is­ in decline are only racist motivated as this is not the­ case. Had sabine or woizniacki won , then it would have­ been women tennis has taken a new level. The problem­ presently is the no 1 tennis player Safina., She in ­ wta tour event in Rome and Madrid where all the tennis­ great were not participating while on the other hand­ the major event was won by Serena with 3 titles in 10­ months. I know you white people want to kill yourself­ because it is not Safina or Sabine, JJ or Kuznetsova­ that won. You can't change history but only ranking­ with no history

    From Augustine A, on Mon 6 Jul 10:22AM

  19. ajibade nadal has many contenders on clay ??(he set the­ best record ever on clay running streak and holds the­ best head to head record on clay too, regarding grass­ who has beaten him other than fed in 2 finals the third­ which he won prior to this he i believe played about 3­ matches on grass. get a grip man

    From ralph, on Mon 6 Jul 10:08AM

  20. dfdfdf

    From DANIEL D, on Mon 6 Jul 10:05AM
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