2009 Wimbledon Men’s Final

Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, and Pete Sampras were on hand to watch history in the making as Roger Federer and Andy Roddick battle for the Wimbledon title.

The first set foreshadowed the rest of the match as both players held serve to 5-5.  Finally, Roddick managed to break Federer’s serve and win the 1st set.

The second set continued the server’s delight, as both players held all serves and battle to a tiebreak. Roddick starts off perfect, jumping to a 6-2 lead before Federer came back and showed why he is considered one of the all-time greats. Federer saved all 4 set points and won the tiebreak and the set to tie the match at 1 set each.

The third set continued the trend, with no breaks of service all the way to the tiebreak.  This time, Federer jumped out to the early lead.  Roddick tried to fight back, but Federer held on to win the set and take the lead 2-1.

Roddick managed to break Federer’s serve again in the 4th set. That was all it took for him to hang on and win the set to tie the match 2-2.

The 5th set was one for the record books.  Neither player could break the other, and there is no tiebreak this time. The players continued the battle of the serves.  Surprisingly, Federer served more aces than Roddick, a total of 50 for the match, compared to Roddick’s 27.  Even without the aces, Roddick played like never before, winning powerful backhand shots down the line and taking the net almost at will.    The play continued well into double-figure games, both players serving their way out of trouble anytime they fell behind.  Finally, at 15-14, Federer gets his first chance to break for a Championship point. Roddick mishits a ball and Federer takes the win 16-14 in the longest set in Wimbledon history.

It was Federer’s 15th Grand Slam victory, the most ever by a player.   This win could cement his title of “The Greatest Ever”.

After the match, Federer had praise for Roddick, stating, “He did great. He’s not going to let his head hang down. He’s going to come back strong and play great in the States. I think it’s one of the best matches we played against each other. I really thought I had to play my very, very best to come through.” And that he did.

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