On Sunday, July 5th, Roger Federer, the world number two, edged Andy Roddick, 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14. With the win, Federer captured a 15th Grand Slam title, most in Men’s Singles History. And guess what, he’s not done. He’ll be trying for a 6th straight U.s Open championship in early September.

Federer served out a career-high 50 aces in a record setting match. This match was the longest match in terms of games, had the longest 5th set in history in terms of games and time, and was the platform on which Federer received his record breaking 15th slam. What does this mean for Federer: Well he receives a cash prize of some 1.3 million U.S. dollars, becomes the greatest tennis player of all time, and regains the #1 ranking he lost last year to Rafael Nadal on the same stage. All this in 2 weeks. Not to mention he broke a record by going into 21 straight Grand Slam semi-finals and 7 straight Wimbledon Finals in which he is 6-1. Of course it helped that his arch-rival Rafael Nadal was sitting out of the tournament due to injury, but anyhow Federer got the job done. Federer played a good game, but Roddick played a great one. The one time he was broken on his serve he lost the match. The only other major mistake he made was in the second set tiebreaker. Roddick was up in the breaker, and was cruising. He had control of the point as well. Federer hit a lazy shot right to Roddick; however, Roddick hit the ball long and ended up losing the set, and eventually the match. But hats off to Roddick, who played perhaps the best match of his life, and gave Federer a fight that no one expected, including Roddick. This was a comeback in the makings for Roddick, who advanced to his first slam final, since the 2006 U.S Open in Flushing Meadows, New York. Roddick is really uncomfortable playing against Federer, and had his opponent been someone besides Nadal or Federer, he could have won every single grand slam final he had played in, including this one. Here’s an interesting fact:

Federer and Roddick have met 21 times, and Federer is 19-2. Also Roddick is 1-4 in Grand Slam Finals, with 1 win at the U.S Open and 1 loss there, as well as 3 losses at Wimbeldon. Each one of his losses, has been crushing, and all of them to one man, Roger Federer. So hats off to Andy Roddick who even with no chance of winning, gave Federer a fight to remember, humbling him. Roddick had this tournament in his belt, but 1 crucial mistake cost him 1.3 million dollars. He gave it his best, and that is why Roddick deserved to win.

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