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Federer is Number One Again

By: Gowri Mohanakrishnan

Where: London, United Kingdom

July 5, 2009 : It was a day of tennis records and grand performances at the Wimbledon Men's Final. Swiss Roger Federer, ranked second in the tournament's listings, faced a tough fight over five sets by Andy Roddick before he could win his sixth Wimbledon title and 15th Grand Slam title. The American Roddick (ranked sixth), who'd defeated Britain's Andy Murray in the semi-finals, often looked as if he could win his first Wimbledon crown. He has been runner-up twice at Wimbledon. Both times, in 2004 and 2005, he lost to Federer. This was Federer's seventh consecutive Wimbledon final, another record. It was his sixth win here. Pete Sampras, the last American to win the Wimbledon, has seven titles to his credit.

With 77 games played, the last set was the longest ever in a men's Wimbledon final. The finals scores were 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 16-14. Federer served an amazing 50 aces overall, and 22 in the last set alone. An ace is a service that cannot be returned by the opponent. Federer, only 27, now has six Wimbledon titles, five US Opens, three Australian Opens and a French Open trophy; a total of 15 Grand Slam titles. Just four weeks ago, he had equalled Pete Sampras's record of 14 such titles when he won the French Open. With that win, he also became the sixth player ever to capture all four majors.

Last year, Federer had lost Wimbledon to Spain's Rafael Nadal, who was forced out of the tournament this year by injury. Federer, modest in victory, acknowledged Roddick's wonderful performance and recalled Nadal's victory last year. He is now placed number one in the world rankings again - a spot held by Nadal until Monday, the day after the final.