Monday, July 6, 2009

Mark of a Champion

Roger Federer successfully won his record 15th Grand Slam yesterday when he defeated Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon finals yesterday. The final score yesterday was 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14; yes that’s right 16-14 in the fifth!

I’ll be honest; I’m not Federer’s greatest fan. People say that he is humble, but I just don’t see it. Federer seems to be that kind of guy who is great, knows he’s great, and don’t mind telling you he’s great. He’s not brash, he’s always polite, but polite arrogance is still arrogance.

However I have nothing but praise for his play on the tennis court. His movement is superb, he can create some amazing angles on his groundstrokes, he combine power with a great touch at the net, and most importantly he (like most champions) finds a way to win.

Finding a way to win is the mark of a champion and there were 2 great examples of it in his win against Roddick. The first example was when a set down, 6-2 down in the second-set tie-break, Federer looked dead and buried. However Federer stormed back to win the tie-break 8-6 and win the second set. Another example was when he broke Roddick’s serve in the fifth set to win the match. Roddick was serving out of this world yesterday. Not only was Fderer unable to break the Roddick serve, he never looked like he was going to break the serve. However in the 77th and last game of the match, he broke the Roddick serve for the first and only time in the match to close out an epic match.

Roddick was upset and mentally drained at the end of the match and who can blame him. Against anyone else and he would have won the match twice over, but he was facing Federer and with the mark of a champion; Federer found a way to win. Roger Federer; Wimbledon champion and record-holder!

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