Fitting that Roger broke the record at Wimbledon. Very long, tense match. Great stuff for Fed to have the GS record, #1 again and to break Agassi's tournament win record. It's all good for him, unfortunately somebody had to lose. Poor Roddick, I sincerely feel for him. He played out of his mind. Just never broke down ('cept for that 2nd set tiebreak) and maybe deserved the win (shades of Rafter-Sampras 2000 in that 2nd set tiebreak. That could haunt Roddick for a long time, he had his chances).
Roddick played the absolute best match he's played in his life, his serving was incredibly consistent- high %, his groundstrokes were almost faultless, forehands deep and plenty of variety in placement, mixed it up well, great gameplan - very well excecuted, volleying for the most part very well (something not natural to him), and yet still came up just short.
Still, huge props to him for what he has delivered in semi and this match, I hope he can be this strong also in the hardcourt tournos and get another shot at a slam. Despite fighting back very well to take it the distance he was the first to run out of steam, Federer raised his level a little in the final set, but I think he outlasted Roddick as opposed to plain outplaying him. You have to damn near play a perfect match to beat Federer at Wimbledon, Roddick did just that and still couldn't hoist the trophy. Wasn't much in it. Not the best ever match/final qualitywise, but the tension and pressure on both men was huge at times. Epic final set.
It was one of the more harsher ones for the defeated man. My 'most gutted' final was when Sampras beat Goran in '98. I was pretty gutted for Rafter when he lost to Goran, but equally excited/chuffed for Goran eventually winning the big one, plus watching that match as a neutral was different, I guess. Roddick can take Goran as an inspiration I suppose- playing like this he has a good chance of winning this title one day, in similar style to him. My auntie (who loves tennis too and got me really interested at an early age) said McEnroe beating Jimbo in '84 was the worst final for her.
