Federer rules the record book with 15th Slam

Roddick might have been forgiven for thinking, “Wow, I’m one point away from leading Roger Federer two sets to none in the Wimbledon final.” He certainly played as though burdened by looking ahead, letting all four set points slip from his grasp. Most discouraging was the last, when he wildly misplayed a backhand volley. It was part of a six-point, set-ending run for Federer.

How does someone recover from that? Somehow, Roddick did.

“At that point, like everything else, there’s two options: You lay down or you keep going,” he said. “The second option sounded better to me.”

Roddick lost the third set, too, but rallied to take the fourth, and then came the fifth. Wimbledon doesn’t use tiebreakers in fifth sets, and there were times it seemed Federer and Roddick would play into the night.

Federer faced a serious test at 8-8, though, when Roddick earned two break points with a backhand winner down the line. Federer saved the first with a 118 mph service winner, and the second with a volley winner. There was not another break point for either man until Roddick served while trailing 15-14.

At deuce, Roddick sailed a forehand long, giving Federer his seventh break point of the match. Until then, he was 0 for 6. But this was also a championship point, and Federer converted.

“Frustrating, at times, because I couldn’t break Andy ’til the very, very end,” Federer said. “So satisfaction is maybe bigger this time around to come through, because I couldn’t control the match at all.”

As he enjoyed the first post-victory moments in the locker room — a more muted celebration than usual, owing to Roddick’s presence — members of the grounds crew entered and presented him with the Centre Court net. Another keepsake for Federer’s ever-more-crowded trophy room.

This was the first Wimbledon with a retractable roof on Centre Court, a modern touch for a stadium that opened in 1922.

But this edition of the tournament wound up being almost entirely dry, with only two matches contested with the roof shut. This final was played with the blue sky above. The tennis gods must have wanted a good view.

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