Fantastic Federer holds court to join elite

ONCE more tears of joy and relief flowed on Centre Court.

And once more they belonged to Roger Federer, elegant, serene and as ruthless a Wimbledon champion as tennis has ever seen.

The world number one confirmed his greatness with a 6-2 7-6 6-4 win against Andy Roddick to take his third consecutive Wimbledon title and join an elite club including the likes of Fred Perry, Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras.

At times the American, statistically the world’s second best player on grass but who had beaten Federer only once in their last nine matches, appeared positively mediocre in comparison to the sublime Swiss.

How do you beat him?

“Maybe I’ll just punch him or something,” joked Roddick, who last year insisted he had thrown the “kitchen sink” at Federer only to be felled by a Swiss “bath tub.”

This year the American never remotely threatened Federer, who is currently playing a game with which most mortals are not familiar.

Roddick admitted as much. “He’s become such a complete player,” said the number two seed. “This guy’s the best for a reason and he deserves a lot of credit.”

As for Federer the relief and pride was tangible.

“I played my best and I’m very, very proud that it’s the third time. It is very special,” he said. “It was easier than the second title somehow. I don’t know why but I felt better throughout the tournament, although the pressure was on because of my semi-final losses in Australia and at the French Open. I came here with big expectations and it is a dream.”

Federer, it seems, is simply unbeatable, at least when he gets to a final, the Swiss having won every one of his last 21 finals, stretching back to Vienna in 2003.

The first set went by in a 22-minute blur. Fifteen clean winners from Federer, just one unforced error. Not quite perfection, but not far off.

The crucial break came in the sixth game, a series of magnificent backhands from Federer engineering the opportunity. He took the set with another break in the eighth game, albeit this time with the aid of a mishit on a cross-court backhand.

At least Roddick got closer to Federer in the second set, breaking the Swiss serve in the third game, desperately striving to find a weakness in the world number one.

The truth is if there is one it is virtually undetectable.

Three games later the set was back on serve, again due to the quality of the Federer groundstrokes.

Roddick saved two set points in the 10th game and survived a fusillade of Federer backhands in the 12th to take the set to a tie-break.

Unfortunately, the shoot-out was barely a contest, one searing backhand from Federer easing him clear at 4-2, while the next point saw Roddick fling his racket to the ground in a mixture of frustration and disgust after netting an easy forehand.

Two sets down in barely an hour and 12 minutes and the rain came.

Could it save Roddick?

The answer was an emphatic ‘no’. When they returned nothing changed. Roddick was totally outgunned, another brilliant cross-court forehand giving Federer the break in the seventh game by which time Roddick had all but bowed to the inevitable.