What a valiant performance. Andy Roddick's stirring run to the Wimbledon finals ends with a five set loss (Spoiler alert! Sorry, need to work on my timing.) to Roger Federer. The final line? 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 16-14. I picked it up at the beginning of the third set and was standing at the end. Like SI.com's Joe Posnanski wrote,* you knew Roddick was merely delaying the inevitable, but you still appreciated his grit.
Earlier, Roddick related how crushed he was last year when he was ousted in the second round. He found himself at the airport, listless, mulling over his future in tennis. But he started watching the Nadal and Federer match, widely heralded as the greatest tennis match of all time, and Roddick ended up missing his plane. And the greatness of that match helped motivate him to buckle down and start training.
After the match, the BBC reporter simultaneously consoled him and while shrewdly trying to prick a response, murmuring how the sport of tennis could be so cruel. "No," said Roddick quickly, "I'm one of the lucky few who gets cheered for here. So thank you for that. I appreciate it." And the crowd roared in homage. Pete Sampras looked like he was choking back a tear. Even Federer looked stylishly grave. And before the interview began, it was hard not to notice that when the players were announced and handed their trophies, although the fans cheered for Federer, they cheered even louder for Roddick and chanted his name.
* Not sure why it took Joe Posnanski half the article to get past the self-indulgence to the good stuff, and I'm perturbed to learn that "tennis at 42 is not like tennis at 36." But he's usually entertaining when he's not out jinxing Ohio sports teams. Bastard.
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