Roger Federer: 'Andy Roddick is like a Wimbledon champion for me'
Roger Federer recalled his 2009 Wimbledon final win over Andy Roddick. The Swiss prevailed 16-14 in the fifth set after a stunning battle. "10-all in the fifth and I did not have a chance to break Andy yet", said Federer. "I did not want to lose back to back epic Wimbledon finals, it would have been so disappointing because there is so much work to get to the Wimbledon finals that - of course, the year before I was so proud of being part of that - and I did not want only to win Wimbledon but also achieve the record of most Grand Slams of all time. I had caught Pete Sampras's record at the French Open and coming into Wimbledon it was incredible confidence, I wanted to win French Open and Wimbledon back to back for the first time and I loved to be part in a match like that. I was so sad for Roddick because he deserved to win Wimbledon as well and I see him as a Wimbledon champion even though he has never won one. He was a great ambassador for the game, that was hard for me when I was eventually able to come through but it was one of those big moments, seeing Pete Sampras being there, Bjorn Borg was there as well, John McEnroe, Rod Laver which was for me an incredible honour to be playing at that moment and all the legends being present."
Federer also won the 2004 Wimbledon final win over Roddick: "It was a big pressure, opening the Centre Court on that Monday, I heard there was a lot of talk about it and then I really thought against Andy Roddick I played the great final, an offensive style and I beat him in a tough match. I thought there was maybe some rain involved as well in the finals and to defend was a huge relief and sort of a big deal as well because I was world No. 1 at that point and I wanted to cement my position as well."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2LcSK4H
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