Andy Murray’s hopes of becoming the first Brit in more than seven decades to win the men’s title at Wimbledon were dashed when he lost to American, Andy Roddick, in the semifinal match.  Murray did not go down without a fight – it took 3 hours and 7 minutes but, in the end, it was Roddick who advanced to Sunday’s final match.

The 26-year-old will have his work cut out for him when he faces five-time champion, Roger Federer, who has set a record for making the championship match at Wimbledon seven times in a row.  Federer defeated Tommy Haas of Germany 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals.

image: Zuma Press

Federer and Roddick have quite a history.  The American lost to the Swiss superstar in the 2004 and 2005 finals at Wimbledon and out of the 20 times the pair have met, Federer won 18 matches (including a flawless 3-0 record in 2009).

The 2009 Wimbledon champ will get to take home $1.39 million.

For the first time, Wimbledon has had to ask employees and personnel to stay away from the Championships if they have a fever, sore throat, cough or body aches.  I have to say that I’m somewhat appalled that you even have to tell people since this seems like common sense – if you are unwell, stay home and don’t risk infecting others, especially at large sporting events.

Now, because the ball boys and girls have reported flu-like symptoms, the top players have been warned to be on high alert.  Of course, to add to the drama, the announcement came on the same day that a “nine-year-old girl became the third person to contract the [H1N1] virus and die in Britain.”  In case you are unfamiliar with the technical name, H1N1 is what many people are calling the “swine flu.”

Not only is this awful since it can affect the results of the tournament (and the health of the athletes), it can also contribute to the spread of the disease since these players and their trainers will continue to travel around the world to compete.

Some star players have spoken out about the news.  Venus Williams said: “I guess there are sicknesses around, hopefully the players won’t get sick.  Hopefully our immune systems are strong enough, that’s what they are there for. We’re going to all put ours in use, take vitamin C and keep playing.”

Roger Federer basically summed up my own thoughts: “It is not good news, especially for the players travelling round the world, meeting so many people, it is not a good thing.  But I am sure the club is trying to protect us as much as possible.”

I hope he’s right but I’m not overly encouraged by the comment by Johnny Perkins, the spokesman for the All England Lawn Tennis Club: “It is in the community, it is in the schools, it would be strange in a way if we didn’t.”  With the world monitoring the progress of swine flu, I’m surprised that they didn’t ask employees who were ill to stay away in the first place.  This should have been a precaution that was put in place before the Championships began.

image: Zuma Press

It was another great day for five-time champion, Roger Federer, as he won his fourth-round match at Wimbledon.  You almost have to feel sorry for Robin Soderling who lost for the third time this month to the Swiss superstar.

image: TSN

Federer, who is now 69-1 in his last 70 matches on grass, defeated Soderling 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) at the All England Club.  “Today was hard to get through a really dangerous match,” Federer said. “Not many rallies, so maybe not as much fun for the people. But I stayed calm, waited for my chance.”  Federer will face Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.  Should be an interesting match since Karlovic has a massive serve and is 6’10” – I’d be terrified!

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick also advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Stanislas Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych respectively.

Roger Federer comes into this years Wimbledon championships as a five-time winner (runner-up in 2008) and it showed in today’s opening round when the Swedish tennis star celebrated an easy 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 win over Taipei’s Yen-Hsun in 1 hour 45 minutes on the Centre Court at the All England Club.

image: Zuma Press

I’m sure most people could have predicted the victory but I’m not sure what to expect from the rest of the tournament.  I think that, like the 2009 French Open, it might be easier for Federer to take the top prize since rival, Rafael Nadal, bowed out with knee problems.  Nadal upset the former No. 1 at Wimbledon last year in a stunning match that ended Federer’s 40-match winning streak.

If you missed today’s match, you might like seeing this great shot by Federer.  He really is amazing.

Roger Federer has completed a career Grand Slam (and his 14th major title) after beating Robin Soderling at the 2009 French Open 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 today.  Federer is now tied with Pete Sampras’ impressive record and is the sixth man to ever win all four Grand Slam championships.

image: Zuma Press

Getting a French Open title was not an easy task for Federer who has been the runner-up three times before.  The Swiss tennis star seemed to take his victory in stride (even though he clearly feels he deserves some bragging rights).  After the win, Federer said “now the question is: Am I the greatest of all time?  We don’t know, but I definitely have many things going for me because I’ve finally won all four Grand Slams, and I’m particularly happy reaching Pete’s 14.”

He went on to say: “It’s maybe my greatest victory, or certainly the one that removes the most pressure off my shoulders. I think that now and until the end of my career, I can really play with my mind at peace and no longer hear that I’ve never won Roland Garros.”

The winning moment was awesome (unless, of course, you’re Robin Soderling) as Federer fell to the clay and screamed before burying his hands in his face as the people in the crowd rose to their feet.  He let the tears run free as he stood there listening to the Swiss national anthem.  Tennis great, Andre Agassi, presented him with the trophy!!!  It must have been an incredible feeling.

To Soderling’s credit, he was a true gentleman and a class act.  After being defeated he said: “Roger, really, congrats to you.  You really gave me a lesson in how to play tennis today. And to me you’re the greatest player in history. So you really deserved to win this title.”

Sampras, himself, had to weigh in on the victory.  In a telephone interview he said: “I’m obviously happy for Roger.  Now that he has won in Paris, I think it just more solidifies his place in history as the greatest player that played the game, in my opinion.”

I think I’m going to have to agree.  Federer is carving a name for himself and has definitely solidified his position among the game’s best – if not THE best.

****UPDATE****

There was a scary moment, however, that slightly marred the big day.  Federer was attacked by a weird fan who managed to get onto the court in an attempt to put a red hat on the tennis star’s head.  After Federer pushed the man away from him, the guy danced in front of him waving a Barcelona soccer team flag.  How crazy!  Watch the video:

After an intense semifinal round, Switzerland’s, Roger Federer, beat Argentina’s, Juan Martin del Potro, to advance to the 2009 French Open finals.  As you can tell from the image below, Federer was pretty excited.

image: TSN

While many might have guessed that the Swiss tennis star would advance to the next round (he has been a runner-up at this even three times) his opponent, 23rd-seeded, Robin Soderling (Sweden), was a bit of a surprise.  In what some are calling his “Cinderella run,” he upset 12th-seeded Chilean, Fernando Gonzalez, 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.  This is Soderling’s first-ever major semi.

I honestly don’t know who I’d like to see win since, in both situations, we’ve got a pretty great story.  Soderling is the ultimate underdog and who doesn’t like to see someone rise up from obscurity and beat all of the big names?  At the same time, if Federer wins, he will “become the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam events, tying Pete Sampras for the all-time men’s record in Grand Slam titles” (14).

The finals take place on Sunday.  If history repeats itself, Federer will take the title since he has beat Soderling in all nine of the times they’ve battled but Soderling is having an unusually charmed tournament so it is really anyone’s game.  The winner gets to take home $1.485 million and become a first-time French Open champ.

Roger Federer has added on to his record run of consecutive Grand Slam semis.  After beating Gael Monfils 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 6-4 in a rematch of a semifinal played at the French Open last year, Federer affirmed that he would appear in his 20th straight major final four.

On Friday, second-seeded Federer will compete against fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals.  The pair have a history that tips the scales in Federer’s favor – he beat del Potro at this year’s Australian Open quarters and in the second round at Wimbledon two years ago.

The other men’s semifinal match will feature a showdown between 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez and 23rd-seeded Robin Soderling (who eliminated four-time reigning French Open champion, Rafael Nadal, in a huge shocker earlier this week).

Meanwhile, things took another surprising turn on the women’s court.  Second-seeded Serena Williams was beat by the seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, who won 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 7-5 on Court Lenglen.

It was an exciting back and forth match between the women and, for a little while, it looked like Williams was going to take it.  “In the third set I had an opportunity and I got really tight, and I pretty much gave it to her,” Williams said. “It was like, ‘Here, do you want to go to the semis? Because I don’t.’ She was like, ‘OK.”‘

Was it nerves?  “I don’t know,” Williams said. “I haven’t gotten tight since 2007 in Australia. Maybe I put some expectations on myself that I didn’t put on myself initially.”

Kuznetsova’s has advanced to the semifinals where she will face 30th-seeded Samantha Stosur, who will be competing in the Grand Slam semis for the first time.

In the other women’s semifinal, Dinara Safina will square off against Dominika Cibulkova.

images: TSN

It was a big day for male tennis players today as sixth-seeded Andy Roddick made an early exit from the tournament as Roger Federer rallied from a two set deficit to win his fourth-round match.

Roddick lost his match 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 on Court Lenglen to the local favorite, Gael Monfils (11th-seeded).  Meanwhile, Federer dropped those first two sets to Tommy Haas but then fought hard to win 6-7 (4-7), 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 in three hours and seven minutes.

image: TSN

When asked about the early elimination of Raphael Nadal, Federer didn’t even try to hide his feelings: “It caused a bit of a shock in the locker room.  All the players are a bit relieved. Everybody suddenly sees that things are much more open.”

At 27 years old, Federer needs just one more Grand Slam title to match the record set by Pete Sampras and I’m feeling confident that he can do it.

I have to say that I find it pretty cool that this year’s men’s French Open champion will be a first time winner.  That always makes it a little more exciting!

Roger Federer wanted and needed the win at the Madrid Open final and he got it. The Swiss has had a rough 2009, but did something I never predicted – he beat Rafael Nadal on clay 6-4, 6-4, Sunday (May 17)! Federer is the only top 10 player to defeat Nadal on this surface. I think those are some pretty good bragging rights.

What did Nadal think of this loss? Not much.

“To me, this tournament has nothing to do with Paris. This tournament is practically another surface compared to Paris,” said Nadal. “The conditions favored him more than me.”

What conditions is he referring to? The high altitude which carried with it some odd bounces and a faster pace. Nadal went on to say, “There are no positives, there is little to analyze. He broke and broke and I went home.”

If you’ll remember, Federer was in tears when he lost to Nadal at Melbourne. So, to say this is a sweet victory for Federer is an understatement.

“I thought I took all the right decisions today. In the end it was a perfect game for me,” said Federer. “(You) stay positive and I did. I got the win I needed badly.”

What’s up next for Nadal and Federer? The French Open and according to Federer, his Madrid Open win came at just the right time. Talk about some great preparation mentally for Roger Federer. Congrats to the Swiss player!

Source: Tennis.com

Image Credit: Newscom

Roger Federer and Andy Roddick will take on each other at the Masters Series Madrid quarters, Friday, May 15th. This is the 20th time in their careers that these two have faced each other, but they have never played each other on clay. Why? It’s most likely due to the fact that Roddick hasn’t been able to advance on the clay surface.

It’s obvious that Federer has the edge over Roddick, but Federer has definitely been struggling in the 2009 season. The Swiss player would really like to grab a hold of his first title of the year. Roddick does have his 2008 win over Federer at the Masters Series Miami to give him the confidence he needs on Friday. He knows he has what it takes to beat Federer and that is huge! What does Roddick have to do on Friday? He needs to serve well, really well.

Who do you think will take this one?

Image Credit: Zuma Press