Breakfast at Wimbledon, A Sunday Morning Preview

***REPOSTED FROM MY PREVIOUS BLOG "LIVE AND LET DIGRESS"***

ORIGINALLY DATED JULY 4, 2009

There are few things that could pull me out of bed at 9am on a Sunday morning when I get up at 6:30 for work during the week. One of these rare occasions is the men's Wimbledon final. Wimbledon is my favorite tennis tournament of the year, perhaps I'll post about why later. I have spent the last two weeks religiously checking the live scores on tennis.com and after all this build up, how could I miss the main event? Let's start with a recap of last year's Wimbledon final...

Wimbledon 2008

For the third time we were to see Rafael Nadal compete against reigning champion Roger Federer. By this time, everyone knew Nadal had a chance, he was playing some amazing tennis and had recently crushed Federer in the French Open final. However, I don't think anyone expected the match that ensued. I got up early that Sunday morning expecting my favorite player, Federer, to win, possibly in five, but I had little doubt he would prevail. I was wrong. By the time he was two sets down to love, I was convinced he would lose and so upset I decided to go shoe shopping instead of watch the remainder of the match (which at the time seemed like it would be only a few minutes). Nearly two hours later, I returned home, waiting for the news of Roger's defeat, only to find the match was still going. Federer still had a shot. While Federer did eventually lose, this match was ridiculously amazing. I couldn't fault Nadal a bit, he outplayed Federer and deserved to win, even if I only admitted so begrudgingly. It's truly a shame that Nadal could not defend his title this year.

2009 Final Preview

If you had asked me last week who I thought we would see in the final, I would have said Roger Federer and Andy Murray with no hesitation. I predicted the semi final matchups (Roddick/Murray and Haas/Federer) correctly, but I didn't really believe Roddick would make it past Murray this time. I was wrong. Roddick played a great match today and I can't wait to see him play the final. My real dilemma now is who to cheer on in the final. There are few circumstances where I would root against Federer, but Roddick is one of my favorite players and has only one grand slam trophy to his name (all the way back in 2003). He is the underdog in this match, and you have to love an underdog. Federer and Roddick have played each other 20 times, including 3 Grand Slam finals, 2 of those being at Wimbledon. Federer has won 18 of these encounters, including all 3 finals. Andy's chances of winning his first Wimbledon this year don't look great (but don't get me wrong, there's always a chance, especially after that Murray match). I have to say Federer has a better shot of winning, which will give him a record 15 Grad Slam titles. Either way it should be a great match and I'll be happy with either winner. I'm predicting four sets, to Federer in the end.