Federer Wins Wimbledon, ESPN Confirms Gilbert to Coach Murray
Posted on July 10, 2006
Federer Adds to Legend with 4th Consecutive Wimbledon TitleWorld No. 1 Roger Federer's legendary status grew Sunday at Wimbledon where the Swiss became only the third player in the Open Era to win four consecutive titles at the All England Club, with his name etched beside American Pete Sampras, and now with a shot in 2007 at Bjorn Borg's record five consecutive titles.
All the sweeter for Federer was the 6-0, 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-3 victory over nemesis Rafael Nadal.
Federer opened the match with a master class on grasscourt play, brutalizing a nervous Nadal 6-0 in the first set, reminiscent of this year's French Open final where Federer came out on fire and Nadal needed a set to calm his nerves and work his way into the match.
With the now seemingly-obligatory practice set out of the way, it was Nadal who came out firing in the second, breaking Federer in his first service game for a 1-0 lead, playing first-strike tennis and upping his first-serve percentage.
After the early break, both players held serve until Nadal served for the set at 5-4, then went for the throat clutcher.
A nervous double fault at 15-30 then a forehand unforced error resulted in a screamingly-frustrating dropping of serve from the Spaniard, with the set progressing to a tiebreak where Nadal fought off two set points before Federer consolidated a two-set lead.
Nadal won the third in a tiebreak, but gave up an early break in the fourth after "fencing" an overhead volley, and Federer rode out the break for the win.
"I'm very well aware of how important this match was for me," Federer said. "If I lose, obviously it's a hard blow for me. He wins French, Wimbledon back to back. I was twice in the finals. It's important for me to win a final, and beat him for a change."
The win ended a streak of five straight losses to Nadal, who still leads their career head-to-head series 6-2.
The records continue to pile up for Federer: 48 consecutive match wins on grass, 28 straight at Wimbledon, and only the second man in the Open Era to claim the Wimbledon trophy without losing a set after Bjorn Borg in 1976.
For Nadal the loss broke a streak of winning 14 consecutive tournament finals.
"Maybe in the first set was tough for me because he's playing different than the other guys, other players. He play with more slice," Nadal said. "He change a lot the game...Maybe I play very good second set, no? Finally I play bad the 5-4, for sure. But for that, maybe in this these moments, maybe I lost a match, no? But after I play very good the tiebreak of the third. Sure, the third set I play very well. And in the fourth I play good. I play good, too, but I miss the volley in the breakpoint down, and that's decisive, no?"
Yan/Zheng Win Wimbledon Doubles Title
LONDON, UK -- In just their second appearance here, Yan Zi and Zheng Jie collected their second Grand Slam doubles title and became the first Chinese Wimbledon champions in tennis history by defeating Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez 63 36 62 on Sunday.
"We are very happy and proud to be the first Chinese doubles champions at Wimbledon," Zheng said. "It has been a very good year for us and we hope to keep winning more titles in the future."
The No.4-seeded tandem claimed the first set in 38 minutes after breaking their opponents in the fourth game. While Ruano Pascual and Suarez were unable to convert two break chances in the first set, they took advantage of two breaks in the second, to go up 2-1 and 4-2, and pave the way for a third set. But the Chinese duo quickly regained control in the decider, breaking the eight-time Grand Slam champions on three occasions to race to a 5-1 lead. Yan and Zheng then failed to close out the victory on their own serve but iced it in the ensuing game on their fourth match point.
After winning the Australian Open earlier this year, Yan and Zheng showed that their first Grand Slam triumph wasn't a fluke. Since mid-clay court season, the pair has won 21 of 22 matches and captured four Sony Ericsson WTA Tour events. The duo has pulled off impressive victories en route to this fortnight's final. After sending off Martina Navratilova and Liezel Huber with a third set bagel in the quarters, they overthrew 2004 Wimbledon champions Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs in the semis to set up a fourth career meeting with Ruano Pascual and Suarez.
The Spanish-Argentine duo was gunning for a doubles career Grand Slam here. Holding four Roland Garros titles, three US Open crowns and one Australian Open trophy, the tandem was eager to add more major hardware to its collection. After making the finals here in 2002 and 2003, the team was hoping to complete the quest for a first Wimbledon trophy this time. But Yan and Zheng outscored their opposition 32-19 in the winners column to keep them from becoming the sixth team to complete the career doubles Grand Slam.
-- WTA
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Rafael Nadal had won 14 straight tournament finals until Fed beat him Sunday (his last lost was also to Fed at Miami in '05). Federer has won four straight Wimbledons, tying Pete Sampras' consecutive mark. Bjorn Borg won five straight. Federer is 8-1 in Slam finals, and has won 48 straight on grass, and 28 straight at Wimbledon including 84 of 89 sets. Federer had lost five straight to Nadal until Sunday...The last time Rafael Nadal got bageled was last year in Monte Carlo by Guillermo Coria. Nadal had held 80 straight times until getting broken three straight in that first set against Federer. Nadal is the first Spaniard to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open Era...American Jan-Michael Gambill went 0-3 Saturday in World TeamTennis play, losing in singles to Nick Monroe (ouch), while Anna Kournikova went 1-2...From TennisNews.com: "If you need an indication of the gap between the Top Two and the rest of the ATP, consider this: Rafael Nadal had held in 80 straight games entering the final. And Roger Federer bagelled him in the first set."...Jimmy Connors writing for the BBC: "Roger Federer is starting to remind me of Bjorn Borg. Not just in the way he's dominating Wimbledon year after year, but also in his approach to the sport. In my playing days I could never get to Borg, never knew what he was thinking. He just kept going, playing the sort of tennis that made him who and what he was. Federer is just the same, especially in his attitude and the way he never lets himself gets flustered. Look at him after the match. He came off and said he was a little nervous serving it out but I just thought 'what does it take for him to show some emotion?' He's so calm and collected during the course of play and he's just the same walking around with the trophy."...Luke Jensen writing for ESPN: "Going into this fortnight, I honestly thought Andre Agassi was going to beat [Rafael] Nadal. I couldn't believe someone who plays eight feet from the baseline and had so little experience on grass was going to be able to pick it up like Nadal did. He has a great ability to close in on the ball from where he stands and his serve was noticeably bigger at Wimbledon. He's only going to get better and that's bad news for the rest of the field. Going forward to the US Open, I would love to see a Federer-Nadal final. American Andy Roddick is off the pace. His compatriot James Blake is a top-10 player, but for him to win slams he is going to have to be as mentally tough as Federer and Nadal. The rivalry that you have in Federer and Nadal has the potential to rival Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe in terms of their contrasting styles."...Greg Garber writing for ESPN: "There was no formal, on-air farewell to broadcasting from Brad Gilbert on Sunday. The former coach of Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick and future coach of Scotland's Andy Murray glibly rolled through what could be his final Wimbledon appearance as an ESPN analyst without once mentioning his future. Gilbert's imminent departure has been a poorly-kept secret here at the All England Club for the entire fortnight. According to sources familiar with the negotiations, some technical details have yet to be worked out between Gilbert and the Lawn Tennis Association. Still, it is understood that Gilbert will receive approximately 500,000 pounds per year ($920,000) to work with the 19-year-old, who is seen by many as a future top-10 player. Gilbert himself declined to confirm that the deal is done, but did not sound like a man who will be returning to broadcasting any time soon."