Praise and Blame

Israel beat Russia.

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Israel beat Russia.

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That was not supposed to happen. That was not in the script!

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It was the doubles guys that clinched the win for Israel - the match went five sets with the Russians fighting hard, but the experience of Erlich and Ram won out in the end. However, I think you have to give the hero label that inevitably comes up in this situations to the Israeli singles guys, Dudi Sela and Harel Levy - in particular, Levy, who overcame a deficit of something like a hundred rankings places to beat Andreev (who, according to Safin, was the only fit Russian on the team).

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It'll be interesting to see what happens to Tarpischev now... I mean, sure, the Russians did not have their best team out there. No Davydenko and no Tursunov. But the villain of the piece - for as there is a hero, there is someone who needs to be blamed - will be Andreev, poor guy. Davis Cup must be so hard for players, because it's totally foreign. You lose early in a tournament, and you have no one to blame but yourself and it's only yourself that you've let down, in effect. Lose a bad match in Davis Cup? You've let your nation down. And this is one of the only fora in which tennis players play as a nation. The pressure must be totally immense.

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All other ties are still alive - I'll be interested to see if the Americans can make anything happen against the Croats, but I doubt it. The Croats are looking better than they have since they won the Cup a few years ago. Karlovic and Cilic... there's a team to watch out for!

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Today's Results

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Davis Cup

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Czech Republic 2, Argentina 1

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Berdych/Stepanek def Acasuso/Mayer, 6-1 6-4 6-3

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Croatia 2, USA 1

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Marin Cilic def. Mardy Fish, 4-6 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-1 8-6

Bryan/Bryan def. Karanusic/Zovko, 6-3 6-1 6-3

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Israel 3, Russia 0

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Erlich/Ram def. Kunitsyn/Safin, 6-3 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 4-6 6-4

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Spain 2, Germany 1

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Lopez/Verdasco def. Kiefer/Zverev, 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Rajeev Ram def. Olivier Rochus, 6-3 6-4

Sam Querrey def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

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Bastad Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-5 6-4

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GDF SUEZ Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Patty Schnyder def. Edina Gallovits, 6-2 6-4

Agnes Szavay def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-1 6-2

Patty Schnyder def. Alisa Kleybanova, 5-7 7-5 6-2

Out of the Frying Pan...

I'm not sure whose idea it was to put Davis Cup the week after Wimbledon - which is, effectively, the week after the most intense six week period of the year - but it seems to have worked out okay for them. The only person this intense scheduling seems to have really affected is Andy Roddick, who picked up a wee bit of an injury in the Wimbledon final (and who really deserves a rest anyway after that effort). So they got away with it, but it doesn't necessarily mean it was smart...

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The story so far of the tie has to be Israel. What do they think they're doing, taking a 2-0 lead over Russia? That was certainly not in the script. When your team consists of Harel Levy and Dudi Sela, you pretty much expect to get beaten in the first round... maybe you'll win a round courtesy of Dudi and the doubles dudes if you get a good draw, but a whole tie...? Never.

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And that's the way it looks like it's going. I mean, sure, Tarpischev definitely doesn't have the bestest Russian team ever out there, but Youzhny and Andreev, who played the singles matches yesterday, should be able to subordinate the Israelies any day of the week. Now a lot rests on the doubles, and the Israelis have a world-class doubles team in Erlich and Ram. So if Safin and Kunitsyn can't subdue them... we are heading for the biggest Davis Cup upset this year.

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Germany are holding their own against Spain, as well - Andreas Beck very nearly almost took out Nando Verdasco to make it 2-0, but Nando is an iron man in Davis Cup, as we all know. Still, this will be a very interesting tie to follow. There's only so much heroics one man can pull, and I get the feeling that Spain is relying very much on Verdasco right now...

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And over to Argentina and the Czechs... is something up with Radek Stepanek? Because dude, he should be playing singles. He's still listed as playing doubles... is he injured? Because I can't see any other reason the Czechs would have sent Ivo Minar out in singles. That is not very smart. Not that Stepanek would have stood a huge chance over del Potro either, but he would have had A chance. Minar had none.

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Today's Results

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Davis Cup

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Argentina 1, Czech Republic 1

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Tomas Berdych def. Juan Monaco, 6-4 2-6 2-6 6-3 6-2

Juan Martin del Potro def. Ivo Minar, 6-1 6-3 6-3

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Croatia 1, USA 0

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Ivo Karlovic def. James Blake, 6-7 (5-7) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

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Israel 2, Russia 0

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Harel Levy def. Igor Andreev, 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2

Dudi Sela def. Mikhail Youzhny, 3-6 6-1 6-0 7-5

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Spain 1, Germany 1

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Fernando Verdasco def. Andreas Beck, 6-0 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-1

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Tommy Robredo, 6-3 6-4 6-4

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Sam Querrey def. Kevin Kim, 6-3 6-4

Sam Querrey def. Prakash Amritraj, 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 6-2

Fabrice Santoro def. Taylor Dent, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Nicolas Mahut def. Fabrice Santoro, 4-6 4-6

Jesse Levine def. Philipp Petzschner, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Rajeev Ram def. Jesse Levine, 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7-3)

Brendan Evans def. Robby Ginepri, 6-3 6-4

Olivier Rochus def. Brendan Evans, 6-4 6-4

Rajeev Ram def. Sam Groth, 6-4 6-2

Olivier Rochus def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-4

Kevin Kim def. Daniel Brands, 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Nicolas Mahut def. Alex Bogomolov jr., 6-2 6-2

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Bastad Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Caroline Wozniacki def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-3 4-6 6-2

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Gisela Dulko, 7-5 6-4

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GDF Suez Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Agnes Szavay def. Timea Bacsinszky, 6-2 6-3

Alona Bondarenko def. Shahar Peer, 7-5 6-1

Edina Gallovits def. Petra Martic, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Banned

I woke up this morning to the news that Australian tennis player Brydan Klein has been banned for six months for a racial slur.

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To which I have nothing to say but this: good.

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There is no excuse for that kind of behaviour in sport - and it's something we hear so rarely in tennis. Tennis has to be one of the most well-behaved sports, on the whole (this is the impression I get, anyway). It's a sport of gentlemen and ladies - not in the oh let's go and dance at a ball sort of way, but in a polite, respectful way. Look at who we have at the top - Roger and Rafa, who are both some of the most lovely guys you'll ever meet.

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Which is why incidents like the Brydan Klein one are so shocking. And I'm surprised he only got six months, really - this isn't the kind of thing we want in our sport. I have to say - I'm ashamed that someone from my country is responsible for this kind of thing. Because it is not cool, it is not on and it does not belong in tennis.

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Today's Results

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Frank Dancevic, 7-6 (11-9) 2-6 7-5

Olivier Rochus def. Alexander Peya, 6-2 4-6 6-4

Fabrice Santoro def. Flavio Cipolla, 6-3 7-5

Kevin Kim def. Sebastien Grosjean, 4-6 6-3 retired

Rajeev Ram def. Alejandro Falla, 6-4 7-5

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Collector Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Caroline Wozniacki def. Maria Kirilenko, 7-5 7-6 (7-4)

Gisela Dulko def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Flavia Pennetta def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-4 6-2

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Carla Suarez Navarro, 4-6 6-3 6-0

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GDF Suez Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Patty Schnyder def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-3 6-2

Agnes Szavay def. Tathiana Garbin, 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 7-5

Alisa Kleybanova def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 4-6 6-4 6-4

Timea Bacsinszky def. Patricia Mayr, 0-6 6-3 6-4

Love Fifteen

So it kind of hit me when I was at work (yes, I was not doing much) - Roger Federer has fifteen Slams.

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I mean, I knew that. The record was fourteen, and he beat the record, and fourteen + one = fifteen. This is not rocket science. But dude! FIFTEEN!

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That is a LOT of Slams.

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I tried to imagine Federer's trophy room. We heard that quip from Serena the other day about how she uses trophies to hold makeup brushes, and she plays a pretty tight schedule. Roger's now won sixty singles titles and has a few of those runner up things as well. I imagined him walking in and stubbing his toe on the US Open trophy from 2005, then rooting through an explosively full cupboard to find his Cincinatti 2007 trophy to give to Baby Fed as a teething ring. Mirka might come in to see why it was taking so long and might fall over the trophy from the Australian Open in 2004, and he might catch her but run into a shelf, causing a few of those swords from Dubai to fall down. And then Baby Fed might crawl in and they might get panicked thinking they've lost it, only to find it nestled asleep inside the replica Coupe de Mousquetaires. They'd be so happy they'd have to make cookies, and Roger would ferret out the runner up plate from Wimbledon in 2008 to serve them on (which he's hidden in the highest cupboard in the house).

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Then think of the trophy room of a one Slam wonder. You can bet that that one Slam trophy is the highlight of his collection. It's the centrepiece, the marvel, the life achievement of which he is most proud. He has special lights shining on it. People are like 'wow... a Slam trophy!'

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In Roger's house? He's got a Wimbledon trophy on the mantlepiece. And five more out the back. And he's got a few spare trophies out in the mountains holding Juliette's feed - you know, from the not-quite-so-important tournaments, like the Masters Cup.

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Fifteen Slams. Fifteen.

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What kind of insane level of consistency is that? Pete Sampras won fourteen Slams over twelve years. Roger's won fifteen over six. That means, of the twenty-five Slams played since (and including) Wimbledon 2003, Federer's won fifteen of them. Leaving ten for everyone else.

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Ten. And when you consider that six of them belong to great champion in his own right Rafa Nadal, that leaves very, very few left. One to Roddick. One to Safin. One to Djokovic. One to Gaudio.

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Think of how many more Slams guys like these would have won, if Roger Federer hadn't hogged them all! He's single-handedly overshadowed the careers of not just a few players, but of a generation.

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And I love it. I love fifteen! Because fifteen Slams couldn't go to a nicer bloke or a man that deserved it more than Roger 'I use my trophies for fruitbowls and to hold my razors and perhaps my firstborn' Federer.

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The rest of the field? Love. Federer? Fifteen.

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Today's Results

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Philipp Petzschner def. Horacio Zeballos, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2

Alex Bogmolov def. Arnaud Clement, 1-6 6-3 6-4

Nicolas Mahut def. Amer Delic, 6-4 6-4

Sam Querrey def. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-3 6-2

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Collector Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Caroline Wozniacki def. Petra Kvitova, 6-4 6-2

Dominika Cibulkova def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-1 6-1

Flavia Pennetta def. Masa Zec Peskiric, 6-1 6-2

Gisela Dulko def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5)

Maria Kirilenko def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2 6-3

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Ellen Allgurin, 6-1 6-4

Alla Kudryavtseva def. Iveta Benesova, 6-2 6-4

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Angelique Kerber, 6-3 6-2

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GDF Suez Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Shahar Peer def. Alize Cornet, 6-2 6-0

Edina Gallovits def. Sybille Bammer, 4-6 7-5 6-2

Alona Bondarenko def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-4 4-6 6-4

Petra Martic def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-3 6-2

Patty Schnyder def. Andrea Petkovic, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

For Mathieu

In the wake of the glory of Wimbledon, we have a tragedy. French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt died overnight, aged 24.

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I can't say I know much about Montcourt. He made it to the second round of this year's Roland Garros where he lost to Stepanek, if I recall correctly. He was ranked just outside the top hundred and was looking to make a charge inside. But even if he is not known that well, he will certainly be missed, and it does not lessen this tragedy at all. He will be missed by the French tennis federation and by the international community. RIP Mathieu.

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There is play going on in three tournaments around the world at the moment - Newport, Bastad and Budapest - but the news is still all Wimbledon, still all Federer, still all history. I think you can tell that by looking at the ATP website and seeing it absolutely covered in Federer - apart from a story about Montcourt and a tiny piece about Grosjean. Andy Roddick is getting some love as well, but it's really all Federer, everywhere.

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I guess that's what happens when you make history! I don't know if we'll ever be able to understand the enormity of his achievements. I don't feel like there's much more I can say - surely I've heaped every superlative I've thought of on him - but I feel like he deserves more words anyway. Hence this rather dull yay Roger spiel - sorry!

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Today's Results

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Collector Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Caroline Wozniacki def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-1 6-3

Dominika Cibukova def. Sandra Roma, 6-3 2-6 6-1

Flavia Pennetta def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-2 7-5

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-1 7-6 (7-1)

Maria Kirilenko def. Irina Buryachok, 6-0 6-4

Petra Kvitova def. Julia Vakulenko, 6-3 4-1 retired

Masa Zed Peskiric def. Michela Johansson, 6-2 6-0

Nuria Llagostera Vives def. Ayumi Morita, 4-6 6-0 6-2

Angelique Kerber def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 7-5 6-4

Ellen Allgurin def. Ksenia Palkina, 6-4 6-4

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GDF Suez Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Alize Cornet def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-3 6-1

Sybille Bammer def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-2 6-3

Agnes Szavay def. Katalin Marosi, 6-1 6-1

Alisa Kleybanova def. Monica Niculescu, 6-0 6-3

Tomea Bacsinszky def. Sara Errani, 5-7 6-4 6-0

Petra Martic def. Lucie Safarova, 7-6 (7-5) 6-0

Ioana Raluca Olaru def. Greta Arn, 6-2 6-2

Shahar Peer def. Irina Begu, 6-1 4-6 6-4

Tathiana Garbin def. Sharon Fichman, 6-1 6-4

Patricia Mayr def. Margalita Chakhnashvili, 6-0 7-5

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Lenka Jurikova, 6-3 1-6 6-4

Marya Koryttseva def. Anna Lapushchenkova, 6-4 6-4

A Whole New World

The dust is beginning to settle. The Wimbledon website is now beginning to count down to next year's tournament (only 350 days to go before we have to go through it all again!) But I don't know if we will ever be able to appreciate the enormous significance of this match.

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Last year's Wimbledon final has been called the greatest match of all time, and it was certainly one of the most brilliant exhibitions of tennis I have ever seen. But what I think it now lacks - something which it didn't seem to lack at the time - is significance. This match, it was said, represented the changing of the guard - gone were the days of Federer, here were the days of the Spanish prince, the conquistador, and the game would never belong to the Maestro again. And for many months - even after Federer won the US Open - this seemed to be the case. It seemed to be confirmed at the Australian Open final. The age of Federer was over. The age of Nadal had just begun.

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But fast-forward to this year's Wimbledon final. By winning this match, Federer has ensured that his bitter defeat of last year no longer means anything like as much as it did. His second ascension started with Madrid, roared into gear at Roland Garros and exploded at Wimbledon. And suddenly, we are back in Federer's time, where the world belongs to him.

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You know who I feel sorry for - apart from Andy Roddick, for whom I am going to continue to feel for a very long time after that gargantuan effort he put in yesterday? Rafael Nadal.

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None of this is Rafa's fault. He didn't ask to be injured, and he certainly didn't decline to defend his title because he didn't want it badly enough. Anyone who has ever doubted the strength of mind and character of Rafael Nadal has been vamosed into submission some time ago. And he thoroughly deserved the year-odd he spent atop the rankings - a year when he was the best player in the world.

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But sport is cruel. I think we saw an example of this yesterday, when out of two determined, ferocious warriors, only one could win. I'm a massive Federer fan yet I cannot say I wanted Roddick to lose. I just wanted Federer to win more. It is completely cruel that Roddick could not win yesterday, just as it would have been heartbreakingly agonising if Federer had come out the worse. And it is cruel that Rafael Nadal should have suffered these injuries and suffered some tough circumstances in his personal life and suddenly find himself back at square one - or square two, so to speak, with all his work not necessarily undone but overshadowed.

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Rafael Nadal is a great champion, and he will be back, fistpumping and vamosing his way to more than a few titles, mark my words. There are more Slams in his future, more tense tussles with his great rivals, including Roger Federer. Our sport is lucky to have Rafa, and we have missed him this tournament.

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But this is the age of Roger Federer. He has overshadowed Sampras, Laver, Borg, just about anyone you can care to name. And while we must not forget Rafael Nadal, the man who has pushed and pushed and pushed Federer until he could push no more, this moment belongs to the greatest player in our game, who has once more ascended to the pinnacle of our sport. Wimbledon '08 has been overshadowed. Wimbledon '09 has taken its place. Such is the way of sport and such is the way of history - some events, no matter how weight is given to them at the time, can be superceded. Where there was disaster, now there is triumph. The ferociously determined victory of 2009 now takes the place of the heartbreakingly close loss of 2008. And the world has changed.

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Welcome to the Second Golden Age of Roger Federer.

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Today's Results

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Taylor Dent def. Marcos Daniel, 6-2 6-1

Robby Ginepri def. Santiago Ventura, 6-2 1-6 6-4

Prakash Amritraj def. Danai Udomchoke, 6-1 6-4

Jesse Levine def. Chris Guccione, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2)

Brendan Evans def. Benjamin Becker, 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-5

Daniel Brands def. Vince Spadea, 6-0 6-4

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Collector Swedish Open Women (Bastad)

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Sorana Cirstea def. Johanna Larsson, 4-6 6-2 7-5

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Jill Craybas, 6-3 3-6 6-3

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Lenka Wienerova, 6-0 7-5

Iveta Benesova def. Urszula Radwanska, 3-6 6-2 6-2

Gisela Dulko def. Marta Domachowska, 6-4 6-0

Alla Kudryavtseva def. Karin Knapp, 6-1 6-1

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GDF Suez Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Alona Bondarenko def. Karolina Sprem, 6-3 6-2

Edina Gallovits def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 7-5 6-2

Maria Elena Camerin def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 4-6 6-0 6-1

The King of the Grass Castle

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same...

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These are the lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem If that are writ large above the entrance to Centre Court, the last things that the players see before they enter the arena of battle. Two men enter. One man leaves.

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Welcome to Thunderdome.

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And today, no one wanted to leave. For one there was triumph, the other defeat, but it took a mammoth epic to discover who was whom, who would hold up the greatest trophy in tennis and who would suffer an abject, heartbreaking defeat.

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Andy Roddick fought. He fought harder than anyone, including me, believed him capable. He played tennis the likes of which he has not played since - no, scratch that, I have never seen him play like this. What he did out today required not only huge amounts of heart and guts and other visceral organs, but it required cleverness and tactics and a whole lot of skill.

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But destiny would not be denied.

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And Roger Federer had a date with destiny, and he didn't want to be late.

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What a match this was. Last year might have been technically longer in minutes, but the epic of this year cannot be underestimated. The Wimbledon final has produced some excellent finals over the last three years in particular - all five sets, all involving Roger Federer, and all brilliant and heartbeaking all at once. And though last year's match, where Rafael Nadal dethroned the great man, has been called the greatest match of all time, I believe that year's match will take a rightful place beside it.

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For a match to be great, there needs to be two worthy opponents - and I cannot praise the efforts of Andy Roddick highly enough. To take the King of the Grass Castle to five sets, to a fifth set that will be remembered down the ages... I don't have the right words to describe what he has done. What a rejuvenation for his career. I read a great line somewhere today that said that Andy Roddick had found his mojo and found his Mirka, and I can't agree highly enough. Brooklyn Decker has been a wonderful influence on the A-Rod - and one cannot underestimate the effect that the brilliant mind of Larry Stefanki has had. Roddick is a whole new player. He is more than a serve with a forehand attached. His double-handed backhand was unbelievably effective - and I don't know how he fixed his volleys, but he has done it with aplomb. I cannot praise him highly enough.

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But today, in the end, belonged to the King. To the greatest player of all time. To the man that now holds all the records. 15 time Slam winner - 5 US Opens, 3 Australian Opens, 1 hardfought, brilliant Roland Garros and now an incredible 6 Wimbledons. The man who has reached 21 consecutive Slam semi-finals. The man who has played better and more consistently than any man in history. A man who now holds sixty singles titles.

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The Roland Garros and Wimbledon dual champion who has now ascended the pedestal once more and become the #1 player in the world.

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Today belonged to the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen. And it was fitting that so many of the greats were there to watch him. Bjorn Borg, who also won the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in a single season. Rod Laver, twice winner of the calendar year Grand Slam. And Pete Sampras, whom Federer has surpassed today as the winner of fifteen career Slams. All these men are great. But Federer has transcended their achievements, has ascended to another level.

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Destiny came calling for Roger Federer today. And with Swiss precision, he answered her call. There was a sense of profound rightness when he held up the trophy - the sense that some kind of order had been restored, that something incredibly, truly right had happened. And so it is with the great champions. Everything they do, they deserve.

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And Roger Federer belongs in their league, as the greatest of the great. Here at Wimbledon, he has experienced both triumph and disaster, and treated those two impostors just the same. He has filled the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run.

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And his is the earth, and everything that's in it - and what's more, what a man he is, my son!

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Today's Results

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The Championships (Wimbledon)

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Andy Roddick, 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 16-14