Looking Back - Wimbledon

As far as Wimbledon's I'd like to forget go, this one ranks up there pretty highly. And it's not just because of Federer's demoralising loss to Berdych in the quarters - though that is obviously part of the reason! No, it actually comes down to the fact that the final was really spectacularly uninteresting.

We have been blessed with some classic Wimbledon finals of late. Wimbledon 2007 - Federer takes down Nadal in five sets. Wimbledon 2008 - the match widely touted as the greatest of all time, when Nadal prevailed over Federer in a heartbreaking 8-6 final set. Wimbledon 2009 - if you want to talk about a heartbreaker, ask Andy Roddick how he felt after going down to Federer 16-14 in the fifth, giving Federer his fifteenth Slam.

2010. Rafa Nadal beats Tomas Berdych in three sets so dull it's almost agonising.

This is not to take anything away from Rafa, who had a stupendous tournament. (I find myself saying that I don't want to take stuff away from Rafa a lot, for some reason - I suppose that as a Federer fan I'm always looking at things from a very specific perspective.) This was the tournament where people started to talk about Rafa not just as the dude that stopped Federer being far and away the greatest of all time, but as a candidate for the title of Greatest himself. But none of that makes the final any less than dull.

I don't especially want to talk about the Federer/Berdych match, which had me swearing and crying and screaming like a maniac. One match I will talk about, though, was Federer's first round - which also had me swearing and screaming and crying. Who ever would have thought that there would be a day when Alejandro Falla would be serving for the match at Wimbledon against Roger Federer? Not me, that is for sure, and I would venture that the thought hadn't really occurred to many other people either.

I think that that was when I realised that this Wimbledon was probably not going to be Federer's. But when Federer came back from the brink of defeat, I wasn't thinking about that. There have been a bunch of matches this year when Federer has lost from a match-points-up position. Let's not forget that he's fought his way out of some pretty dark holes himself.

Don't Call My Name, Alejandro

You'd think it would be relatively easy, being a fangirl of the greatest player ever. But no. It's tears and tantrums and occasionally wanting to die, even though it's all worth it when times are shiny and good. We're spoiled, we Federer fans, because our guy comes through so often for us - when he doesn't, we whinge.

But perhaps the sweetest moments (aside from those special moments when he holds up the shiny trophies and has a little cry to himself) are when he is forced to fight, when he is pushed to the brink and when he finds a way to win anyway.

It was not GodFed we saw out there against Alejandro Falla. He didn't seem to have too much of a game plan and he was playing short... and Falla was playing crazy out of his skin good. Falla was on fire, if you will (yes, I went there). But that's the thing about the great ones. They have the ability to find the way.

Let's talk a bit about Alejandro Falla. It would be easy to say that this is the start of big things for him, but I think that would be disenguous. I think this is the best match he has ever played in his career and I don't think he's ever going to top it. He served for the match against Roger Federer. He was SO CLOSE. This will be the story he tells his grandkids - the day he almost beat the greatest player who ever lived on Centre Court in Wimbledon. The day a little bit of that greatness rubbed off. The day he played the greatest match of his career. The day he was so close, and yet so far away.

Things seemed to click for Roger once he got that break back in the fourth, and I think once he got that first mini break in the tie break it was all over, red rover. He raced through that set like he was late for something, and that's when he played vintage Fed stuff. He uncorked a few, one might say. The commentators on TV here said that he was playing the earlier parts of the match as if it were a clay court match, and I see where they were coming from.

I don't think this is really what Roger wanted for his first round, but the dude came through a tough epic, so maybe the fight will be good for him. I've been worrying he's been getting complacent - maybe this will be a very rude wake up call. Just because your draw looks like a cakewalk doesn't mean it is in fact, a cakewalk.

But well done, Roger, for winning a match you should have lost. And congratulations, he-whose-name-is-a-Gaga-song, for playing the best match you will ever play.