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Venus Overjoyed by Title Win

Saturday, 2 July, 2005

There are few times in life when any of us knows perfect happiness. Venus Williams had a taste of it today in winning her third Wimbledon, and more than two hours later she could barely find the words to express her joy.

"I'm so excited and so elated," she smiled. "I always felt like a champion in my heart because every single time I walked out on the court I gave my best. But right now I feel great and I feel like I want to do a lot more.

"It was a tough match for sure, going down two breaks in the first set and more in the second. I kept trying to hang in there. I didn't want it to be over in an hour. I tried to keep my feet moving and keep my energy up, and be as positive as I could. I didn't feel I was able to play my best, or get to that form I was in during the semis or quarter-finals. I just had to work with what I had today. I didn't think about winning until I was up 30-0 at 8-7 in the third. I spent so much time behind that I think the only time I was in front was when I won the match.

"Lindsay was playing really well, and at 6-all in the second I started to find some better parts of my game. Finally I was able to make it happen. I was really trying not to think about winning or losing, focusing on trying to do the right thing, playing a good match. I was trying not to think too much at all - that's a problem for me sometimes. It's about stepping up on the big points. It makes it tougher for your opponent to know you will play so well when it really counts. Match point against me was a tough moment.

"When I won, I jumped up and down so much because I was so excited. I can't help myself - I just show it all. I could have kept jumping a lot longer. But I want to say that if it wasn't me playing out there, and it wasn't Serena, then I would definitely have been rooting for Lindsay to win this final."

Venus credited her endless competitive resourcefulness during the match to her younger sister.

"I get my strength from Serena," she explained. "I've tried to fight like her as long as I've been playing tennis. She's such a fighter. I saw her play Lindsay a long time ago and she was so far behind in that match but kept fighting, and she won. So I just tried to stay in it. She's already sent me a text message but I haven't had time to speak to her on the telephone yet.

"Yes, I knew it was my destiny to win again. The difference is that last time I won here I knew I was going to win. This time I didn't think about winning or losing until the very end of the match."

But for all her excitement and joy, at the age of 25 ,Venus has her achievement well in perspective. "Of course this has special meaning for me," she said happily. "I was the 14th seed. I wasn't supposed to win. But tennis shouldn't be the main thing in any player's life. There are so many more things that are more important - family, your beliefs, being a good person. I was listening to Billie-Jean King talking on TV when it rained the other day. She was talking about enjoying the moment and I tried to do that.

"Compete your best but have fun with it to if you can. Tennis is all-consuming but I have to realise that this is just one part of my life and I will move on from it one day, so I mustn't win or die with each win or loss. That's what my dad always taught me."

Written by Kate Battersby

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Davenport Happy Despite Defeat

Saturday, 2 July, 2005

Lindsay Davenport insisted she was happy with her year despite having lost two Grand Slam finals, the Australian Open in January to Serena Williams and today's Wimbledon final to her older sister Venus.

"It has been a great year," she insisted. "Ultimately people will look at it as a disappointment because I didn't win in two Grand Slam finals. I look at it like I've done everything I can. It hasn't worked out. But I'm playing better now than I have in years and hopefully this will encourage me to keep going.

"I'm extremely disappointed to lose today. But I gave it everything I had out there and every time the chips were down, Venus played unbelievable. I thought I played really well, I thought I had a lot of chances. But she never allowed me to take advantage of those chances. She just played great whenever she was down. She deserved to win, absolutely. She fought hard and played well when she was down. She was great."

Davenport denied that the suspected lower back muscle strain she suffered in the final set had affected her play. "I felt my back at 3-2 in the third set when I bent over and felt it tighten up all of a sudden. It's tight now but I was really thankful that it never got worse and didn't detract from my tennis. I was a little nervous that it might lock up completely. But towards the end of the match it wasn't really a factor. The physio thinks I pulled a muscle in my lower left back."

Davenport was disappointed at failing to collect her second Wimbledon title and what would have been her first Grand Slam for five years but claimed she could not have played better or tired harder.

"I felt like I did everything I wanted to do out there and felt I got really close. I just didn't win the one or two points that would have won the match for me. But I don't feel I have anything to hang my head for or be ashamed of. She just took it away from me every time I got up.

"It was really fun to play, if disappointing that I lost. But who wouldn't have the opportunity to go through that? It will probably take me a little while to push it all aside and be able to move forward."

After Wimbledon last year Davenport, who is now 29, said it was doubtful she would return to The Championships. But having decided to play here again, she is thrilled with what she had achieved.

"I hope to be back next year," she said." Last year I improved on a semi-final. Maybe next year I can improve on this. But gosh, it's a long way off. I have no idea if I'll be back. I hope so."

Written by Ronald Atkin

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Day 13 Preview

Saturday, 2 July, 2005

So The Championships have ended up with the men's final the seeding committee thought would come about: the top seed and title holder, Roger Federer, against the second seed and last year's runner-up, Andy Roddick.

There is a cheque for £630,000 on offer to the winner of this afternoon's contest on Centre Court. But for Federer and Roddick, what will be foremost in their minds is the raising of a gold-plated trophy that symbolises supremacy in the sport.

Federer, the 23-year-old Swiss who is world number one, is, going for his third straight Wimbledon title, intent on joining the likes of Fred Perry, Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg who are previous winners of three (or more) Wimbledons in succession. And it will be Roddick's task, a task regarded by most as thankless and a few as hopeless, to attempt for the third year to deny Federer his date with destiny.

In 2003, the first time Roger roared through to win, he defeated Andy in the semi-finals, and last year their clash came in the final. So this will be a repeat of that 2004 occasion. The resilient Roddick insists: "It's going to be fun. I'm excited to have a go, for sure. There's no question that Roger has been the better player over the last two years. No one would argue otherwise. But I just have to be better on the day, not for the next ten years."

Federer has dominated their head-to-head record, as he has dominated almost everyone else. Roddick has won just one of their nine previous matches, a victory preceded by four defeats and followed by four more. Those last four wins have come at a cost of one set to the defending champion.

This will be the second year Federer and Roddick have met as number one and two seeds, something which is a comparative rarity in these days of stronger competition all round. Last year's occasion was the first time it had happened at The Championships since 1982, when Jimmy Connors, seeded two, defeated top seed John McEnroe.

Federer and Roddick are the two most successful grass court players in the world. Federer will attempt to make this afternoon's match his 36th consecutive victory on the turf, which would leave him five short of Borg's all-time mark of 41, while Roddick has won 32 of his last 34 on grass, the two losses being the aforementioned ones to Federer. These glowing grass court statistics have come about not only through excellence at Wimbledon but, in Roddick's case, through a hat-trick of titles in the Stella Artois event at Queen's Club, and in Federer's because he has also won three times in a row at the German tournament in Halle.

En route to the final, Federer has won 18 sets and dropped just one, collecting 119 games and conceding 73. Roddick's count is 18 sets won and five lost, with 136 games won and 95 lost. And victory today would clock up Federer's 30th career title, a formidable total for one so young.

He has also won every single one of his last 20 finals, a record going back to Vienna in 2003. Having also won one Australian and one US championship, Federer is going for his fifth Grand Slam crown win in succession, a record last achieved by the American, Tony Trabert, the only other player to manage it in the post-war years since 1946.

Roddick, in contrast, holds just the one Grand Slam, the US Open of 2003, but if he can pull off a shock today he will have earned it, having battled his way through two five-set matches, the first he has ever played at Wimbledon, as well as that tough four-setter against Thomas Johansson yesterday. So he will either be swinging in the groove, or a rather tired young man. We must wish him luck.

Written by Ronald Atkin

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Federer Ready to Make History

Saturday, 2 July, 2005

When he walks out on to Centre Court on Sunday, defending champion Roger Federer will have just one thing on his mind: victory.

"I've always told myself, and it's always been like this since I've played juniors, that if I get to finals, you know, I just don't want to lose them. I do not accept [loss]," Roger Federer said last year after taking his Championship title here.

Should he fulfill his personal pledge, Federer will join an elite group of men to have won three Wimbledon titles in a row. Both Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras have scored the hat-trick; Borg in fact won the Gentlemen's Singles five times in a row (1976-80) while Sampras managed the feat twice (1993-95 and 1997-2000). Prior to the open era, the great Fred Perry won three on the trot from 1934-36.

Federer is certainly aware that history is there for the making. "I would like to win here, two three, five, 10 in a row, it doesn't really matter to me. It's about The Championships itself. I'm really excited to be back again and walk out there to play", he said.

The world No.1 enters the final with 35 wins in a row on grass and seven tournament successes this year. He'll also bring to proceedings the cherished memories of his last two triumphs here. "My first experience was fantastic; it was the win over Sampras. Ever since, it's always been a dream for me to be able to play on Centre again," he said.

The Swiss star is modest about his comparison to Sampras and Borg but says sharing their legacy would be a tremendous thrill. "Sampras was one of my favorite players. Borg, only sort of got to meet him once. What he achieved is something almost beyond possible. To be in the same group as these two would be absolutely special to me," Federer said.

On Sunday, when he defends his title, he will face the same challenger as last year. Roddick, the second seed, may be the fastest server in the history of the game, but after a series of unconvincing wins at this tournament, he will need more than power to take on the Swiss genius.

The fiery American knows the challenge he faces. "He's probably the most talented person to ever carry a racquet around with the shots that he can come up with. He is a complete player. There have been a lot of good champions, but Roger is just classy," Roddick said.

But despite being the favourite, Federer does not take things for granted.

"I never feel unbeatable. There are too many players out there. It's a new day. You have to feel great. It starts from zero, like a soccer match basically. You never want to fall behind too much because it's tough to come back. The next match obviously is huge for me," he said.

But while being humble, Federer does not hide his ambition. "I am proud to be in my third consecutive Wimbledon final. That really means very much to me. I hope I can seize the opportunity."

Written by Sajid Shaikh

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Roddick Sets His Sights Higher

Saturday, 2 July, 2005

Andy Roddick suggested after reaching the Wimbledon final for a second year running that champion Roger Federer "will have to think about it a little bit more than last year".

Roddick said: "I am excited to be in a Wimbledon final. I have done it before where I have played a five-setter on Saturday and a final on Sunday. I'll be fine. It's early enough in the day, I can get some treatment, get some massage. I hope it's not too much of a factor tomorrow.

"I am excited more than relieved. Relieved is maybe what I felt in the second round. But today I felt like I played great stuff. The level of tennis out there was very, very high."

As for his opponent in the final, Roddick said: "I have watched bits and pieces of pretty much all his (Federer's) matches. He's a pretty good tennis player. It's going to be fun. But I feel I'm playing pretty well. Today I thought I played very well. I'm excited to have a go. I am going to go out there and try to play my best. Hopefully he will think about it a little more than last year. It comes down to the big points. He won them last year. I'm going to have to try to win them this year.

"There is no questioning that he has been a better player over the past two years. His record is not really in my mind. I have to be better tomorrow - not for the next 10 years, not for the next whatever. I have to be better tomorrow. That's the kind of mindset I take into it.

Looking forward to the final, the American said: "I'm not going to try to overplay. At times in last year's final I tried to play too well. Some things can get away from you. I'm going to have to go in and play my game. I can't really do more than play to my optimum. I have to hope that it's the best at the big moments. That is what Roger does so well. He's so talented. But he plays the same at 5-all in the tie-breaker as he does at 2-1 40-love on his serve in the first set. That's what separates him. I'm going to come out and play free and I'm going to go after him."

Roddick reflected on the first set tie-break against Johansson, which he lost to the Swede. "It's tough coming out of the locker room and all of a sudden getting thrown into the boiler of a tie-breaker when you've been on court for about three and a half minutes," he said. "He kind of breezed through his draw and played some really good players. Mirnyi is no joke on grass, Nalbandian is a tough player anywhere. He straight setted them. I wasn't surprised at all.

Commenting on the net cord in the final tie-break, Roddick said: "It was lucky. The timing of it could not have been any better for me. I felt guilty about it for a second then I got over it."

Written by Barry Newcombe

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Andy Sweats it Out

Saturday, 2 July, 2005

Is this match destined to become known as the Comfort Break Semi-Final? When Andy Roddick and Thomas Johansson resumed their rain-delayed semi-final at 12 noon on Saturday, it was Johansson who sprang faster from the blocks.

With the restart at 5-6 in the first set, he held serve, fought off two Roddick set points in the tiebreak and then snatched the set at the first opportunity himself. Depressing stuff for Roddick.

Yet then the Swede astonished many onlookers by leaving the Centre Court for a comfort break. They had been playing for all of nine minutes, yet Johansson chose to leave the court. Its principle effects were twofold: first, it gave Roddick extra time to regroup, and second, it completely ruined Johansson's rhythm.

In fact the second set went by in such a blur that it was difficult to recall any detail from it, whereas the blows Johansson landed in the tiebreak at the end of the first were significant. It was a wonderful flick-of-the-wrist on a crosscourt passing shot that gave Johansson set point on his own serve.

Capturing that set was always crucial for the Swede if he was to beat Roddick after two previous defeats (including the second round at Wimbledon 2001). It mattered more because Johansson stole the set despite making almost four times as many unforced errors as Roddick, when the American was getting 80 per cent of his first serves in.

Yet Johansson, literally and figuratively, flushed that psychological advantage down the lavatory.

Beneath the steely gaze of the former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher, who was seated in the Royal Box, Roddick promptly flattened Johansson in the second set. In the very first game Roddick earned two break points, whereupon Johansson showed him too much of a drop shot and the game was gone. Along came two more break points for Roddick at 3-0, and an extraordinary rally made it 4-0.

Roddick was mixing it up, serving and volleying - something he had not done once in the first set. At 2-5 Johansson had yet to win a single point on the American's serve. The set, along with Johansson's lead, went down the drain in 25 minutes.

As the Centre Court filled, there were, thankfully, signs that the 2002 Australian champion was beginning to find his touch again. At 2-1 in the third he earned three break points only to see each drift by. But Roddick was in a match again, no doubt of that, and he was frustrated when he could not quite take an opportunity to break for 3-2.

This scorching set became tougher and tougher as the two of them moved one another around the court. Johansson's groundstrokes were becoming more confident, as he fought to become the first Swedish finalist at Wimbledon since Stefan Edberg lifted the trophy in 1990. But at 5-5 the door inched open again for Roddick, with his first break point of the set, and when he took it, he celebrated what was clearly a key moment.

Yet instead of serving it out, he surrendered the break back within minutes when 30-year-old Johansson blasted a killer crosscourt backhand beyond Roddick's despairing dive. The peak on the American's cap was dripping with the sweat of his exertions. In the epic tiebreak he saved three set points and watched two of his own go by before finally grabbing it 12-10 with an unreturnable serve.

Roddick, ranked four but controversially seeded two here, was edging towards his second successive Wimbledon final. On paper, of course, it should have been straightforward against an opponent not only ranked 22, but one who was in his first semi-final at the ninth attempt. Moreover, it was four years since Johansson last beat a top five player.

But Grand Slam semi-finals are rarely so obliging, even for player who had not lost a match on grass this year, having come to Wimbledon fresh from his tournament victory at Queen's. That was his third title of 2005 (or the fourth for those who include People Magazine's pronouncement that he is the World's Sexiest Athlete, a prize he has won twice, no less).

But Johansson would not give in, and his groundstrokes sent Roddick rolling on the turf as he attempted to reach them. Only another tiebreak could separate them, and even then it took a cruel double-kiss on the netcord to give Roddick a match point. An unreturnable serve sealed the victory.

At 22, Roddick has been on the sharp end of some stinging criticism from some of the American media, who believe he has not lived up to the promise of his triumph at the US Open in 2003. Such censure somewhat overlooks the existence of such contemporary opponents as Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin, not to mention a certain Mr Federer of Switzerland, with whom Roddick will be reacquainted on Sunday.

Given that the Swiss is spending Saturday with his feet up, Roddick will require a speedy recovery from today's exertions if he is to be at this best against the two-time Wimbledon champion.

Written by Kate Battersby

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lifiers Huss/Moodie Win Doubles

Saturday, July 2, 2005

Stephen Huss and Wesley Moodie defeated Bob and Mike Bryan today to become the first qualifiers to ever win the men's doubles title.

Huss and Moodie defeated the Bryan brothers 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 on No.1 Court in what can only be described as a 'fairytale' match for the men who, just two weeks ago, were competing in the qualifying event at Roehampton.

From the moment the Australian/South African duo stepped on court it was clear they were there to have fun, constantly laughing and savouring every moment.

After all, the qualifiers hadn't expected to be here and the pressure was certainly not on them. Their opponents, No.2 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, entered the match having lost their last four Grand Slam finals since winning their first title at Roland Garros in 2003.

The match remained a close affair until the first set tie-break when the underdogs raced to a 5-1 lead. But then the immaculately dressed American brothers - with matching shorts, shirts, shoes and rackets - began producing winners fighting back to 5-4. The question was whether Moodie's serve would hold under the pressure. It did, with the South African firing down 123mph and 126 mph serves to secure the first set.

The win was enough to boost their confidence and soon Huss was blasting baseline winners and Moodie was volleying ferociously at the net. The flowing form they had displayed in the previous matches began to take effect and, at times, it seemed almost unreal as both men happily shook their heads in disbelief at the type of winners each was producing.

Much patting on the back and hand slaps followed and 69 minutes after the start of the match they had swiped the second set. But then things started to go wrong. At 5-5 in the third, the pair held four break points on Mike Bryan's serve, which they failed to convert. The brothers defended superbly and sharp net play helped them take the set on a tie-break.

However, the lost opportunity served as a wake-up call. The qualifiers secured an early break to go 3-0 up and didn't look back. Working together like clockwork they secured the set and the match to become Grand Slam winners for the first time in their careers.

Written by Helen Gilbert

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Ура лна выйграла!!!

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В жизни за неё не болел, но в этот раз она должна была победить

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А Федерер выйграл у Роддика...

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Federer Wins Third Crown

Sunday, July 3, 2005

Roger Federer claimed his place in tennis history when he won his third straight men's singles title at The Championships by defeating Andy Roddick 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 in one hour and 41 minutes. The 23-year-old Swiss has now won 36 consecutive matches on grass and this brilliantly worked victory was even clearer cut than his four-set win over the American a year ago.

As Roddick, a sporting and gallant loser, admitted: "He has become such a complete player." A truer sentence was never spoken of the astonishing Federer, who buried his face in a towel to conceal his tears of joy at his achievement of joining such modern-era greats as Fred Perry, Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras in collecting a Wimbledon hat-trick. "And I hope it is not going to stop at three," he told the Centre Court crowd after collecting the golden trophy from the Duke of Kent.

The outcome of this match was never in doubt from the opening moments. Federer went into the final leading Roddick by eight victories to one in their career head-to-head record and it was rapidly clear why. Roddick, the second seed, held serve twice in a crash-bang start to the match in which only one point was conceded on serve in the first five games.

Then Federer struck. Roddick fended off danger by saving one break point with a full-blooded forehand winner but when Federer conjured a second opening, that Roddick forehand let him down, projecting the ball over the baseline. Federer cemented the advantage by holding serve to love. With the 22-year-old American struggling to stem the flood tide, the champion reached set point as Roddick sent a forehand wide. Federer clinched the first set in just 22 minutes with a backhand cross court which, although not cleanly hit, fell in for a winner.

Roddick was faced with digging himself out of a hole earlier than he had expected. To his credit, his response was positive. He broke Federer for what was to be the only time in the match to lead 2-1 in the second set as the Swiss dumped a forehand volley into the netting.

The American's hopes of holding on to the second set lasted for only three games before Federer broke back, the brilliance and pace of his ground strokes forcing Roddick into error. To his credit, Roddick battled marvellously against the flood tide, even saving two set points at 4-5 and taking the set into a tie-break.

This was the time for Federer to put his foot on the pedal and he duly did so, taking a 3-0 lead with a double break of serve. He conceded only two points in the tie-break to move two sets clear after one hour and 11 minutes, at which point rain forced the players off court for 25 minutes.

When they returned, the man British Davis Cup player John Lloyd calls "the only complete tennis player on the planet" was rapidly back into his stride on a court he rightly feels is his home. A determined Roddick traded strokes and points for the opening six games, but any hope that he might take this final into a fourth set was wrecked when Federer broke serve for a 4-3 lead with one of his specialty "miracle" shots, a stunning backhand cross-court winner.

Serving for the match at 5-4, Federer emphasised his genius with two aces, his 10th and 11th, and closed it out on his first match point with a service winner. He fell forward on to his knees and then rolled on to his back. The best player in the world had gained a deserved reward.

Written by Ronald Atkin

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