Meet the new champs, same as the old champs.
Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus, a five-time winner of this event, to regain the Wimbledon women’s singles crown, while Roger Federer became the all-time men’s grand slam winner with 15 by defeating Andy Roddick in the longest match in men’s finals history at the storied grass court tournament.
Federer surpassed Pete Sampras with a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 win over the resilient Roddick. The 30 games in the fifth set established a record for the most games played in any set in a Wimbledon singles final.
By winning the eighth all-Williams major final, Serena claims her third Wimbledon title and eleventh Grand Slam trophy. She almost didn’t make the finals, but overcoming a faulty serving game in an earlier match against Russia’s Dementieva, Serena regrouped to win and then go on to defeat her sister 7-6 (3), 6-2.
As the siblings march into history, Serena leads in Grand Slam titles (11-7), in head-to-head matches (11-10), and in all-Williams major finals (6-2). Both have appeared 14 Grand Slam finals.
With his record-setting win, Federer also reclaims the No. 1 ranking that he lost last year to Rafael Nadal, the man who beat him in the epic 2008 Wimbledon final but missed this year’s tournament because of knee problems.
It seems the Williams sisters have a lock on the Wimbledon world.
So what is the measure of greatness beyond grand slam titles? Did Roger have the same level of competition as Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors?