Federer's Fantastic Fifth

Those of you who are long time readers of this blog will know how much I love watching Federer play. I was writing last year about his fourth Wimbledon crown, now I can add one more to it.

Not surprisingly, Federer again won Wimbledon, but not without a massive challenge from what is now his arch rival, Rafael "Rafa" Nadal. The match was so close and I actually lost faith in Federer during the end of the second and start of third set that he could win. Usually there's this calm feeling when I watch Federer play as you know he can lift his game and win. However, when he is playing Nadal, he looks his most vulnerable and you never quite know whether he can win.

It took Federer all of his experience and grass court nous to beat Nadal this year. While Nadal threatened for a set and a half last year, he has clearly become an even better grass court player and was in with a chance to win during the whole match. It was only Federer's great serve and grass court instincts that saw him win some crucial points in the first and third set tie breakers and then hold off some break points in consecutive service games in the fifth.

The mighty graceful Federer has matched Bjorn Borg's five Wimbledon's in a row. He will again be the favourite next year, and apart from some massive injury or some weird lost of form, he should again be in contention for another title. At the rate at which he is winning grand slams, he may become one of the greatest male tennis players ever, if not THE GREATEST.