63° SUNNY, WIBMLEDON
Federer beats Roddick for record 15th Grand Slam
Last Modified: Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 11:29 a.m.
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Roger Federer won his record 15th Grand Slam title Sunday, outlasting Andy Roddick for his sixth Wimbledon championship in a marathon match that went to 16-14 in the fifth set.
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At The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Wimbledon, England
Purse: $20.5 million (Grand Slam)
Singles
Men
Championship
Roger Federer (2), Switzerland, def. Andy Roddick (6), United States, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14.
Doubles Mixed
Championship
Mark Knowles, Bahamas, and Anna-Lena Groenefeld (9), Germany, def. Leander Paes, India, and Cara Black (1), Zimbabwe, 7-5, 6-3.
Invitational Doubles
Gentlemen
Championship
Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, Netherlands, def. Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer, United States, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Senior Gentlemen
Championship
Jeremy Bates, Britain, and Anders Jarryd, Sweden, def. Mansour Bahrami, Iran, and Henri Leconte, France, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Ladies
Championship
Martina Navratilova, United States, and Helena Sukova, Czech Republic, def. Ilana Kloss, South Africa, and Ros Nideffer, South Africa, 6-3, 6-2.
Junior
Singles
Boys
Championship
Andrey Kuznetsov, Russia, def. Jordan Cox, United States, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Junior
Doubles
Boys
Championship
Pierre-Hugues Herbert, France, and Kevin Krawietz, Germany, def. Julien Obry and Adrien Puget, France, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 12-10.
Girls
Championship
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, Thailand, and Sally Peers, Australia, def. Kristina Mladenovic, France, and Silvia Njiric (2), Croatia, 6-1, 6-1.
Wheelchair
Doubles
Men
Stephane Houdet and Michael Jeremiasz, France, def. Robin Ammerlaan, Netherlands, and Shingo Kunieda, Japan, 1-6, 6-4, 7-3 tiebreak.
Women
Championship
Korie Homan and Esther Vergeer, Netherlands, def. Daniela Di Toro, Australia, and Lucy Shuker, Britain, 6-1, 6-3.
Federer served a career-high 50 aces and overcame the resilient American 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 to break the record of major titles he shared with Pete Sampras and enhance his reputation as perhaps the greatest player in history.
The match finally ended after more than four hours when Federer broke for the first time all day, with Roddick hitting an errant forehand.
Federer jumped high in celebration, punched the air and whacked the net with his racket. Roddick tossed his racket to the side and the two men shared a hug at the net. Federer held up the trophy, kissed it and brought it close to his chest.
Watching from the front row of the Royal Box was Sampras, a seven-time Wimbledon champion who flew in from California, his first appearance at the All England Club since playing on this court for the last time in 2002. Also on hand were Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver.
"It's not really one of those goals you set as a little boy, but man, it's been quite a career and quite a month," Federer said. "It feels amazing, but this is not why I'm playing tennis to break all sort of different records. But it's definitely one of the greatest ones to have."
Turning to Sampras, Federer said: "Thanks very much for coming. I know it's a long way, but you're a member, man, we like to see you here. It's such a pleasure to play in front of such greats legends."
Roddick said: "Sorry, Pete, I tried to hold him off."
Federer also reclaimed the No. 1 ranking he lost last year to Rafael Nadal, the man who beat him in the epic 2008 final but missed this year's tournament because of knee problems.
Federer is the third player to win six Wimbledon championships — Sampras and William Renshaw each won seven.
This was the longest men's Grand Slam final in history at 77 games — breaking the previous record of 71 from 1927 in Australia. It was also the longest fifth set in a men's Grand Slam final in history, surpassing the 20 games from 1927 in France.
"It was a crazy match with an unbelievable end and my head's still spinning," Federer said. "But it's an unbelievable moment in my career."
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