Wimbledon 2006: Will Roger make it 4 times in a row?
One man's quest for sporting immortality continues this year on the famed grass courts of Wimbledon. The Federer Express continues to roll ahead this time too, as he attempts to match "Pistol" Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg's record of 4 consecutive Wimbledon titles.
Federer has already shrugged off his defeat in the French Open final and begun his defence of the Wimbledon in admirable fashion. It seems almost impossible that he'll be vanquished on grass. But the fact remains that his draw this year is considerably tougher than previous years, and he is aware of it.
The best candidates to upset the champ are the usual suspects- Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt. But the latter two are woefully out of form. It remains to be seen whether any of them can overcome the nightmares of their previous encounters with Federer.
My gut feeling is that Federer will continue his reign at Wimbledon- the main reason being that nobody has the sheer range of shots or the allround grasscourts required to topple Federer. For all the talk about the Nadal-Federer rivalry, its all been on clay. Nadal is at best an amateur on grass, but he is improving considerably. Its here that we feel the lack of a genuine challenger.
What made Sampras so supreme was his engaging rivalry with Agassi. Only a Safin or Roddick at his prime can induce Federer to raise his game a notch higher, to convert this game into high art, like Rembrandt working on a canvas. And that is what we want to see- the kind of superhuman tennis that Sampras played in the 1999 Wimbledon final against Agassi. Yes, that's what we all want to see- tennis at its glorious best. Lets hope Federer continues his show.
