History was made on Sunday 5th July on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon’s Centre Court as arguably the greatest player ever to grace the game, Roger Federer, won an all-time record 15th Grand Slam singles title.

The Swiss superstar, who was contesting a record seventh successive Wimbledon men’s singles final, prevailed in a marathon five-set final against long-time rival Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14 to claim his sixth crown at The Championships.

In a fitting touch, seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras was there to see his record broken – the American finished his illustrious career with 14 major singles titles. Sampras was joined on the front row of the Royal Box by Manolo Santana, Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg.

The victory also holds significance in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings as Federer will now reclaim the No. 1 ranking after surrendering the top spot to Rafael Nadal 46 weeks on 18 August, 2008. The Swiss had previously sat atop the Rankings for a record 237 weeks, since 2nd February, 2004 – the day after he claimed his first Australian Open crown (d. Safin).

Federer continues to etch his name in the history books. Just four weeks ago the 27-year-old achieved the career Grand Slam as he finally laid his hands on the Coupe des Mousquetaires, defeating first-time finalist Robin Soderling in his fourth straight Roland Garros final.

WOW! Grats to him.

The best of all time

Well done to him. I was watching the match and willing him on. It just seemed like it would go on forever. He deserves it.

Yes, it seemed it would never end, 16-14 in fifth set is just unbelieveble!!!. Great match for both players. Andy did ok, but Federer was a little bit better. Will he reach 20 grand slams?

I wanted Roddick to win. He has only won 1 previous and this was probably his last bite at the apple. He gave his all and was proabably the suprise of the tournement. He could have won aswell, it could have gone either way.

Roddick should have won that match. He played way better than Federer the whole match. He's lucky that Nadal pulled out or else he wouldn't have even stood a chance to win today.

Roddick was really strong on serve all the way through. In the end, Roger seemed to hold in serve more convincingly (40-0 the last two times) and he was doing better and better against Roddick's serve. It kinda sad for Roddick who could have won his first Wimbledon but if Federer had lost it would have been sad seeing him loose a chance to make history in front of Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and other Tennis legends.

I'm incredibly glad, as I've been a Federer fan since 2003 now. This puts Federer up in front at 11025 points (up from 10625 points), Nadal in 2nd with 10735 points, in front of Murray at 9630 points.

As Nadal is out with an injury, and his Doctor said he would be out for 3 months, it seems as if Federer should maintain the lead over Nadal untill the same period has passed next year (so slightly over 52 weeks). That is, unless Roger starts playing badly.

And Federer has actually been playing a fair bit better than Murray this year, the points so far in 2009 (in Atp Masters 1000 and Grand Slams) are:

Federer: 7350 points

Murray: 3700 points

So that's a pretty darn heavy lead. Murray has far more points in the upcomming period, so he'll have a tough time catching up to Federer.

All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if Federer kept his spot all the way up to Wimbledon 2010, which would make him take the most weeks as #1 (he already has most consecutive).

He should also tie for the most years ended as #1 (5) with Sampras and Lendl.

He could end up taking most tournaments won at hard court, as he is only 9 behind Agassi/Connors (he already has the most on grass).

For this match though; Roddick was actually playing better. He choked in the second set tiebreak, but other than that he was tip-toe with Federer, and broke him twice more than he was broken by Federer before the final set. The final set was essentially dead on even, but I guess Roger played (slightly) better there.

 Edit: Whoa! Federer had FIFTY aces that match. The all-time record is 55, and 50 is the highest anyone has had in a match they won.

Im happy for federer, he is my favourite after Fernando Gonzalez.