The loser takes it all

The Wimbeldon final between Andy Roddick and Roger Federer showed that there's no shame in defeat.

Defeat has a dignity which noisy victory does not deserve,” wrote Argentine poet Jose Luis Borges. Your columnist thought of it as little more than losers’ feeble attempt to justify their inadequate effort. Until he saw Andy Roddick after he lost to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final a week ago. And it has nothing to do with the fact that Roddick has a really pretty wife.

There is a thought that may have kept Roddick awake on many nights: what if he had been born in another era, a few years earlier or later, either before or after Federer? Having lost two previous Wimbledon finals to the Swiss, in 2004 and 2005, Roddick played the match of his life. He has always been a great server, but his forehand seemed to have recovered the power of his youth, his movement was vastly improved and his backhand no longer the weak link. For most of the match, Roddick was the better player and may well have won in four sets had he not frozen while leading 6-2 in the second set tie-break.

But it was not good enough. In the longest last set ever in a grand slam championship final, Roddick served second. Both the players were comfortable in their service games throughout the match, yet once they reached 5-4 for Federer, the American was serving every time to stay in the match. Federer, on the other hand, could still hope to square even after losing his serve, because there would still be a game left for Roddick to win, albeit on serve. Roddick served 10 times to stave off defeat before succumbing on the 11th occasion. The result is that the head-to-head record between the two shows 19 losses for Roddick and just two wins.

Other thoughts may be keeping him awake since that final last Sunday: could it have been different had he served first in the final set? And what more did he need to do to win?

Yet, Roddick, refused to sulk, or shed copious tears (which Federer would surely have done, had he lost). He stayed on court, through all of Federer’s demonstrative kissing of the trophy, and applauded. There was even a valiant attempt at humour. “Sorry, Pete, I did try to hold him off,” Roddick said, turning his eyes to Sampras, whose record of the most grand slam crowns Federer broke that day. “I still hope that one day my name will be up there with the champions.”

That was a far cry from a year ago, when Roddick found himself at such a low that he was left wondering whether he should at all continue playing.