2004 Wimbledon Champ Roger Federer Photo Credit: Getty Images

The 2004 118th Wimbledon Men's Tennis Championship was fought this morning between two twenty-somethings. It was the first final between the two top-seeded men at Wimbledon in 22 years. During this morning's Breakfast at Wimbledon, #1 seed, Roger Federer beat #2 seed, Andy Roddick. Given Roddick's power serve and tenacity, Federer had to bend over backwards to defend his Wimbledon Championship.

With four women and no coach there to support him, Federer defended his title in four sets (4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4) after losing the first set to Roddick. Federer believes it was the bad weather that turned his game not only into a good one but one that enabled him to get the job done.

Three-time Wimbledon winner ('81, '83 and '84), John McEnroe and announcer, Ted Robinson (who also plans to cover diving for the Athens Olympic Games) kicked off NBC-TV's Sports coverage of the 25th anniversary tennis championship, Breakfast at Wimbledon.

This morning also kicked off the Fourth of July celebration for American tennis fans and all Americans around the world.

Today's final represented the fifth straight final on July 4th which included an American. Previous finals:

1981 - John McEnroe vs. Bjorn Borg
1982 - McEnroe vs. Jimmy Connors
1993 - Pete Sampras vs. Jim Courier
1999 - Sampras vs. Andre Agassi

Robinson reminded us of the day that another American stepped out onto this grass court and won Wimbledon on the Fourth of July. A smiling McEnroe said, "That is correct. My first Wimbledon title was on July 4th, 1981."

Going into this match, Federer was tied with McEnroe with 23 straight grass court wins.

McEnroe quickly transitioned away from himself and onto the court in front of him and another battlefield Americans are fighting right now.

"I am very proud to be an American, and fitting I suppose that we are in England," said McEnroe.

He added that he is reading Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack right now. McEnroe said, "It puts this into even better perspective because we use these war metaphors on a tennis court or in sports."

He went on to express his appreciation for what our soldiers are doing for us in Iraq and other parts of the world. He said, "God bless you soldiers, #1."

He said the "plan of attack" for Andy Roddick would be to impose his power game on Federer. "To me, that has always been the ultimate equalizer in tennis. It happened to me when I played against Pete Sampras and Boris Becker where they imposed their sheer pace and consistent pace," said McEnroe.

The twenty-two year-old #1 tennis player in the world from Oberwil, Switzerland, Roger Federer was 11-0 on grass going into today's tournament. This was his sixth Appearance at Wimbledon. His history at Wimbledon is now 18-4.

This year, the 2003 and 2004 Champion had to beat Alex Bogdanovic, Alejandro Falla, Thomas Johannson, Ivo Karlovic, Lleyton Hewitt and Sebastien Grosjean to get to the final. In all those matches, he lost only one set to the seventh seed, Lleyton Hewitt 6-7 in their second set. However, he beat Hewitt 6-1, 6-0 and 6-4 in the other three sets to win the match.

This morning, McEnroe said, "Federer deserves to be here defending his title, that's for sure."

Andy Roddick, the #2 men's tennis player in the world from Nebraska who now lives in Austin, Texas, had a 15-3 record at Wimbledon going into today's match. This was his fourth appearance on the grass courts at Wimbledon. Last year, he was beat by Federer in the semifinals.

Ace Server Andy Roddick Photo Credit: Getty Images

To get to today's final, Roddick beat Wang Yeu-Tzudo, Alexander Peya, Taylor Dent, Alexander Popp, Sjeng Schalken (whose life Roddick saved in a hotel fire in Rome) and Mario Ancic. In all these matches, Roddick also lost only one set. In the Semi-finals against Mario Ancic, Ancic beat Roddick 4-6. However, Roddick took the match by beating Ancic in the other three sets 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.

Roddick, who had not played on Centre Court since his first match, was allowed to show up early this morning to practice.

The First Set

Federer made it look easy winning the first game of the match. However, Roddick came back and aced three out his five serves, one of which was 145 miles per hour.

During the third game, with the intense back and forth between the two players, McEnroe said "This is exactly the kind of tennis I was hoping to see."

Quickly thereafter, Roddick broke Federer. And then after being down 0-40 in the fourth game, Roddick came back to hold serve.

McEnroe said, "The biggest servers I ever saw from here was Boris Becker and Pete Sampras. And Roddick is hitting them 10-15-20 miles per hour faster than them." Roddick's all-time record was on June 11th at "Queen's" where he served 153 mph. He also holds the Wimbledon record at 146 mph. which was set this past Wednesday.

After a brief rain delay, Roddick came back and won the first set 6-4. However, he had to earn it. After winning the set, he looked up at his coach, Brad Gilbert. Robinson's response to Roddick's first set win, "This will make it interesting because Federer has not had to play from behind."

For Roddick fans worldwide, and especially his older brother, John, who is celebrating his birthday today, and who can take partial credit for Andy being where he is today, Roddick was 25% of the way there to winning Wimbledon.

There was likely no one living vicariously through Andy this morning more than Andy's big brother.

The middle son of three in the Roddick family, John is a former world-ranked All-American (from the University of Georgia), previous assistant coach with the Georgia Bulldogs, and upcoming Mamaroneck NY Sportimes head coach during the World TeamTennis season.

John Roddick's season begins tomorrow July 5 until July 25, 2004.

The Second Set

Federer came back to win the second set. However, Roddick didn't give it to him. In this case, Federer also had to earn it. Federer was up 4-0 when Roddick broke Federer in the fifth game of the set. He then held serve in the sixth game, broke Federer for a second time in the seventh, held serve again in the eighth to bring the set to an even 4-4. Federer finally was able to take the set 7-5, and upon doing so, let out a roar of triumph.

In the longest rally of the match, those of us watching on television felt like we were the line judge able to hear every one of Federer's grunts. However, other than that one point, the champion was virtually silent on the court.

The Third Set

In the third game of the third set, Roddick broke Federer again, setting the stage for Roddick's arrival on the most prestigious court in tennis.

After Roddick's ace sliced across the court, McEnroe said, "Nobody in the world could return that serve."

With an hour and sixteen minutes under their belt, rain took over forcing a second delay. But not before Roddick put himself ahead 4-2.

The only ones to benefit from the rain delay: NBC and their advertisers. Or so we thought. After a triple set of commercials Robinson and McEnroe recapped the game for any of those who don't have TiVo, who were returning from church or a Fourth of July annual road race, and getting a late start to Breakfast of Wimbledon.

It was also the perfect time of the day for the Brits, as McEnroe pointed out, to enjoy a spot of tea.

Meanwhile, Federer was using this time to psych himself up.

During the delay, Jimmy Roberts, Bud Collins and Dick Enberg presented NBC's twenty-five anniversary recap since they began live coverage of Wimbledon in 1979. That first year for NBC, twenty-three year-old, Bjorn Borg beat Roscoe Tanner.

McEnroe ended Borg's run two years later.

Dressed in a pink and white polka dot bow tie, wild black & red pants and hot pink socks, Collins was on the scene live to recount the ol' days along with the dapper Enberg dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie. Both looked ageless and a sight to behold.

Closing in on 5 pm London time, after a forty minute delay, the championship match resumed on Centre Court.

During the delay McEnroe gave Roddick between an A and A+ for effort, up to that point. However, fate would not be on the American's side.

Federer ended the seventh game quickly serving a Love Game. He then broke Roddick to bring the set to an even 4-4. But not before returning Roddick's 137 mph serve.

After Federer's sixth ace, Federer won his third straight game. Feeling the tension of letting his lead slip away, Roddick lost a couple of easy shots, and a couple of tough ones. Roddick's tension showed the best when he started serving less than 100 mph serves. But at 30-30 in the tenth game, Roddick put away the point by hitting, as Robinson called it, a "780 miles an hour" shot. What would have been set point for Federer, Roddick stopped him short by bringing back the set to an even 5-5. Followed by 6-6 to bring the set to a tie-break.

Until today, Roddick had never lost a championship tie-break. Having won the third set tie-break, Federer's record is now 4-1.

Fourth Set

After two near successes at breaking Federer, Roddick came very close in the sixth game. But Federer again got the job done. After the set was over, Roddick shook lose some emotions by shaking the net.

A big moment, three all Love-Forty, Roddick hit his shot wide to give the defending champion a 4-3 lead.

Winning eleven of the last twelve points, Federer broadened his lead to 5-3. Roddick quickly shortened that lead before Federer served for the match. Both players took a moment to wipe their brow, gather their wits about themselves and soak up the moment.

Roddick took a swig of his Buxton orange flavor mineral water while his coach looked on intensely. Federer's girlfriend, Mirka Varrinec watched as Roger struck his hardest serve of the day: an adrenelin-pumping 128 mph first serve of the tenth game. Roddick dug deep to bring the game to an even 30-30. But a line drive followed by an ace by Federer finished out the Championship.

Roger Federer, 2004 Wimbledon Champion AP Photo Credit: Dave Caulkin

In a class act on Roddick's part, rather than waiting for Federer to come to the net, Roddick ran over to give his opponent a congratulatory hug.

Twice a Wimbledon champion, Federer had tears in his eyes as the crowd cheered on the winner of the 2004 men's final.

Tournament referee for twenty-one years, Andy Mills embraced Federer.

Three years ago, as a teenager, Federer ended Pete Sampras' great run at Wimbledon," Robinson said.

"He's got an awful lot to be proud of," McEnroe said of Roddick. "You didn't feel like Andy Roddick had anything to prove today, yet you leave this match feeling he did," Robinson said. McEnroe added, "He proved he belonged here in the finals at Wimbledon. It gave him the experience that he needs next time he has this chance to go all the way. Perhaps he hopes he doesn't play Federer. That might help. This guy is awesome."

Upon being whistled at as he changed his shirt, we finally got a smile from Federer.

The Duke of Kent presented Andy Roddick with the runner-up trophy. Roddick also received a warm standing ovation from England which brought out his gorgeous smile. Federer was then presented with gold championship trophy.

Roddick said, "Roger just played too good today. I threw the kitchen sink at him. But he went to the bathroom and got his tub."

Roddick added, "It's definitely tough losing, but I feel good about myself that I left everything out here. Roger is a great champion. Hopefully, we'll get to do this again sometime." In response to the toughness of the rain delays, Andy responded, "Jeepers, creepers; it's tough. But in all fairness it's tough for players. I didn't go through anything different that Roger did. He came out and took advantage of it. It's just more credit to him."

Wishing his brother John a happy birthday, Roddick expressed his disappointment that he couldn't "get it for him." Andy said, "Blame him" as he pointed to Roger.

When asked "This is a rivalry we can look forward to for many years," Roddick responded, "I hope so. I'm going to have to start winning some of them to call it a rivalry." To which the crowd and many Roddick fans roared with laughter and applause. On a serious note, he said, "God willing, I'm going to be back. This is one of my favorite places, so I wouldn't miss it."

Federer stepped up to the plate agreeing that Roddick threw everything at him today. Federer said, "He played very, very aggressive. I got surprised. But everybody know his power. I got lucky today for sure. I was down one set and if Andy would have served a few good games, maybe Andy would have been up two sets to one. He also deserves this title, so I hope in the future we're going to play many more times at this place."

Federer admitted last year's win was especially emotional. The BBC announcer, promised she wouldn't make him cry again. Federer said, "Yes, please don't" to which everyone laughed. "I cried before already, so that is enough. This is an unbelievable feeling."

"Three Grand Slam finals and you have won them all?" the on-court announcer asked. Federer responded, "Yes, I kind of like it that 100% record in the Grand Slams. These are ones that really, really count. Of course, the other tournaments are as important. But Grand Slam final puts you a step higher. Of course, to have won my favorite tournament already twice in my career is just incredible."

Federer was glad that his mom, Lynette (who is from South Africa) and two sisters came over to watch him in the final. When asked about his dad, Robert, laughing, Roger said "He stayed home, again. He didn't want to come." He added that it's too much for his father. Perhaps those in the crowd laughed because they knew his father needed to stay home to look after the house and the family's cat. "My mom; she goes through it," said Federer. "I'm happy at least one family member is here and two of my sisters are here too."

NBC lost the video connection and the end of Federer's acceptance speech at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in Wimbledon, England. However, Robinson, who has covered the San Francisco Giants and Stanford football, wrapped up the on-court coverage nicely by saying "You watch them play. And then you listen to them both speak and you know that men's tennis is in very good hands. Roger Federer and Andy Roddick."

While Roddick tried to get his hand on the championship cup, literally, today it belongs to Roger Federer.

Roddick said after the tournament, "Losses like this just inspire me more. I just want to keep getting better and better. I feel like I'm on the right track."

Reebok vs. Nike Photo Credit: Reuters

Reebok vs. Nike? Today Nike wins!

Before any publication has had the opportunity to go to press, hard copy or online, the Club has already put up Federer's name on the board.

At the club, the last five years of winners reminded us of who came before them and who won for a second time today. These winners include:

2000 - P. Sampras
2001 - G. Ivanisevic
2002 - L. Hewitt
2003 - R. Federer
2004 - R. Federer

For a video of the finalists' interview, go to: NBC.com

For much of the best coverage from today's matchup, go to the Official Wimbledon site at: Wimbledon.org

Congratulations go to the only Swiss man who has won a Grand Slam singles title! Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, you were both a delight to watch.

We are hopeful for a re-match at the U.S. Open in September.

For all of you who celebrated the Fourth of July outside by the "barbie" not in front of the tele, I hope this coverage gives you a taste of the thrill we experienced watching these two tennis stars triumph.

Both Federer and Roddick are winners and could be just what the U.S. Tennis Association needs to draw a bigger fan club!

Wimbledon 2003-04 Champion Roger Federer Photo Credit: Chris Raphael

Based on today's performance, do you see a rematch between Roddick and Federer in the U.S. Open, and if so, who do you think will win? Please go to the Comments field below to share your thoughts.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful living -- especially those who bend over backwards to get there!

~Jennifer King

Other RuggedElegantLiving.com Tennis stories:

John McEnroe Serves It Up On CNBC

P.S. Coming to the big screen, September 24th is Wimbledon, a romantic comedy starring Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst. For details on the Universal Studios film by the makers of Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill and Love Actually go to: WimbledonTheMovie.com

Last but not least, you can pre-order The Wimbledon Collection - The 2004 Official Film set to be released on August 31st (available in the U.S. and Canada only). Also available for pre-order is the upcoming book by David and Patricia Armentrout, due out in September 2004, called Andy Roddick (Discover the Life of a Sports Star).