10 Hours and Extra Time

Tennis can be a very intriguing sport if the match is close. There are some matches on TV that make it automatic to change the channel, but not today. Roger Federer had a huge comeback after losing the first to sets to Alejandro Falla, but that was not a huge surprise. What was shocking was the Wimbledon first round matchup between American John Isner, the 23rd seeded player in the tournament, and Nicolas Mahut of France. The first four sets of the match lasted 2 hours and 54 minutes after each player had won two sets. For all of those people out there who thought one of them would easily win the fifth set, I bet you that they're laughing it off, as both Isner and Mahut have won 59 games in the fifth set so far. The match went on for so long that it will have to be continued tomorrow due to darkness.

The 7 hours and 6 minutes played in the fifth made the match exactly 10 hours in total (and it's still not even over!) Let me just recap some key stats from the first 10 hours: there was a total of 163 games won, they combined for a total of over 190 service aces and the fifth set was longer than any other match has ever lasted (the previous record was 6 hours and 33 minutes). This match, along with Federer's comeback, has definitely put Wimbledon and tennis back on the radar. If a first-round matchup can be this exciting, I can't imagine what the later rounds are going to be like.

Nothing Like Beating a Winner

Robin Soderling is a very good tennis player. He's currently ranked 7th in the ATP Tennis rankings. Soderling has never won a Grand Slam event, but he's currently the only player to beat Rafael Nadal at the French Open. He lost to Roger Federer in the French Open finals last year after beating Nadal, but that was his best Grand Slam finish. He hopped onto the news after an impressive show at Roland Garros in '09 but slowly faded away. Now, he's back in the headlines: for the second year in a row, he's knocked off the defending champion. It took Soderling just four sets to beat Federer in today's quarterfinal matchup.

Federer had been playing great tennis, as he has made it to each of the last eight Grand Slam finals. But Federer won the first set (6-3) and then was outscored in the final three sets 18-12. Soderling, 25, is ranked fifth in this year's French Open, and with his win over the world's best player, he proves why he earned the #5 seed. Before today, Federer hadn't lost to Soderling in 12 matches. He lost more sets today than he had in all of those matches combined (two). The Swede won the final two sets after the one hour, fifteen minute rain delay. He's got a tough task ahead of him, as he faces 15th seeded Tomas Berdych in the semifinals, who beat #4 Andy Murray in straight sets and hasn't lost a set this tournament. I still think Nadal will win it all because of his past domination on clay, but after Soderling's impressive win today, I think he could put uo a fight if he makes it to the finals.

Sweet Sixteen

There have been many, many dominant athletes in sports. Michael Jordan took over the basketball court when he played. Tiger Woods (before the November car crash) had been the face of the PGA ever since he entered the league. Peyton Manning, the only four-time NFL MVP, will try to win his second Super Bowl next Sunday. But Roger Federer's 16th major title and fourth Australian Open is just another big win for the tennis star who has dominated his sport for the last decade.

Federer defeated fifth-seeded Andy Murray in straight sets to add to his all-time record of major titles. Murray missed the opportunity to be the first British man to win a major since 1936 after losing to the Federer, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11). The match ended after two hours and forty one minutes when Murray netted a forehand. Murray was beating defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), 3-0 when Nadal retired with a knee injury in this year's quarterfinals. Nadal defeated Federer in last year's finals in an epic five-set match. Murray is one of the great young players in tennis, but he unfortunately could not capture his first Grand Slam title against someone with sixteen more titles than himself. Federer said in the link above "I think I played some of my best tennis in my life these last two weeks."

Not only did he play well in the first major of the new decade, but Federer has made it to 18 of the last 19 Grand Slam finals. Who knows, maybe Federer will win a few more majors before he retires and finish with 20 Grand Slam titles. The point is that Federer has proved, to me at least, that he is the best player to ever pick up a tennis racket. Federer is the only man to ever be ranked #1 in the world for four consecutive years. Picture being the best player in a sport for four years in a row without falling down to number two once. Also, Federer won 65 consecutive matches on grass courts before his loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. Federer is the reigning and five-time winner of the ESPY for Best Male Tennis Player and was also named Athlete of the Decade by Sports Illustrated. Not bad for an athlete who is not even 29 yet.

Rollin' Roddick

Let's have a flashback: July 5th, 2009. Andy Roddick loses to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon Final that lasted 4 hours and 16 minutes. Turning point for Roddick? Definitely. It seems like it was yesterday when Roddick was one of the best players in the world...that's because he is. Roddick almost fell off the face of the Earth for the last couple years, but he has now climbed back to one of the top 5 tennis players in the world. Wimbledon was Roddick's first tournament final since the 2006 US Open, believe it or not. With a win tonight Roddick will make it his 3rd straight final. Roddick's rank has not gone up since 2006, but at the rate he's playing this year, it may very well happen. Well done, Andy Roddick.

Rafael is Ready

He's back. After two months of sitting out of tennis, Rafael Nadal is back and ready to play again. He will play in next week's Rogers Cup and an ATP World Tour Masters 100 tennis tournament. I bet Roger Federer has loved the absence of Nadal, but tennis fans have not. Federer has climbed back to the top when Nadal has been out. Other players such as Andy Murray and Andy Roddick (everyone remembers Wimbledon) have also helped their status quo in Nadal's absence. But now that he's back, it's great for tennis: all the fans love the Federer-Nadal matchups, even though Roddick did a great job filling in for the 6-time major champion at Wimbledon. I think having Nadal back will have many more tennis fans watching, especially the US Open, which starts on August 31st.