Game, Set and Grand Slam no 15 for Federer

There couldn't have been a better finish to the 123rd championship at the Wimbledon than a four-and-a-quarter hour final with a 30-game last set -- the longest in the tournament's illustrious history.

It was Roger Federer's sixth Wimbledon title in seven years of appearances in the final which moves him within one singles title at the championships away from the Pete Sampras, who shares the record of seven with the 19th century English hero, William Renshaw.

The Swiss, now World No 1, always looked on course for the final once the top seed, Rafael Nadal, pulled out of the tournament with knee problems. The 27-year-old, Roger Federer, dropped only one set en route to the final and his progress became increasingly assured round after round.

In the other half of the Gentlemen's draw it developed into a fierce battle between Andy Roddick, who was trying to prove that he has still got what it takes to be amongst the top players and the 22-year-old British hope, Andy Murray, a battle which was resolved in the semifinals when Roddick, serving brilliantly and attacking Scot's second serve, prevailed in four sets. The 26-year-old Roddick has made a remarkable comeback since taking on Larry Stefanki as his coach towards the end of last year, and his skills were fully tested, not only by Murray, but by Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion here, in the quarter-finals.

Although Federer would emphatically not agree, it was a pity in one way or another that Roddick could not claim the title, which would have then meant that the United States would have won both singles trophies in the same year for the first time since 2000, when Sampras and Venus Williams were acclaimed as champions.

In spite of the fact that Roddick broke Federer's serve twice -- to claim the first set and than the fourth set. The Swiss great, only needed to break the serve only once with which he, clinched the championship.

In the ladies draw, the dreams of Venus Williams, chasing her sixth Wimbledon victory, were dashed in the women's final when she was beaten in straight sets by her younger sister, Serena.

It was a merited win for the younger of the two Williams, Serena's third Wimbledon, and the 21st time these two had faced each other in a top-level professional play. It proved, beyond doubt, that since the retirement of Justine Henin almost a year ago and the struggle that Maria Sharapova has experienced in coming back from a shoulder operation, the Williams clan rule women's tennis.

The manner in which Venus crushed the current world number one, Dinara Safina, in the semifinals for the loss of one game offered dramatic proof of this, and it is difficult to see a challenger emerging to them at present or in the near future, though the return to the game of Belgium's Kim Clijsters may prove something of a challenge.

So dominant are the Williams sisters that, a couple of hours after their final match, they were back on court to win the women's doubles against the Australian pair, Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur.

The men's doubles was retained by Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, the second seeds, who defeated the American twins and top seeds, Bob and Mike Bryan, and the mixed doubles title went to Mark Knowles and Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

As for Serbia, a dominant nation in tennis on paper, it was a nightmare of a Wimbledon in a depressing 2009 season. Novak Djokovic, the 2008 Australian champion, fell to Tommy Haas at the quarter-final stage, while Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic were early casualties.

Ivanovic, who appeared a new, glamorous star in the making by winning Roland Garros last year, has done little since and retired injured in her fourth round encounter with Venus Williams, while Jankovic, who ended 2008 as world number one, once more experienced illness problems as she crashed to defeat against a 17-year-old American qualifier, Melanie Oudin.

For Russia's Elena Dementieva it proved another "nearly" occasion as the woman who has still to win a Grand Slam in her 11th year of trying, held a match point against Serena Williams in their semifinal, only to miss the chance of her first Wimbledon final.

Apart from Andy Murray's charge through the men's draw, the biggest talking point for British supporters was the expensive and gleaming new roof over Centre Court, which has taken three years in the construction.

And, in a perverse sort of way the British climate showed that, this year at any rate, a roof was not needed. It was closed only once, on the evening of the second Monday, following a short spell of rain that halted the Amelia Mauresmo-Safina match and remained closed for the duration of Murray's five-set marathon against Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.

There is no doubt that the roof will be needed at future Championships but, for this year, at least, the fact that it remained open was a blessing, an indication that fine weather ensured the punctual finish to an excellent tournament.

Back on the court, Federer's magnum opus was made all the more special by the presence of two people in the Centre Court crowd -- his heavily pregnant wife Mirka and, over in the royal box, the man whose Grand Slam record he had just overhauled, Pete Sampras.

Roger Federer's incredible 16-14 final set victory over Andy Roddick gave him record for Grand Slam singles titles -- 15, beating Pete Sampras' previous record. But that was not the only record broken during the course of the enthralling men's final.

This was the longest men's Grand Slam final in history in terms of games -- 77. The previous record was 71 games (1927 Australian Open), and the previous Wimbledon record was 62 games (last year's Wimbledon final between Federer and Rafael Nadal). It also came close to matching the Wimbledon record of most games in a match overall since tie-breaks were introduced (Mark Philippoussis' 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 20-18 win over Sheng Schalken in the third round in 2000 still holds that honour).

But it was not quite the longest final at Wimbledon in terms of match duration -- last year's had that honour at four hours, 48 minutes. This year's was four hours and 16 minutes -- the joint-second longest, level with Jimmy Connors' win over John McEnroe in 1982.

It was the longest final set in terms of games in the men's singles final at Wimbledon -- the 30-game marathon beats the 24 during A J Cooper's 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11 win over Australian countryman N A Fraser in 1958.

It was also the longest fifth set match in Grand Slam history, beating Rene Lacoste's 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 11-9 win over Bill Tilden in the 1927 French Open.

In terms of aces, Federer came close to equalling a Wimbledon best of 51, set by Ivo Karlovic against Daniele Bracciali in the first round here in 2005. Federer's 50 beat his previous best of 39 against Janko Tipsarevic at last year's Australian Open.