What Andy Roddick was able to do to Roger Federer for the ‘first time ever’ in the Wimbledon final of 2009

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Andy Roddick enjoyed a fantastic and lengthy career, but much more success would have gone his way without the presence of Roger Federer.

The likes of Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem find themselves in similar situations, but also because of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Federer beat Roddick in the 2009 Wimbledon final, where the former secured a record-15th Grand Slam title.

But for the latter, it was simply further heartache, with Roddick losing a fourth Grand Slam final to his old nemesis Federer.

Nick Kyrgios thinks players lost to Federer before the match, such was the aura and indeed record of the Swiss legend.

What Andy Roddick did for the first time v Roger Federer at Wimbledon 2009

Roddick did his best to put up a fight against the Wimbledon icon in 2009, in what was their third final at the London-based Grand Slam, but he fell short for a third successive time.

Asked in his post-match press conference what makes Federer so outstanding, Roddick replied: “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know where to start there.

“You know, he just makes it real tough. You know, he was having trouble picking up my serve today for the first time ever. He just stayed the course.

READ MORE: Billie Jean King names the best rivalry in the history of tennis over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

“You know, you didn’t even get a sense that he was even really frustrated by it. He kind of stayed the course and just toughed it out.

“He gets a lot of credit for a lot of things, but not a lot of the time is how many matches he kind of digs deep and toughs out.

“He doesn’t get a lot of credit for that because it looks easy to him a lot of the times. But he definitely stuck in there today.”

Roger Federer tops the pile for most Wimbledon titles

Their fourth and final Grand Slam trophy clash was an absolute thriller, with Federer eventually winning 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–5), 3–6, 16–14 after over four hours.

Roddick more than put up a fight against the grass-court legend, but it once again simply wasn’t enough.

READ MORE: What Roger Federer said was ‘brutal’ for Novak Djokovic in his first-ever Grand Slam final

Federer went on to win two more Wimbledon titles to take his record to eight, more than any other player to this day.

Home favourite Andy Murray and Croatian Marin Cilic were the Swiss star’s victims in 2012 and 2017 respectively.

Remarkably, his record tally could have been even more if not for the presence of Djokovic, who beat Federer in the 2014, 2015 and 2019 Wimbledon finals.