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5th Set win for Federer in Wimbledon over Roddick

Federer Stands Alone By Liz Clarke Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, July 5, 2009; 5:08 PM WIMBLEDON, England, July 5 -- It was a day for making history. Roger Federer, who was reduced to tears after losing last year's Wimbledon final, exulted on the same patch of Centre Court Sunday after winning his 15th Grand Slam title -- one that breaks his tie with Pete Sampras for the most career majors. Federer prevailed in the longest Grand Slam final in men's history, turning back a determined challenge by American Andy Roddick, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14. With the...

Melanie Oudin, 17, beats No. 6 ranked Jankovic in a 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 win.A 17-year-old Atlantan who hadn't won a Grand Slam match before last Tuesday just became the only female American not surnamed Williams to withstand Wimbledon's ruthless first week. Melanie Oudin turned up across from the first top-10 opponent of her life this afternoon, and she treated No. 6 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia much as she had No. 26 Sybille Bammer and No. 74 Yaroslava Shvedova. She used her compelling movement around the court to prove maddeningly impenetrable to her higher-ranked opponent, and she rebounded from a first-set...

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WIMBLEDON, England: Former champion Maria Sharapova has been ousted in the second round at Wimbledon by 154th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva. Kudryavtseva recovered an early break in the second set to beat the 2004 champion 6-2, 6-4 on Court 1 on Thursday. It was Sharapova's earliest exit from a Grand Slam event since her first full season on the circuit in 2003. Since her breakthrough at Wimbledon in '04, Sharapova has added major titles at the 2006 U.S. Open and the last Australian Open.

- Wimbledon came under fire from animal activists on Tuesday for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons. The tournament employs two hawks to scare away pigeons who had become a pest swooping down on Centre Court and distracting players in the middle of tense matches. But the hawks failed to keep the pigeons away from the players’ lawn and the open-air media restaurant so marksmen were called in. “The hawks are our first line of deterrent, and by and large they do the job,” Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins said. “But unfortunately there were one or two areas where the...

Wimbledon under fire for pigeon cull Jun 24, 1:03 pm EDT Buzz Up PrintLONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Wimbledon came under fire from animal activists on Tuesday for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons. The tournament employs two hawks to scare away pigeons who had become a pest swooping down on Centre Court and distracting players in the middle of tense matches. But the hawks failed to keep the pigeons away from the players’ lawn and the open-air media restaurant so marksmen were called in. “The hawks are our first line of deterrent, and by and large they do...

Former world number one Martina Hingis has been handed a two-year ban after being found guilty of a doping offence. The 27-year-old Swiss star was found to have tested positive for cocaine while competing at Wimbledon last year. The International Tennis Federation has rejected Hingis's appeal and given her a ban starting on 1 October, 2007. Hingis, who has since retired from the sport, has also had to forfeit ranking points and prize money from Wimbledon and any subsequent tournaments. The five-time Grand Slam winner, who returned a positive result from a routine urine sample taken after losing to Laura...

LONDON (Reuters) - At least one happy family was singing in the rain at Wimbledon on Monday. A mother duck and her four fluffy ducklings have been reunited during a dramatic tournament. The family were first spotted last week waddling on to one of the outside courts when play was, yet again, interrupted by rain. The mother flew off in alarm when officials approached the ducks to shoo them off court. So animal protection officers stepped in and took the ducklings to a local sanctuary. The ducklings were then brought back to Wimbledon and released on the golf course opposite...

Gentlemen's Singles First Round Completed Matches Ladies' Singles First Round Completed Matches

On the Fourth of July, a 160-pound Japanese man overcame an American nearly 75 pounds heavier in a hot dog eating contest. Silly? Sure. Symbolic, too. Whipped at Wimbledon, whomped in the World Cup, beaten in baseball, Americans can't seem to win much these days — whether it's on the pitch, the court, the diamond or a ridiculous eating contest. Coming soon: The World Basketball Championships, where the U.S. team is in rebuilding mode after an embarrassing bronze-medal performance at the Athens Olympics. And the Ryder Cup, where the Americans lost badly on their home turf two years ago and...

LONDON (Reuters) - Roger Federer claimed his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title on Sunday, beating Spain's Rafael Nadal 6-0 7-6 6-7 6-3 on Center Court. Playing in his first Wimbledon final Nadal was blown off court in a 24-minute opening set but from then on he gave the Swiss maestro an uncomfortable afternoon in breezy conditions. Nadal served for the second set but failed to close it out and Federer hit back to take a tiebreak 7-5. Federer conceded his first set of the tournament as Nadal roared back to snatch the third set on a tiebreak. The top seed broke...

Wimbledon finally belongs to Mauresmo Mauresmo won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. (Getty Images) Amelie Mauresmo battled Justine Henin-Hardenne for three sets before winning Saturdays Wimbledon final...

LONDON — The streaker who interrupted Maria Sharapova during her quarter-final Wimbledon win over Elena Dementieva was a Dutchman acting on a dare, officials said. Police have named the nude male intruder as Dutch disc jockey Sander Lantinga, 29, who was pulling off a stunt for a television program, British media reported. The streaker, nude from the waist up while sitting just a few rows away form the court, jumped onto the grass in the second set, ripping open a pair velcro clasps on his pants. He then managed to run around on the court and perform a handstand wearing...

Father William Maestri with the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, Louisiana makes this damning (at least to soccer moms nationwide) remark in his latest column on The Clarion Herald, the Archdiocese's newspaper. The quote is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg as he rants in no uncertain terms against this sport which he mockingly calls "kickball". But then, what is the Padre's sport of choice? Not basketball, not football, not even "the national pastime" of baseball. It's tennis; Wimbledon tennis! The article is available only in .pdf format, so I urge fellow FReepers to access it through the source...

LONDON (AFP) - Maria Sharapova turned the spotlight on to a lapse in Wimbledon security after her quarter-final win was interrupted by a streaker who performed a hand-stand in front of the Royal Box. The appearance of a naked young man mid-way through the second set of the Russian's match against compatriot Elena Dementieva was the biggest surprise on a day in which the top four women's seeds -- Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Sharapova -- booked their semi-final spots. Sharapova said she had never felt alarmed but admitted she had been surprised by how long he had...

A STREAKER interrupted play by doing a cartwheel on Centre Court at Wimbledon today during the quarter-final match between Russian beauties Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva. The man, who appeared to be in his late twenties and was completely naked except for white trainers and black socks, came on to the court on Sharapova’s side and did a cartwheel. Security staff came on to the court immediately and held out a large red blanket which he charged at before being wrapped up and ushered away, to great applause from the crowd. Sharapova turned her back to the streaker during his...

One of America's greatest Govenors!!!!!!!!

Light rain and drizzle throughout the opening day of the 2006 Wimbledon Championships frustrated players and fans, with none of the scheduled first round matches completed by the time play was officially called off for the day. A brief dry spell allowed play to get under way on time at 1pm on Centre Court where defending champion Roger Federer secured the first set against talented Frenchman Richard Gasquet in just 26 minutes. Play also started at 1pm on the outside courts, with former champion Martina Hingis winning the first set 6-2 of her match against Ukranian Olga Savchuk on Court...

WIMBLEDON has served an early warning to the world’s tennis stars: step across the line on the tournament’s strict dress code and you will be sent packing. For more than a century Wimbledon has fiercely guarded the genteel reputation that today sets it apart from other tournaments. Officials there want spectators to keep their eye on the ball, not on the increasingly revealing outfits that have caused controversy elsewhere. The guide for competitors this year has been updated to warn them that they risk being defaulted — the tennis equivalent of a red card — if they break the tournament’s...

India's tennis sensation Sania Mirza will receive extra security after an Islamic group opposed to her court dress threatened to stop her from playing in next week's WTA event, police said on Friday. Muslim hardliners have denounced the 18-year-old player for wearing skimpy skirts and colourful sleeveless tops on court, which they say are un-Islamic. The teenager has emerged as one of India's most visible sporting icons following a sensational year in which she has climbed to 34 in the WTA world rankings. In a country dominated by cricket, companies are queuing up to sign endorsements with her. Mirza has...

LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - Venus Williams beat fellow American Lindsay Davenport 4-6 7-6 9-7 to win the Wimbledon women's singles title for the third time on Saturday. Venus, who was playing in her fifth final in six years at the All England Club, outfought the top seed and world number one in the longest women's final in the tournament's history to win her first grand slam title since the U.S. Open of 2001 and a fifth in all. The 25-year-old, who also won Wimbledon in 2000 and 2001 before losing the next two finals to her sister Serena, has...

Sharapova saunters into quarters, joy for Lopez http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050627/sp_nm/sport_tennis_wimbledon_dc_1 LONDON (Reuters) - Russian defending champion Maria Sharapova enjoyed a sun-soaked stroll into the Wimbledon quarter-finals Monday. French pair Amelie Mauresmo and the revitalised Mary Pierce also coasted through to the last eight on a frantic day of action with all 16 fourth-round singles matches being played. Second seed Sharapova prevented Nathalie Dechy joining her French compatriots with a 6-4 6-2 victory on Court One, her fourth consecutive straight sets win.S

Sharapova In Commanding Form Tuesday, June 28, 2005 Defending champion Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 in one hour and 26 minutes to gain a semi-final place at Wimbledon today. Sharapova was given a demanding first set but then the resistance from the 23-year-old Petrova faded. Sharapova was never in serious danger of losing command. The only time she was breakpoint down was in the final game as she moved to the semi-finals for a second time in three appearances in The Championships. Second-seeded Sharapova has not dropped a set in five matches and was in...

As Maria Sharapova prepared yesterday to defend her Wimbledon singles title, the All England Club confirmed that the tournament's most bankable star is being stalked. A British man has been banned from the club's grounds for previously lunging at her during a tournament in America. The Russian teenager said she was not worried about the threat from stalkers and felt "safe and secure" walking around Wimbledon. But she admitted that she would not feel comfortable being on her own. She is always accompanied by at least one minder and occasionally employs up to five bodyguards. "I'm always around someone, I'm...

LONDON (AFP) - Grunting noises made by female tennis players as they strike the ball are getting out of hand, and rules should be changed to crack down on the practice, Wimbledon referee Alan Mills has said, according to a report. Mills, Wimbledon's chief official for 22 years who retires after this week's tournament, which begins on Monday, told The Sunday Times he believed coaches were teaching young women players to grunt. "I don't like it at all. Today there is probably more grunting than there has ever been," he said. "If I was playing an opponent making so much...

Maria Sharapova is sitting on her own watching the rain fall on the All England Club's Aorangi Park practice courts, her ever-present mobile phone in hand. There is no entourage, no security guards, and no reminders that this is one of the world's most famous and photographed sportswomen about to begin the defence of her Wimbledon title. Instead, with her long blonde hair tied back and with a T-shirt and sweatpants on, she looks like any other willowy 18-year-old, idly texting her friends and sighing heavily at the dreary English weather. Of course, as anyone who watched Sharapova bulldozing Serena...

TAG Heuer, the prestigious Swiss sports watch and chronograph maker announced that the 17-year-old Russian tennis champion Maria Sharapova becomes its newest brand female ambassador, and is seen on a photo shoot in this undated publicity photograph. Sharapova, the winner of 2004 Wimbledon and WTA year-end championships has signed a long-term ambassador agreement with the Swiss watchmaking company covering product development, advertising, public relations and merchandising.

Teenage tennis ace Maria Sharapova's surprise Wimbledon victory has prompted Hollywood bosses to develop a movie based on her life. The leggy 17-year-old - who stunned the sporting world on Saturday by beating favourite Serena Williams to lift the women's singles title - has captured the imagination of studio chiefs, who deem her transition from a poverty- stricken child in Siberia to a tennis champion a fascinating subject for the big screen. A movie insider says: "Maria's life is an incredible story. She really is the poor girl made good. She's beautiful, smart and talented. It will be a huge...

WIMBLEDON, England, July 4 - Maria Sharapova's coach, Robert Lansdorp, has been around tennis parents long enough to have some concerns that her remarkable victory at Wimbledon could start a trend. "Now everybody will go to Siberia and have their child born there," Lansdorp said, laughing. "You know how crazy some tennis people are." But according to Lansdorp, the secret to the success of Sharapova, his longtime pupil, does not lie in her Siberian birthplace or the hardships she experienced after her father, Yuri, decided to take her from Russia to the United States when she was 7. "I'm not...

WIMBLEDON, England -- Teenager Maria Sharapova stunned defending champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4 in the final Saturday to become the first Russian to win a Wimbledon singles title. Sharapova, 17, also became only the second Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title, less than a month after Anastasia Myskina became the first at Roland Garros. In the Open Era, only Martina Hingis was younger than Sharapova when she won the women's singles title here. The Swiss was 16 when she beat Jana Novotna in 1997. After Williams hit a forehand into the net to end the 73-minute match, Sharapova...

<p>Gibson was the first black to compete in the U.S. championships, in 1950, and at Wimbledon, in 1951. However, it wasn't until several years later that she began to win major tournaments, including the Wimbledon and U.S. championships in 1957 and 1958, the French Open, and three doubles titles at Wimbledon (1956-58).</p>

It's tough luck for Mark Philippoussis, but otherwise a great relief all around that it is over for another year. Wimbledon fortnight, that is - the most boring sporting event on Earth. Two weeks of wall-to-wall tedium, the only excitement coming when they pull the covers over when rain stops play. What brings people to it? After all, unrelieved boredom does not exactly come cheap. A seat can cost you as much as $175, while souvenirs such as baseball caps (especially designed to be worn backwards) can cost $45. A towel could set you back about $70. One reason for...

Serena Williams beats ailing Venus to win Wimbledon Serena won 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 Saturday -- her sixth Grand Slam title and her second straight at Wimbledon.

<p>She's being called the "Slovakian Skeleton" and officials fear for the health of Daniela Hantuchova as the Wimbledon tennis tournament starts in London tomorrow.</p> <p>The waif-like 20-year- old is the ninth seed, but she may be one of the most-watched players amid widespread speculation she is suffering from anorexia.</p>

Kournikova Jubilant After Mixed Doubles Win Wed Jul 3, 4:36 PM ET By Laura MacInnis WIMBLEDON (Reuters) - Anna Kournikova ( news - profile - photos) repaired some dented pride Wednesday with a crowd-rousing mixed doubles win with Jonas Bjorkman ( news - profile - photos) against Martina Navratilova and Todd Woodbridge at the Wimbledon ( news - web sites) Championships. Kournikova and Bjorkman fought back from a set down to take the second round match 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 on court two, the site of the Russian beauty's much-publicized first round singles defeat last week. Fans relished the all-star contest...

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