I've waited five years for it to happen, so forgive my smug tone. Well, that's not strictly true. I've waited five separates sets of 12 months for it to happen, but I'm going to be smug about it all the same.
Every year since his first victory in 2003 I have watched Wimbledon in the hope of seeing Roger Federer lose. Yes, yes, I know he's universally popular and I liked him at first. But I've seen the light. When he strolled into London in 2001 and shocked Pete Sampras I nodded in agreement with anyone who proclaimed his victory A Good Thing. He didn't win it that year, nor the year after, but by 2003 he had become unstoppable. Mark Phillipousis, Andy Roddick (twice) and Rafa Nadal (twice) had all been defeated by Federer in Wimbledon finals as he equalled Bjorn Borg's record of five in a row.
So what's not to like about someone so successful? Well first of all there's the coat (sickeningly upgraded to a cardigan for the 2008 tournament). What possesses someone of allegedly sound mind to strut on to centre court looking like something out of the 1920's? He claims he's respecting traditions but I'm not having it. The 20's wasn't the only era in men's tennis, nor even the most remarkable. If he really wants to respect Wimbledon's traditions why doesn't he come out with a bubble perm and a read headband? Or maybe some long strands of shaggy hair a la Borg in the late 1970's? Purely and simply, the coat and the cardigan are nothing to do with Wimbledon traditions, and everything to do with the Federer brand. You have to be observant, but if you look close you can already see the moronic Pimms drinkers in the Centre Court crowd sporting their own replicas. Sickening.
Aswell as the get-up there's the man's smug self assuredness. A little arrogance is usually fine if you can back it up (and God knows Federer can), but the Swiss is totally humourless when talking about his favourite subject. Roger. He once remarked after a winning performance 'I had to laugh at how well I played'. Another gem arrived when he mused 'my quarter-final victory over Andy Roddick proved to the world how great I was.......er could be." Never before has a man been more aware of his own greatness while still playing the game he purports to serve. Gut-wrenching.
So join me in thanking whatever almighty power is in control of our fates that Federer failed in his bid for a sixth consecutive Wimbledon crown. Borg, who jointly holds the record of five with the pug-nosed poser, must be as pleased as I am. My eternal thanks and congratulations go to Nadal, who finally managed to get over the final hump after losing in the last two finals to Federer. It was an epic match, with Nadal jumping to a two-set lead before a couple of tie-break victories hauled Federer level. The fifth set was a story within a story, with Nadal finally prevailing 9-7 before promptly climbing into the stands Pat Cash style, to celebrate with his parents, his uncle (also his coach), and some slightly bewildered looking Spanish royalty. Federer still has every chance of matching Sampras' overall tally of seven titles, but let's hope that this is the first of many for Nadal. After all, the way Andy Murray played against the Spaniard in the last eight, it could be a while before our great hope is ready to take on the big two at this level of the game.
Coming down off my cloud I regret to have to wax lyrically about the shortcomings of rugby league. By far and away the best spectator sport there is, it nevertheless finds ways to make itself look silly which other sports can only dream of. Today's offering is the Northern Rail Cup final. The Northern Rail Cup is itself a worthy competition open only to RFL clubs outside of Super League, but today suffered a near fatal blow. League One favourites Salford City Reds crushed League Two's Doncaster 60-0 in the final at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road. Coached by former Wigan and Great Britain legend Ellery Hanley, Doncaster could have done with a bit of the Black Pearl's input on the field as they were routed by Shaun McRae's side.
Doncaster did very well to reach this stage, but surely after this outcome somebody somewhere should be looking at the format to ensure that next year's final is a proper contest. A meeting of two teams from different levels of the pyramid was only ever going to end one way. In rugby league the best team always wins, such is it's physical nature. There is no rugby league equivalent of getting everyone behind the ball and hoping to nick something on the break or from a set-piece.
There's Super League action today also, with Bradford Bulls coach Steve McNamara left fuming after Huddersfield Giants snatch the points with Chris Thorman's injury time drop-goal. Their 25-24 defeat leaves McNamara blaming referee Steve Ganson for almost everything, possibly with some justification after the St.Helens whistler blew for full-time immediately after the winning goal despite having called time off just moments earlier. Not only that, but Ganson sin-binned four more players (two from each side) and put Bulls hooker and some time thug Terry Newton on report twice. It's time to do away with the on-report system. It's a major cop-out option to prevent referees from having to decide whether to issue a red card or not. Red cards invariably spoil games of rugby league because it is do difficult to play with one fewer man in your ranks. Yet why not just adopt the system used in American sports whereby the guilty player is removed from the game but can be replaced? The offending player's team would still be penalised in that they would have one less substitute to call upon during the match, but not so harshly that they would be all but out of the game from that point on.
Elsewhere Warrington caretaker coach James Lowes got in a flap about winger Kevin Penny disrespecting Wakefield Wildcats in the Wires' 60-24 demolition of John Kear's side. Penny helped himself to a hat-trick but earned few friends and a flea in his ear after skipping across the line like something from a John Cleese sketch. Penny is the fastest thing I have seen on a rugby league field since Martin Offiah, but perhaps he needs to spend more time working on his defence and his ability to defuse high bombs and less time on showboating. Lowes clearly thinks so.
Castleford should arguaby have beaten a patched up Leeds Rhinos side last week, but make up for that failure at least in part with an 18-10 triumph over free-falling Hull KR. Rovers' city neighbours Hull also lose, going down 30-18 to Catalans Dragons. The French side are now just one-point behind St.Helens and Leeds at the top of the table, which is proof if it were needed that expansion of the game will work fine so long as we continue to disregard the needs and contribution to the sport of it's more famous names.
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