Wimbledon, a look back

No doubt that this year's champion Roger Federer produced the best match of the tournament during the semi-finals when he challenged tournament favourite American Andy Roddick.

Up to then, the American had breezed through the fortnight, dropping only one set on the way.

But the 21 year-old Swiss thwarted Roddick with unreadable serves, big fluidity of movement and a string of destructive groundstrokes to reach is first ever Grand Slam final.

"It's incredible right now it's tough to understand, I just played an incredible match," Federer said just minutes after the win.

And they said that the serve-and-volley was dead.

Mark Philippoussis won over the English crowds with his courage and simplicity.

This year's runner-up underwent three operations on his knee between January 2000 and March 2001 that left him barely able to walk and his ATP ranking tumbled to 148 last April. When his knee gave way again at last year's U.S. Open the future looked bleak. But the Australian returned.

Despite losing the final, Philippoussis's brave comeback has won him the admiration of the whole country. Australia's sports-mad Prime Minister John Howard was among the first to pay tribute to Philippoussis.

"All Australians admire his astonishing comeback, and he's got years of very good tennis left in him," Howard told reporters on Monday.

"A year ago I was struggling just to get into tournaments, now I hope this is the start of many things to come," said Philippoussis. "I'm going to be keener and eager after what happened today and more pumped up."

Once again, Britain's Tim Henman carried the hopes of an entire nation during the fortnight. For the past six years he has been Enlgand's pick to become the next champion. And once again, this year Henman fell short.

Tiger Tim had reached four semi-finals in five years and it was hard to tell whether it was Sébastien Grosjean or the pressure that undid the Englishman in a rain-delayed quarter-final.

As usual, Henman was backed to the hilt by the fervent crowd, but made too many unforced errors against a fervent Grosjean. When he saved a match point in the final set, fans briefly thought that fate had turned, only to be disappointed again.

"The British are so desperate for him to succeed that they pressure him," was the blunt word of analysis from former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker.

In every Grand Slam there are young players who burst onto the scene. A couple of years ago it was Roger Federer who ousted 7 times champion Pete Sampras.

This year, we salute not so much revelations but the fulfillment of long-awaited potential with two players who reached their peak. The first one reached his first every Grand Slam semi-final, Sebastien Grosjean and the second one, Andy Roddick made a repeat of his Aussie Open performance.

Grosjean's previous best result in a Slam was a quarter-final showing at Roland Garros and a 4th round at Wimbledon. After being hampered with a thigh injury and lackluster results, this 25-year old Frenchman played without pressure and upset French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tiger Tim Henman on the way to the semis.

At 21, it's almost tempting to label Andy Roddick a veteran.

Despite bursting onto the scene three years ago with his flamboyant attitude, Roddick had never gone past the third round at Wimbledon. After a poor clay court season and a first round exit at Roland Garros, critics this year were already beginning to label him as a Slam underachiever.

But a switch to Andre Agassi's former coach Brad Gilbert produced instant results with a victory on grass in Queen's that put him as the favourite for the title at Wimbledon. He powered his way into the semis, beating Rusedski and Srichaphan, before falling to the eventual Champion. But for once, Roddick kept cool under pressure, and that bodes well for the future.