LONDON, July 4: There were no regrets from Andy Roddick. He had given his best in Sunday’s Wimbledon final against Roger Federer and for the third straight year his best was not good enough. Federer won 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 reaching new levels of tennis excellence on grass courts that leaves him head and shoulders above any of his contempories, Roddick included. But instead of licking his wounds, the 22-year-old Nebraskan gave an at-times hilarious post-match press conference at which he laid bare his impotence in the face of the Federer firestorm.

“I feel like I played decent, the statistics are decent and I got straight-setted,” he said.

“But I am not going to sit around and sulk and cry. I did everything I could.

“I tried playing different ways. I tried going to his forehand and coming in. He passed me. I tried to go to his backhand and coming in. He passed me. Tried staying back, he figured out a way to pass me, even though I was at the baseline.

“Hope he gets bored or something.”

Roddick could be excused for harbouring dark thoughts over his nemesis wishing he had been born into a different era or that outside distractions conspire to trouble his future years.

After all their career head-to-head records now stand at 9-1 in favour of the Swiss star and he has lost to Federer at the last three Wimbledons as he seeks to add to the one Grand Slam title he has won to date at the 2003 US Open. But even that is hard to do, says Roddick, as the man from Basel is not only a great player but also a genuine great guy.

“I have loads of respect for him as a person,” he said.

“I told him, I’ve told him before, ‘I’d love to hate you, but you’re really nice’.”

Asked if Federer had any weak points, Roddick replied: “Well, he cut his hair. That’s all we had going for us before.

“If I said anything else it would be out of jealousy or out of me wanting to win or out of spite.”—AFP