I am not talking about the drug here. Just to clarify. He isn’t putting any thing fishy in the bottle in the above picture either. How do I know? I have my sources.

Federer has been dominant on grass and we all know about that. He has now equalled the Borg record for consecutive wins on the surface. People are not satisfied though. The common point raised is - Federer doesn’t have to deal with as competetive a scenario as Sampras or Borg had to. Borg had his fierce rivals we know about. Even Sampras had guys like Agassi, Rafter, Ivanisevic.

Who does Federer have in comparison? Hewitt, Roddick. Big question marks over Nadal and Safin on grass. I feel this is a bit unfair. The career of these players isn’t over. We do not know how Roddick or Hewitt or some one else from the current era will be looked back upon. So we should wait a while before comparing Federer’s accomplishments on the surface with past greats.

It is no small feat to equal the record of consecutive wins. Sampras, for all his grass court prowess and great wins, couldn’t manage it. Federer has. It will be fascinating to compare the two players over all once Federer retires taking the full career of the two into account. Sampras didn’t win the French. He won X titles but not title A. On the other hand, Federer won Y titles plus B,C should not be forgotten. What will be equally fascinating will be matching up the two players on how they would fare on grass versus each other.

Federer did defeat Sampras in a Wimbledon at such a young age - a match which is now part of the folklore of tennis. But who would have won more had they lived in the same time? Could any of these two players, known for their domination, dominate the other over all? How would the almost complete Federer game match up with the unplayable Sampras serve on clutch points? For now, we should cherish that we can see Federer playing live and hope some one does up his game to create a memorable Wimbledon.

This is quite special. Nadal has carried on from where he left a year ago on clay. He has already won at Monte Carlo and now has made Nadal-meat of the opponents at Barcelona - ending with 6-4, 6-4 and finally 6-0 versus Tommy Robredo in the Final.

In the process, he has overhauled Bjorg’s record of 46 consecutive wins on Clay. Only the 53 consecutive mark of Guillermo Vilas, who achieved the feat in 1977, remains.

Can Nadal achieve this? The right question should be ‘Who can stop him?’ Federer has been no match for Nadal on clay, yet. No one else looks close to beating him. There has been a lot of talk of how professional tennis has become so much more competitive which is essentially true.

However, a bit of recent history needs to be refreshed. When Sampras retired, people feared that he was the last dominating Champion men’s tennis would see. No sooner had we seen the back of Sampras, we had Federer dominating. Now, we have Nadal breaking past records of a comparitively less competitive era. In other sports as well, the dominations have existed. Case in point - Schumacher in F1 not long ago.

I guess the champions will make their mark, whatever the era. After all, they are champions - or campeón as they say it in Spanish.

Bjorn Borg has decided never to sell his Wimbledon trophies citing that the trophies mean long term financial security. If you decide never to sell trophies, does it not mean they are not financial securities at all for him? I do not see the logic there.

Not that I am advocating selling trophies or am against it. It is person X’s trophy. If he has had financial problems in the future, how else can he tacke them? Sporting personalities who do not even have financial tproblems have decided to sell sporting memorablia for easy cash or charity in the past.

How Borg will tacke his immediate financial problems though, I do not know. As CNN reports:

Bjorn Borg Design Group crashed in 1989 and he is being sued for 11 million crowns ($1.42 million) by former business associate designer Lars Modin. They case is due to come to court next month. Borg still makes money from the branding of his name, most notably on a successful underwear line.

Bjorn Borg does have a brand name but mere brand names cannot mean people will never face financial problems. Big movie stars and sportsmen have faced similar problems. Moreover, market values of brand names (which have suffered depreciation from the prime playing/performing days) are not usually sufficient to meet huge financial problems. In India, Amitabh Bacchan is the best recent example of a superstar celebrity facing financial problems and then overcoming the phase.

Here’s hoping Borg rides over this phase.

Update: Borg has come out and said it was McEnroe who finally convinced him not to sell the trophies. Also the initial decision was not to do with any financial concerns as he said that he is quite well off.

Bjorn Borg will sell, among other tennis memorablia, his 5 Wimbledon Trophies for financial security. Pains me immensely that his financial ventures didn’t succeed.

Meanwhile Federer and Nadal are to face each other for the first time since French Open 2005. Federer is unbeaten this year. Nadal is on a come back trial ahead of the French Open. A superb build up to a match.

Martina Hingis crashed to a 2-6, 2-6 loss against Amelie Mauresmo. Hingis’ tryst with destiny part 2 isn’t looking great. She is still new in her come back but she better start winning a few titles sooner rather than later. At least she is enjoying her self on court which is good to see. A sharp contrast to the too serious Hingis. I will write in detail on Hingis some time next week hopefully.

Meanwhile Mauresmo is one match away from reclaiming the number 1 spot. She certainly is proving the most dominant women’s player this year, already having won her first grand slam in the Australian Open in January, and not many reckon Nadia Petrova has a chance in the Doha Open final.

So we are all set now for the finals. Roddick versus Federer. Second year in a row.

From the Wimbledon official site:

Should he fulfill his personal pledge, Federer will join an elite group of m`n to have won teree Wimbledon titles in a row. Both Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras(have scored the hat-trick; Borg in fact won the Gentlemen’s Singles five times in a row (1976-80) while Sampras managed the feat twice (1993-95 and 1997-2000). Prior to the open era, the great Fred Perry won three on the trot from 1934-36.

Federer is on the brink of history and the question on every one’s minds is can Roddick stop the man who has looked invincible on grass for the past three years to create his most memorable moment in tennis yet or will he be just be another road in Federer’s path to greatness.

BBC Sport gives some relevent stats. Federer has a 8-1 record against Roddick, has 29 career titles to Roddick’s 18 and has won 4 slams compared to Roddicks lone US Open triumph. Roddick has been eliminated the last two times in Wimbledon by the eventual champion, Federer himself.

Federer has won, hold your breath, 20 consecutive finals he has appeared in. Surely dwarfs the recent run of the Australian one day cricket team in finals, put to an end by a tie yesterday. Federer is also chasing Bjorg’s record of consecutive wins on grass and no one would be surprised if he beats that mark eventually.

In this Wimbledon itself, Federer has lost just 1 set (7-6) to Nicolas Kiefer. Roddick on the other hand has had a rough road, stretched to 5 versus unfancied Bracialli in round 2, Sebastian Grosjean in the quarters and 4 sets against Thomas Johansson.

The match to watch first will be the mixed doubles semi finals on court 1. Jonas Bjorkman and Lisa Raymond versus Mahesh Bhupathi and Mary Pierce. An Indian winning grandslam ‘doubles’ title would be a happy thing but why I have keener interest in this is as it can lead to a delightful win for Mary Pierce and even though a mixed doubles victory is nothing compared to a singles victory it will be sweet if she does manage to win the mixed doubles this year in Wimbledon.

On another note, Todd Woodbridge, one of the most prolific doubles players and very much under rate singles player retires. ATPtennis has a nice interview and a PDF stats file on the man. It was great to see him play but I would have liked him to concentrate more on the singles but you cant have the best of both worlds in tennis I guess.