Laver–Rosewall, Borg–McEnroe, Evert–Navratilova, even Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Just give me some kind of rivalry. Anything. Or even a story. Venus and Serena were not a rivalry, they never played well against each other, but they were always a story.

If there is to be a rivalry, one of the rivals has to win now and then. Andy Roddick lost the Wimbledon title to Roger Federer again on Sunday and it was worse than the 2004 final. At least last year Andy was up 4-2 and taking it to Federer when the long rain delay came. They were even in sets at the time. Federer used the delay to change his strategy and switch to a serve and volley, he had no coach at the time mind you, then came out and beat Roddick, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4.

When the rains come this year, Roddick has just lost the second set tiebreaker to go down two sets to none. Could he turn the tables on Roger and use the delay to turn the match around?

There are problems long before the second set tiebreaker. Roddick’s strategy is to serve big, attack Federer’s backhand and come to the net as much as possible. Roddick is serving at 2-3 in the first set when he hits a good inside out forehand approach. Federer barely gets to the ball and puts up a defensive lob. Roddick smashes a deep overhead but Federer tracks it down and turns it into a crosscourt passing shot for a winner. He hit a winner off an overhead smash! It’s exactly the same thing he did to Hewitt in the semifinals and it’s just as discouraging. He wins the first set 6-2.

By the end of the set, Federer has one, yes, that is correct, one unforced error, fifteen winners and two points lost on his serve. Oh, by the way, he has won thirty-five straight matches on grass and twenty straight tournament finals.

It’s not the best of conditions for Roddick. His semifinal with Thomas Johansson was stopped by rain after the first set Friday night and was played out before the womens’ final yesterday. Roddick had to play three sets and two tiebreakers before finally finishing off match. You can see that it has affected Roddick. His serve is not hitting 140 mph and he’s not moving well.

It would be hard to overestimate the mental strength needed to win twenty straight tournament finals. This is a profoundly confident human being.

Roddick gets back in the match with an early break in the second set when Federer makes a rare mental error. On break point, Federer runs Roddick wide and has the open court to hit an inside out forehand. Instead, he chooses to hit the ball at Roddick. It’s curious because Roddick is still moving poorly. Federer gets the break back in the sixth game with the help of another thoroughly discouraging play. Roddick has been serving effectively into his body all day. This time Federer just barely blocks the return deep into the corner. As he sees Roddick run off to get the ball, he sneaks into the net and picks Roddick’s shot up off the grass to hit a crosscourt volley for a winner. Federer misses nothing. Later in the match, Roddick came in to hit a short shot and backpedals instead of continuing forward. Federer sees this and immediately comes to the net with a drop shot approach that wins the point.

Still, Roddick gets a set point at 5-4 in the second set but he lets a Federer passing shot go and it lands just inside the baseline. Not a good idea on set point and probably not a mental error Federer would make.

The tiebreaker is a disaster for Roddick. He fails to win a point on his serve and he’s now down two sets. Luckily the rain has come. That’s my homeland for you. There was so much rain when I was growing up in England that even the bedclothes were damp.

The rain clears after only eleven minutes but things don’t get much better for Roddick and it doesn’t look all that good for those hoping for a rivalry. It’s not coming any time soon. Both Roddick and Hewitt are better players than when they were ranked number one. Hewitt’s serve has improved dramatically and he attacks the net often and effectively. Roddick is in better shape and he’s mentally stronger. But Roddick has now lost nine of the last ten matches with Federer and Hewitt has lost eight straight including the 2004 U.S. Open final when he lost two sets at love.

Federer wins his third straight Wimbledon title, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-4, and we are left to celebrate the career of the transcendent tennis player of our era. It would be hard to overestimate the mental strength needed to win twenty straight tournament finals. This is a profoundly confident human being. He steps onto the court knowing exactly what he needs to do and knowing what changes to make should he need them. As fast as other plays improve their game, he improves faster.

Roger is starting to seep into my consciousness. I was practicing my ground strokes yesterday when I spontaneously broke out with a graceful, balanced one-handed topspin backhand. I am a two hander. I once had a one-handed backhand that was as awkward as a Monica Seles volley. It caused me a lot of pain and, finally, a severe case of tennis elbow. But this one-hander was a thing of beauty.

I can only imagine that hours of watching Roger glide across the court and hit those gorgeous shots has somehow seeped deep into my tennis memory muscle cells. Tennis may be suffering but my tennis game is happy.

I injured my back dancing in 1986. The injury was so severe that it took three years and many visits to chiropractors, Rolfers, Feldenkrais practitioners, and Alexander Technique teachers before I could sit longer than half an hour without severe pain. I also went to a movement class so that I could learn to dance without further injury. The teacher told me to watch other people move if I wanted to learn about movement. “Watch people walking, watch people running, watch people playing,” she said.

When I was walking, I’d watch people in front of me. Some of them locked their knee when they put their front foot down. Or their upper body moved and their lower body didn’t. Runners were always entertaining. Some moved their right arm but their left arm stayed in one place. They landed flatfooted or on the balls of their feet. Their arms moved and their trunk didn’t.

Now and then I’d see a graceful athlete go by with every part of their body moving as one piece. Head, neck, trunk, arms, and legs. Everything moved as one long chain of easeful movement.

During ESPN’s broadcast of the the semifinal match between Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt, there is a 15 second super slo mo clip of Federer leaping into the air to hit a high backhand volley.

He jumps into the air moving his right arm to hit a high backhand as his legs splay and his left arm flies out to balance the movement. His body twists away from the net to move his racket to the ball. He slices sharply down at the ball then turns his head to follow its movement twisting his body back towards the net while leaving his trailing arm and leg curled behind him. His foot lightly touches down on the grass and the ball lands out of the reach of Hewitt.

A ballet dancer caught in midair. A beautiful expression of Federer’s unsurpassed artistry.

Federer is back on grass where he has won 34 straight matches and he’s playing an opponent he’s beaten eight straight times, including this year’s Australian Open Final. What can Hewitt do, he is the best player in the world except for someone named Federer.

Hewitt wants to play long points, attack Federer’s backhand and hope that Federer hits some errors. Hewitt serves well and gets everything back but he doesn’t have a killer offensive shot. If he can consistently hold serve and Federer has a less than average day, he has a chance.

A ballet dancer caught in midair. A beautiful expression of Federer’s unsurpassed artistry.

His plan doesn’t work so well in the first set, he only gets 45% of his first serves in and loses serve twice to lose the set 6-3. Federer does even worse getting only 37% of his first serves in but he has other weapons.

In the second set, another part of Hewitt’s game plan falls apart. He loses his serve in the third game with five unforced backhand errors. Not a good idea if you want to get into a backhand battle with your opponent. In the middle of this game, Hewitt unleashes one of his primal “come awns” after a winning passing shot. On the next point, Federer comes out with a much softer “come on” after a winning forehand. A more subtle and possibly more effective strategy for dealing with Hewitt’s histrionics than spitting at him or serving at his body on the fly as some other players have done.

Hewitt holds serve well in the third set and stays even. Still, it’s not easy. In the best point of the match, Federer blocks a very good serve to his body deep into Hewitt’s court. Hewitt slams it down the line but Federer gets to it and runs Hewitt off the court with a cross court shot. Later in the point, Hewitt takes a floater out of the air and approaches the net. Federer puts up a defensive lob, Hewitt hits an overhead, then Federer tracks it down to hit a crosscourt passing shot for a winner. He hit a winner off an overhead smash. I don’t care how much heart you have, that is hard to recover from.

On the very next point, Federer uses a backhand slice return followed by two relatively shallow backhand slices then unleashes a rocket forehand down the line for a winner. His next opponent, Andy Roddick, hits backhand slices too but he’s not necessarily crafting a point, he’s changing the pace because you should now and then. Crafting a point means using change of pace to set up your best shot. I don’t give Roddick much of a chance.

In the third set tiebreaker, Federer drops his first and only dropshot for a winner. He wins the tiebreaker and the match, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4).

As Xtra Sports Radio co-host Mychal Thompson said Friday on the Loose Cannons show, “Who are the only two men better than Federer on grass?”

“Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley.”