Oh Andy----Heartbreaking Defeat At Hands Of Federer

Definition of a crushing defeat: Playing the best tennis anyone has ever seen you play; doing that in the Wimbledon finals against the best player in the history of tennis; holding serve for 4 hours and 15 minutes straight; and then being broken for the FIRST time at 15-14 of the 5th set to lose it all. That pretty much sums up how Andy Roddick's heart was broken in the 2009 Wimbledon final (also broken was Pistol Pete's grand slam record). Everyone in the world feels sorry for Andy right now. But lets be honest though, Roddick's nauseating choke volley at set point in the second set cost him the match. There is absolutely no excuse for Roddick to miss that shot. Federer was halfway to his chair for the changover and all Andy had to do was block the ball into the court. That said, the court did probably look 3ft x 3ft through Andy's eyes right before contact. But if the roles are reversed, does Roger miss that volley in a million years?

This one is going to sting Roddick for a very long time. To the point where I don't know if he can recover, at least from a career perspective. In an interview afterwards, Bjorn Borg said the loss would "sting" Andy for a couple days. Are you kidding? This is going to sting him until the day he dies, unless of course he wins Wimbledon before he retires. If he plays this well again next year, he has an even better shot of winning the title, to the point where he will likely win it. But the question is if he'll be able to take this loss in stride or struggle to recover from it. Turning down the famous post-match John McEnroe interview for us American fans was not a good sign. Nor was his decision to withdraw from his upcoming Davis Cup match. A telling factor will be the US Open Series that is approaching. That is the season that Roddick usually thrives. If he stumbles through this summer and at the US Open finale, then this may be sayonara for Andy Roddick.

My guess: there is a very good chance (lets say 75%) that Roddick comes out of this with renewed confidence. The reason why? Larry Stefanki. Clearly Andy's new coach is perfect for him, and I doubt he will allow Andy to dip at all. We'll just have to wait and see if that's the case. The US Open Series starts July 20th with the first tournament in Indianapolis. So in the meantime, feel better Andy. Look on the bright side. You just married a supermodel. You're really really rich. And Elton John played at your wedding. That should cheer you up...maybe along with a relapse of Federer's mono.

In hockey news, at least the significant hockey news:

• The Rangers signed Higgins (1-year $2.25 million per) -- Higgins will have 1 shot to prove himself
• The Senators signed Kovalev (2-years $5 million per) -- this won't come close to replacing Heatley
• The Maple Leafs signed Beauchemin (3-years $3.8 million per) -- if Toronto can get a goalie, they are going to open some eyes this year

And lastly, we all know about Patrick Kane's habit of constantly chewing on his white mouth guard during games. Well it seems Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings is not too fond of it. Check out this video: