Fatherhood will foil Fed; RESULT!

Byline: DEREK McGOVERN; JOHN SHAW

WHAT a humdinger the climax of Sunday's Wimbledon final was. It was the longest set since Flo-Jo's fingernails.

Roger Federer said in the papers on the morning of the final that he wanted his soon-to-be-born child to see him play tennis; what we didn't realise was he meant that very match.

Fed, with 15 Grand Slam titles to his credit, is 10-1 with Ladbrokes to have 20 or more by the time he hangs up his cravat, but I'd sooner take the massive 9-1 with Hills (just 5-2 with Ladbrokes) that he doesn't add to his current tally.

Epic though Sunday's victory was, Federer allowed Andy Roddick to take 39 games from him. In the Wimbledon final four years earlier, Roddick won only 12. He's on the slide in other words, and impending fatherhood ain't exactly gonna help. Fed will find that a father is someone who carries pictures where his money used to be.

TENNIS player Mathieu Montcourt, banned last year for betting on matches, was found dead at his Paris home earlier this week. The Frenchman, ranked 119 in the world, was just 24.

Federico Luzzi, the world No.92, died last October at the age of 28. He too had been banned earlier in the year for betting on tennis matches.

There are those who will find that too much of a coincidence.