Federer will have Centre Court at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England – So much for resisting change at Wimbledon. They’re embracing it.

Women will earn the same prize money as men for the first time this year. Video screens will help players challenge calls. A retractable roof is on the way.

Doesn’t tradition mean anything?

Well, there is one thing – besides the white clothes every competitor must wear and the grass underfoot – that remains the same: As the defending men’s singles champion, Roger Federer will once again have the honor of being first to stride out on Centre Court when action begins Monday.

Two weeks after coming up just short of completing a career Grand Slam on the red clay of Roland Garros, Federer heads to the All England Club, where he’ll try to do something only one man has done in the last 100 years: win a fifth consecutive Wimbledon.

“That,” Federer said, “would be absolutely incredible.”

Bjorn Borg won Wimbledon every year from 1976 to 1980, and the only other men who claimed at least five straight titles did it back in the days when the reigning champion automatically advanced to the final.

For a little perspective, consider that greats of the grass game such as Rod Laver, John McEnroe and Boris Becker maxed out at two Wimbledon championships back-to-back. And Pete Sampras was stopped at four in a row.

Pistol Pete’s streak was snapped by a fourth-round loss in 2001 to … guess who?

Federer.

“Roger is fun to watch. He’s graceful,” Sampras said in a telephone interview earlier this year. “Roger is dominating the game much more than I ever did. What he’s done the last three years hasn’t ever been done in the sport.”

For Federer, winning Wimbledon is the be-all and end-all of tennis. For him, success on the sport’s most hallowed ground takes away the sting of near-misses at Roland Garros, where he lost to nemesis Rafael Nadal the past three years.

“You do forget about it right away if you win Wimbledon the following month, you know,” Federer said. “That kind of overshadows the French Open by a mile.”

In last year’s Wimbledon final, Federer beat Nadal, and they could reprise their No. 1 vs. No. 2 rivalry with a July 8 rematch.

Not that Nadal’s thinking that far ahead.

“I’m not worried about Federer. I am worried about (Mardy) Fish right now,” Nadal said Saturday, referring to the serve-and-volleying American he faces in the first round.

Nadal and No. 3 Andy Roddick might be the only players who could present a shade of trouble to Federer.

“In order for me to be successful here, I have to beat him one time, and that’s kind of the way you look at it,” said Roddick, who lost to Federer in the 2003 semifinals and the 2004 and 2005 finals at the All England Club. “What are you going to do? You wake up, you work hard, you go after it again.”

No one holds Federer’s kind of sway over the women’s draw, although when it comes to this major, Serena and Venus Williams often bring their best. Venus Williams was one of the loudest voices calling on the tournament to pay the women what the men get, and no one should be shocked if she or her sister winds up pocketing the Grand Slam-record $1.4 million check the women’s singles champion will receive.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Serena Williams said, “for not only tennis but just for women’s sports, for women all around.”

One Williams or the other has won five of the past seven Wimbledon championships, despite never participating in any grass-court warmup events beforehand. Instead, they go home to the United States after the French Open and prepare to play on grass by practicing on, uh, hard courts.

“They’re very similar,” Serena Williams said with a wink and a smile. “You just get on a really slick, old ghetto court that’s real fast, and you’ll be fine. It’s actually faster than Wimbledon. That’s why we’re so good.”