How great was Breakfast at Wimbledon?

1 - Okay, just for starters, you got one of the world’s great sporting events as soon as you got out of bed on a Sunday morning. Coffee, cereal, the New York Times (with an interview in the Arts section of Michael Kenneth Williams, the actor who in “The Wire” played Omar, my favorite character in the history of television drama. Just last night, the Film Babe and I power watched the last five episodes of Season Three), and a world class sporting championship.

2 - You got Roger Federer playing to cement his place as the most successful male tennis player of all-time.

3 - You got an Amerikanski as an opponent, Andy Roddick, the formerly under-achieving American with a chance to win his second Slam title.

4 - You got semi-celebs in the stands, like Woody Allen and Ralph Lauren. Plus a box with the greatest of all-time, sitting together. Sampras. Borg. Laver.

5 - Federer scored 49 aces, a career high. Roddick didn’t lose service until Game # 77 of the five set match.

6 -You got something meaningful to watch while exercising on the elliptical machine in the basement, as boring an endeavor normally as exists in the realm of exercise.

7 - Roddick blew a 6-1 lead in the second set tiebreaker, lost the third set, yet never faltered, coming back to win the fourth, and making the champ play 30 games in the fifth to win. I may have jinxed that boy. When he was up in that tiebreaker, I called my pal Bill, who happens to be like a third cousin to Roddick, and told him to “turn on the TV. Cousin Andy is about to go up two sets to love.”

8 - You didn’t have to listen Bud Collins’ hyperbolic announcing . . .

9 -  . . . which was especially noticeable in the taut 30 game fifth set. (No tiebreakers in the final set at Wimbledon, where tradition remains steadfast.)

10 - You got to Lunch at Wimbledon because the match goes past noon. If not nearly as long as last year’s seven hour plus final between Nadal and Federer, generally considered the greatest tennis match ever played.

11 - During commercials, you got to read an article in the Times Sports section about the infamous Disco Demolition Night thirty years ago at Comiskey Park.

12 - You got to watch Federer prove yet again why champions are champions. They remain steady, not cracking at moments of tension when titles are in the offing.

13 - You got to see the resurgence of Andy Roddick, who played an almost impeccable match, realizing the guy may now have another Grand Slam win or two in him. After his second set meltdown, he never flinched until that last game.

And the match was over in plenty of time for the Film Babe and I to catch a late afternoon flick, and still make it over to Triangle Park maybe to hear Another Mule, which event hopefully won’t be postponed due to inclemency.

– Seedy K