Wimbledon Championships: Matches like these always take time to wind up. Then when the sharp twist of the dagger arrives it is imperceptibly swift. So it was as Andy Roddick again tried to find a tactical plan to dislodge Roger Federer from his Wimbledon pedestal. Had Roddick the knife he surely would have used it.

"Punch him," was one of his exasperated reactions to how he might in the future beat this finely crafted piece of Swiss technology.

For the first five games of the first set this was a match of heavy serves and almost no returns. During that brief period of boom and bash, only one point was earned against the man delivering.

Thankfully it was a settling-in period leading to a match that was all-court, multi-rallied and essentially one-way, but no less alluring to the 14,000 privileged Centre Court fans.

It had to have variety as Roddick persistently sought an avenue to what would have been his second Grand Slam title, having won the US Open in 2003.

On this evidence Roddick is far from putting his strong hands on the most coveted of trophies. That he is perhaps closer than anyone else is of little consolation as Federer, if anything, demonstrated that as he moves forward reshaping the tennis landscape and looks over his shoulder, the rest of the draw are fading further into the distance. Roddick was afterwards asked if Federer was beatable.

"Well, he's lost three times this year, right! I don't know, I mean he's probably as close as has been to unbeatable. I was bringing heat, too, you just have to sit back and say 'too good' sometimes."

Those early muscular exchanges took the match smoothly to the sixth game.

On the Roddick serve Federer put on the squeeze and took it. He then served for 5-2 and broke again for 6-2. It all seemed so easy.

The second set similarly. Federer dealt with all of Roddick's ferocity, had an early exchange of service games, then played strong until the tie-break. Again, the mental strength kicked in. Federer soared and Roddick remained on the ground. A 3-0 lead became 4-2 and there it ended, Federer taking the tiebreak and set 7-2 before the rain fell.

There were outrageous suggestions that the interruption might aid Roddick.

In last year's Centre Court final, the American was dominating the match when rain also fell. But it was Federer who came out after the break and turned it around. Not this time.

"This is probably the best match I have ever played," said the champion.

"This was a very big match for me. Obviously to get the fifth one, fifth Grand Slam but also the third Wimbledon. Definitely for the next few years I'll be a huge favourite for this tournament," he added somewhat ominously.

The last stanza of this year's tournament was one Roddick would have liked to view with some optimism. To his disappointment it ended more as a eulogy to his nemesis.

About 25 minutes after the rain they emerged but nothing had changed. Roddick hit his best shots, sometimes twice, occasionally three times. Impossibly Federer returned and won points he had little right to own. It was then more than ever that Roddick, a Major winner, realised he was out of his depth. There was no surprise when the 23-year-old broke serve again, this time for 4-3, enough for the championship.

"One point today I remember I was in his service game," said Roddick. "I hit about as good a return as I could up the line, hit it really hard. He kind of got there. I came in and just took a full swing at a forehand.

"Laced it cross-court and he was there and just put it past me. I don't know if I could have hit two better shots. Just deflates you."

Federer was also at a loss. He described it as experiencing an out-of-body experience.

"Today it seemed I was playing flawless," he said. "I remember when I came back (from rain break) I never felt like I'm actually playing. It's like I'm not living this correctly. It's a very strange feeling I had."

Just watching and listening, the more ethereal Federer became, the more it all made sense.