Time for tennis' forgotten man to come in from the cold

Men's final day at Wimbledon has dawned, drawing to an end a glorious fortnight of top-class tennis and for once sunshine. Today sees former world number one, US Open champ and 2-time finalist at Wimbledon Andy Roddick take on 5-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer.

Federer is aiming to break Pete Sampras' all time grand slam record by winning the final today, but in his way stands the forgotten man of the tennis world.

While Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have been battling it out for all the recent major titles, Roddick stands as an outsider, a one time grand slam champion, but one whose name was no longer mentioned in the band of favourites for majors.

Roddick has vastly improved his game since his last appearances in the Wimbledon finals, but the game has also moved on, and he has struggled to find his place in the new elite order of mens tennis.

Linking up with Larry Stefanki seems to have paid off for the American, he's dropped a stone in weight and looks fitter than ever before. His tactics against Murray in the semi-final were spot on. Roddick has never looked better at the net than he did in Fridays encounter, he will have to play that well again though to have a chance today.

Federer has seemingly sailed through the tournament with little trouble, clearly on a high after his recent Roland Garros victory, and buoyed by the fact that defending champion Rafael Nadal could not defend his title due to a knee injury.

Federer has dominated the head-to-head over Roddick, though their recent encounters have been close and Roddick will have to draw strength from this.

Though all the headlines may have been written by Murray over this fortnight, Roddick has quietly crept through the draw seemingly unnoticed or ignored as a viable title contender, but here he stands today, the one man in the way of Federer creating history.

The forgotten man of the tennis world has come in from the wilderness, now its time for one last effort-and it will make no mistake about it, have to be a mammoth one-to cement his place right back at the top of the tennis elite.