The final grand slam tournament of the year, which begins on Monday at Flushing Meadows, will welcome the world's two highest ranked players in intimidating form.

Two Masters tournaments, the level below a grand slam, have been played this month with Murray triumphing in Montreal and Federer in Cincinnati. 

Rafa Nadal has struggled to recover from the knee injuries that kept him out of Wimbledon, while a supporting cast of Djokovic, Roddick and Del Potro does not look strong enough to challenge the dominating duo on their favoured New York hard courts.

Looking just at the top two, Federer has the edge. The Swiss won his most recent encounter with Murray, in the Cincinatti semi-finals, has won three of the past four grand slam tournaments. And, oh yes, he is the five time defending US Open champion.

On top of that, when the two met in the final last year Federer won at a stroll. He played beautiful tennis as he destroyed Murray 6-2 7-5 6-2. The first set of the match was telling. A nerveless Federer repeatedly held serve with ease, and waited for first-night errors from his opponent, a grand slam final debutant. They duly came in the sixth game. The Fed broke for 4-2 and never looked back.

So what hope can Murray cling to as he embarks on his quest this year? Well, to get to last year's final he had to beat the then world number one Nadal over five sets and two days -- by far the greatest triumph of his career to date. Even if he wasn't tired after that, and remember Murray is ultra-fit, a man who does sets of 400 metre sprints in the heat of Miami for fun, the mental effort would have been extraordinary. 

Then there is their head to head record, which Murray leads 6-3. The Fed is nearly six years older and has made it clear he feels uncomfortable playing against Murray's attritional style. And his wife Mirka has just had twins, with one of them called Charlene -- suggesting a serious lack of judgment on Roger's part (sorry Roger, only joking).

But who are we kidding?

Federer has an incredible power on court, and the ability to win the key points and games to relentlessly accumulate major titles. Only Nadal at his rampaging best has broken through his force-field, and even then in two nail-biting five-set finals at Wimbledon and in Australia.

A 16th grand slam awaits Roger Federer.

PHOTO: Roger Federer talks with Andy Murray after winning his fifth straight U.S. Open tennis title at Flushing Meadows in New York September 8, 2008. REUTERS/Kena Betancur

The build-up to Friday's second Wimbledon semi-final was all about Briton Andy Murray but the man of the hour was the fearless American Andy Roddick.

Sat on a packed and sunny Centre Court, the prospect of Murray's party being gate-crashed did not take long to dawn on a crowd who did not seem sure who they should be cheering for.

Roddick never stopped playing like a man on a mission, contesting every point while Murray's more subtle, patient approach was not coming to fruition as many had predicted.

Murray produced glimpses of magic and he stood up bravely to return many of Roddick's meteoric serves, which hit a staggering speed of 143MPH, but his own first serve let him down too often and the passing shots he regularly makes went amiss.

On paper, this was a match Murray was meant to win, but in reality the world number three was outplayed by sixth seed Roddick whose recent good form has coincided with a much fitter physique.

At 22-years-old, a grand slam semi-final still represents progress for Murray and the defeat will by no means damage his confidence or reputation -- British fans will just have to wait a little longer for a homegrown Wimbledon finalist. After all it has been 71 years already.

However, tennis fans will not begrudge Roddick, a former world number one and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, another chance to renew his rivalry with defending champion and overwhelming favourite Roger Federer in Sunday's final.

If Roddick serves like he did on Friday, he has a chance, don't you reckon?

ANDY 1: Andy Roddick seems scarcely able to believe his won over Andy Murray in their semi-final at Wimbledon, July 3, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

ANDY 2: Murray's expression says it all. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Andy Murray's brutal straight sets victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero took him through to the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time in his career on Wednesday but while the centre court fans and the Henman Hill mob did their Mexican waves one man was singularly unimpressed by the Murraymania.

Murray himself is doing his best to let the media frenzy pass him by. He may have received notes of encouragement from the Queen, Sean Connery and Cliff Richard, and he knows he will be all over the front and back pages of the newspapers again on Thursday, but to say the Scot is staying cool would be a massive understatement. Here's what he said after the 7-5 6-3 6-2 win over Ferrero:

"It doesn't make any difference the way you perform, the hype. If you spend the whole time, if you work in the media and spend a lot of time reading the papers, watching everything on the TV, getting said all the things that are getting said on the radio, then you get caught up in it.

If you ignore it you don't realize it's happening. You don't take anything that's being said about you. You know, I don't read it because 90% of the stuff's gonna be pretty much untrue anyway."

Ouch.

Murray didn't sound too impressed to hear that Kate Winslet had been in the crowd either, although he did concede it might be good for the sport.

"I think it's good for tennis any time you get, you know, big stars or celebrities coming to watch. It makes it, I guess, cooler for kids and stuff, which is important in this country."

PHOTO: Andy Murray returns the ball to Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain during their quarter-final at Wimbledon, July 1, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Serena Williams glides across the ice rink. Ana Ivanovic leaps to the net in beach volleyball.

Roger Federer poses as a fencer. Rafael Nadal fulfils his boyhood dream as a soccer player.

To celebrate 20 years at the modern Olympics, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) persuaded 40 of the world’s top players to dress up as athletes from other sports.

The result, launched at Wimbledon this week, made for some intriguing choices in a glossy coffee table book “Journey to Beijing: Tennis Celebrates the Olympics.”

 As befits a truly international sport, the photo shoots spanned the globe.

Chile’s Olympic champions Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzales became marathon runners on the streets of Santiago. Maria Sharapova tried rhythmic gymnastics in Los Angeles while Serena Williams went ice skating at her local rink in Palm
Beach, Florida.

Sharapova recalled dressing up as a child in the team’s white beret and marching beside the television as the Russian team appeared at the opening ceremony.

Nadal, glued to the television as a six-year-old, will never forget Fremin Cacho winning the 1500 metres in Barcelona. “The last few metres were unbelievable,” he recalled.
While playing at The Masters in Shanghai, Nadal snatched a few quick minutes to pose as a footballer playing in the streets down a back alley.

He was the first player to commit to the book and others swiftly followed.

ITF spokesman Nick Imison told Reuters at the launch “Every one of the men players wanted to be a footballer.”

“For the modern-day player, the Olympics is a real career goal,” Imison said of the top-ranked players who now need much less persuading to appear at the Games.

The millionaire players, who jet round the world leading a cocooned lifestyle from one five-star hotel to another, rave in the book about the joys of mingling with other athletes in the Olympic village.

But Serena Williams did admit that she and her sister Venus could not stay in the Sydney Olympics village too long in 2000 because “It was crazy …  Everyone came over and overcrowded us. There’s a lot of excitement.”

Federer can perhaps lay claim to the fondest of Olympic memories — he met his long-time girlfriend and manager Mirka Vavrinec at the Sydney Olympics.

Little wonder that the Swiss champion, who happily signed autographs for three hours at the opening ceremony, said of the Games “I loved every minute of it.”

** Click here for full coverage of Wimbledon 2008 **

First came Serena’s raincoat and Roger’s cardigan. But it was Maria Sharapova’s white tuxedo and shorts that upped the fashion stakes at the world’s most famous tournament. The 21-year-old Russian said she wanted to do something classy for Wimbledon so she decided to step up a gear in the tennis fashion parade when appearing on court for the first time in 2008.

“It’s the tuxedo look. I was very inspired by menswear this year and every time at Wimbledon I want to do something classy and elegant,” she said after seeing off French qualifier Stephanie Foretz 6-1 6-4.

“This year I said why don’t we do shorts and I have never worn shorts before at a grand slam. There is a place to do it and that’s Wimbledon,” the former Wimbledon champion told BBC television right after stepping off court.

At a sun-kissed Wimbledon on Monday, Serena Williams took to the court wearing a white raincoat. On a gloriously hot afternoon, defending champion Roger Federer opted for a white cardigan after two years sporting a white blazer.

Sharapova missed seeing Williams’ raincoat but loved Federer’s cardigan. “I thought that was classic. It was beautiful,” she told reporters.

Her post-match press conference was dominated by questions about fashion. Sharapova, relaxed and laughing, was happy to answer them all.

“I love how 10 of the questions are about what we are wearing. It’s amazing,” she said.

Working within Wimbledon’s strict dress code is a challenge she relishes. “You know it’s hard to do things different with white — there’s only so much you can do,” she said.

Sharapova was clearly relieved to have got her first match out of the way at the tournament where she became an instant overnight sensation with her win as teenager, the first of her three Grand Slam wins.

“It was great to get out there and get a feel for Court Number One. It was my first match on grass this year so I did pretty well considering,” she said.

“You never know what is going to happen. You can have a great practice week, you can have a terrible practice week and then go out on court and things can feel totally different.”

She even found time at the end of her press conference to wish Russia well in the European soccer championship after their defeat of the Netherlands in the quarter finals.

“I am so proud they got through that. It was kind of nerve-wracking when it was tied five minutes left into the game. You know we’re brave, we are strong, we work hard at what we do. Good things happen.”

** Click here for full coverage of Wimbledon 2008 **

At few other world sporting events do so many queue for so long.

Wimbledon , by dint of its allowing fans to just turn up on the day without booking, has always attracted vast numbers of the ticketless, either casual, after-work visitors or the more diehard types who come armed with tent and supplies to see the likes of Roger Federer, Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova compete.

Draped with plastic sheets against the rain, bedded down on the hard pavement, those in for the long haul often insisted to interviewers — rather unconvincingly — that the wait was part of the fun.

Now, however, the queue has indeed become more civilised with the opening up of the nearby Wimbledon Park to tennis campers. The wide open spaces of this Capability Brown-designed gem, just a stone’s throw from the All England club, are a world away from the cramped pavements of Church Road. There are lockers to store tents and sleeping bags and plenty of space for all. Plenty of public tennis courts too. The only drawback is the strict 6 a.m. wake-up call.

The queue itself, however, remains a daunting beast, snaking around the park and the adjacent golf course, seemingly for miles. The All England club has even issued a Guide to Queuing handbook to lay down the ground rules. For queue information click here

Waiting patiently in line is of course a British speciality and some of the regulars do genuinely seem to enjoy the atmosphere — but for less patient souls, here’s all you need to know to enter the ballot next year and walk straight in.