I know. The story is Roger Federer winning his 15th grand slam event, becoming the first guy with 15 championships in the Big Four tournaments.

But I feel badly for Andy Roddick, who played as well as he can possibly play but still lost. Score of 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14.

Yes. 16-14 in the fifth set. Longest championship match in Wimbledon final history. Roddick’s fourth crack at winning a title at the All-England Club.

But there was that man Federer. Again.

Roddick played perhaps the best match of his life in the semifinals, taking out Andy Murray of Scotland in five sets.  Ending Murray’s attempt to become the first British subject to win the gentlemen’s title at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.

Then Roddick played an even better match in the final. And still lost.

Some amazing stuff in here, holding off the greatest champion in men’s tennis history for 4 hours, 16 minutes, playing him to a standoff in the longest title match in grand slam history … holding serve with the All-England championship on the line for 10 consecutive service games. But perhaps the most stunning statistic was this one:

Roddick held serve 37 consecutive times. He wasn’t broken — at all — until the last game of the 77-game match.

Roddick needed Federer to be show up with something less than his A game. Maybe just his A-minus game. Federer didn’t cooperate.

Thus, Federer was hitting winners all day, set a personal record with 50 aces and rarely gave Roddick a glimpse of a break, especially in the epic fifth set.

At 8-8, Roddick held two break points. The only two he would get in the entire fifth set. But Federer got it back to deuce faster than you can say “Andy finally wins at Wimbledon!” A service winner, then a smash on a desperate return of service, and that was the last Roddick saw of the match.

Sitting there, after that, watching the two guys reel off game after game on serve, the only question was “who will break first?” Would someone get tired? Would the pressure crack one or the other?

Roddick has never been in better shape. But Federer is always in great shape. So that is a push.

So it came down to who would crack first … and, sadly, it was Roddick. As we thought it would be, considering he was 2-18 in head-to-heads with Federer.

Once it got up to 12-12 or so, Roddick began making unforced errors. Till then, Federer had to work for his points. Then Roddick began spraying the ball a little. Perhaps it had to do with the shadows advancing over the court as it pushed 7 p.m. in England.

Or perhaps Roddick was just tired. Or his focus wandered just a teensy bit, after 250 minutes of all-world tennis.

In the 30th game of the set, Roddick hit a backhand into the net, badly mis-hit a forehand and it was 0-30.  He got back to 40-30, but with a chance to win the game he had another mis-hit. He had one more chance to win the game, but he hit long. Then he hit long twice more, and it was over.

In the final game, Federer didn’t hit one winner. And Roddick was guilty of six of his scant total of 33 unforced errors.

It was a match of the highest quality, even if there were stretches when it seemed as if holding serve was automatic. Between them, the players hit 181 winners to just 71 unforced errors.

Roddick now is 0-4 in the Wimbledon final, and all four of those defeats were inflicted by Federer. None were as close as this one, though. None moved into “instant classic” territory, like this one did.

Roddick seems like a decent guy. I’ve been around him at a tournament or two, and he is a straight-shooter who can be amusing. And he always, always plays hard. There is no “coast” in this guy.

He has the one U.S. Open championship, in 2003, but other than that it’s always been Roddick or Rafael Nadal up ahead of him, and it’s fair to wonder if the window of opportunity for Roddick is closing. He turns 28 in August, and the next generation of stars is pushing into the picture.

If Roddick doesn’t win another slam or two,  well, it could be a very long time before an American man wins one. Anywhere. But at Wimbledon, especially.

After Roddick, the quality in U.S. men’s tennis falls away rapidly. There is James Blake, No. 17 in the world but 30 years old late this year. There is Mardy Fish, ranked 25th but 28 this year and unlikely to crack the top 10, never mind win a slam.

If you want an American under the age of 27 who is ranked in the top 90 in the world, you’re looking at Sam Querrey, who is 21 and ranked 47th in the world. That’s it. Could he get into the elite? Maybe. But it would be a surprise.

So, yeah. Brutally tough defeat. The best American player of his time, playing the best match of his career, holds serve for 37 consecutive games … and can’t beat Federer.

That probably was Roddick’s best shot at Wimbledon. And the best shot an American will have for a long, long time.