Roger Federer is on his way to becoming the greatest tennis player in history.

That is the view of Andy Roddick, as well as many other tennis experts, after being on the wrong side of a Swiss demolition act in the Wimbledon men's singles final for the second time in a row.

"If he keeps up this level I don't see too many people in history who would beat him," insisted Roddick as he came to terms today with competing in an era which Federer appears capable of dominating for the next decade.

Federer could not have strolled more elegantly or impressively to his third successive Wimbledon crown, beating Roddick 6-2 7-6 6-4 to join an elite club of hat-trick champions which includes Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras.

At 23 and if he retains his health and fitness Federer could even eclipse the seven Wimbledon singles title haul of Sampras.

Which is why Roddick was philosophical about his defeat.

"I'm not going to beat myself up about getting to the final and doing better than 126 other guys and losing to a guy that everybody is debating whether he's the best of all-time or not," said Roddick. "I'm not going to ruin what I've accomplished just because he was better than me.

"I want another crack at him. I still want to go against him again. You want to compete against the best. He's the measuring stick, so you kind of know where you are and where you go. I'd love to keep playing him."

The fact, however, is that Federer has now won 21 straight finals on the ATP tour.

"He's as close as there has been to unbeatable," admits Roddick, who also lost to Federer in last year's final and in the semi-final in 2003. "I felt I played decent and got straight-setted.

"He played head and shoulders above how he played last year. He hit 49 winners and 12 errors. You just have to sit back and say 'too good' sometimes. I hope he gets bored or something."

That is unlikely considering Federer has an appetite for titles, a hunger for records and a healthy respect for tennis history.

"This was a very big match and tournament for me to get my fifth Grand Slam and third Wimbledon," said Federer. "I was pretty tense but after the first set I started to feel so good and so confident. Obviously for the next few years I will be a huge favourite for this tournament."

Even so today Federer, who admitted he had played a "flawless" final, was still trying to work out quite how his career has flourished so spectacularly over the last two years.

"Maybe I lost too many matches I should have won when I was younger," he said. "Now it's turned around for me. Now I'm winning matches I should lose sometimes. I amaze myself how incredibly I use my talent to win. Those who followed me since I was a youngster knew I had the potential but I don't think anyone would ever have thought it would be this extreme, basically dominating the game, winning three Wimbledons.

"One, you think, that's fantastic. When you end up winning three, you're really starting to wonder 'what have I done right in my career that this has happened to me?' I'm very, very proud."

The esteem in which Federer is held by his fellow players was summed up by Roddick who revealed that, despite his two final losses to Federer at Wimbledon, he was proud to be playing in the same era.

But for those players who might think Federer has only ice in his veins there was a hint of hope from the mouth of the Swiss himself when he admitted he had to stop himself thinking about receiving the trophy mid-way through the final set and that he suffered from nerves like anyone else.

"When I started to serve for the match I really got nervous," said Federer. "I felt my arm shaking. Even at 4-3 I started to think 'how will it be with the trophy?' How will my reaction be?' I'm like 'no, no, no, we're not there yet.' I always have to calm myself down. It's really strange."