After following this year’s Wimbledon since it started in on June 25 in England, the men’s and women’s finals were both matches that I could not miss watching despite being in a hotel in Wisconsin after attending Dave Matthews Band concerts back-to-back nights.

So with the lights off and my friends all still sleeping, I woke up early, turned on the TV and watched the majority of the matches on mute, and I’m glad I did. Although only one of the players I was rooting for won the title, they were still memorable matches in an unforgettable tournament.

First I got to witness Serena Williams, my favorite women’s player, win her fifth Wimbledon title. Later that day she and her sister Venus, who lost in the first round of singles play, won the women’s doubles title, making Serena twice the champion of the day, and adding to her and Venus’ dominance that started at the turn of the century. In the last 13 years of Wimbledon, only three women have won the title outside of Venus and Serena, with the two picking up five apiece. Hats off to the Williams sisters.

But in Sunday morning’s final I sadly watched as the great got greater with Roger Federer defeating Scotsman Andy Murray in four sets for his seventh title at the All England Club.

With the seven titles, Federer ties Pete Sampras for the most Wimbledon titles and further cements his legend with his 17th Grand Slam and once again is taking over the ranking of No. 1 in the world.

Prior to the tournaments, the odds were in favor of No. 3 Federer, No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the reigning champion. The three have been competing against one another in the finals and semi-finals of all the Grand Slams for the past couple of years. Dating back to the French Open in May 2005, one of the three has won 28 of the 29 Grand Slams since then. That is domination like no other, and it continued at this year’s Wimbledon.

But a tournament can’t be great unless there is an upset, and this year it came in the form of Nadal losing in the second round to a player ranked No. 100 in the world. With Nadal out, that really opened up things for Murray, who has had the weight of the United Kingdom on his shoulders as everyone waits for him to lay down some bricks in his legacy. This pressure is increased at Wimbledon as it does take place in England with the likes of Kate Middleton present.

With Nadal out and Murray the top seed on his side of the draw, he was able to make it to the final of Wimbledon and in doing so he was the first British man to be in that position since Fred Perry in 1936. En route to the finals, Murray narrowly defeated No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. After winning the first two sets, Murray began to deteriorate and it looked like he might not pull through after Tsonga captured the third set, but he managed to bounce back and make history.

Now please excuse my immaturity, but one of the funniest parts of the tournament occurred in Murray’s semi-final defeat over Tsonga when the Scot had to make a quick shot that, along with being a winner, hit Tsonga where it hurts, if you catch my drift. I don’t even feel bad for laughing because the TV commentators did.

Since this was such an exciting tournament, it only increases the hype for the London Olympics, which will take place at Wimbledon. Murray showed that he is a contender for the gold medal while players such as Federer and Djokovic showed that they are extremely talented and their dominance is not over, not by a long shot.