Louisa Wall: Tennis and the Ashes deliver magic moments

Well done England. The Ashes have returned to the Motherland and this biennial test cricket contest between England and Australia, one of cricket's fiercest and most celebrated rivalries, continues its proud history.

The win seems to have captured the hearts and minds of the English, given the cheering fans and 25,000 strong crowd in Trafalgar Square to celebrate the victory.

An opinion poll found that 66 per cent of people think that cricket reflects the best traits of Britain, easily outweighing the 22 per cent who think that soccer does.

Coach, Zimbabwe-born Duncan Fletcher, in charge since 1999, has battled for 15 years to gain a passport and was finally granted British citizenship by Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

And Andrew Flintoff, England's star allrounder, has been awarded the freedom of Preston, his hometown.

That means that he can drive a flock of sheep through the town centre, drink for free in no fewer than 64 pubs and get a lift home with the police "when I become inebriated. What more could you want?" Indeed Andrew, what more.

But I was rather more taken with the United States Open this week.

Sentimentally, most tennis lovers would have backed 35-year-old Andre Agassi in the 2005 US Open final. But few voting with their head would have bet against Swiss magician Roger Federer, who Aussie coach Tony Roche calls a genius.

Federer's comments about being there for this moment and never being bigger than the game are refreshing and wonderful to see in a man that is still learning and evolving as the No 1 player in the world.

It was Federer's sixth Grand Slam final and his sixth win and his 23rd consecutive victory in finals across the world on every conceivable surface.

But we must also pay tribute to a masterful display by Agassi, who had been forced to play three successive five-set matches to reach the final.

He spoke of the great ride he has enjoyed over the past 20 years and he has immortalised himself in the tennis world.

I am sure we will see him in other roles on the circuit and can see him coaching one or both of his children with the care and help of his wife, Steffi Graf.

However, he has a few more playing days in him before that role is assumed.

Federer, the defending champion who became the first man since Donald Budge, of America, in 1938 to win Wimbledon and the Open two years back- to-back, must have his long term sights on a three-peat. History is in the making and Federer is certainly making history.

What Tiger Woods is to golf, Federer is to tennis and given his disposition and love and respect for the game, it is great to see people like him leading the world in his chosen code.

In fact Federer said tennis will live on - just like Australian Prime Minister John Howard's sentiment on the Ashes defeat. "It's been an amazing cricket series, a wonderful series for the game of cricket, and the true victor in this series has been this wonderful game that so many of us love."

Long may this attitude continue.

* Louisa Wall is a former New Zealand netball and rugby representative