It was the high point of what many consider to be the greatest rivalry tennis has ever seen: Swiss player Roger Federer vs. Spanish player Rafael Nadal -- two titans who had won the previous 14 of 16 Grand Slam titles, now contending the 2008 Wimbledon title. Federer, 26, had been undefeated at the tournament since 2003, winning an unprecedented five consecutive Wimbledon titles in the process. Twenty-year-old Nadal, however, had pushed Federer to the brink in the 2007 Wimbledon final, but came up just short in a tight five set match. Nadal also had an 11-6 advantage in their head to head count, and had made the 2006 final, as well. Could this be the year that Nadal finally toppled Federer at Wimbledon?
Play commenced after a half-hour rain delay. Both players came out playing sharp, but it was Federer who blinked first; Nadal broke to take an early 2-1 lead in the first set. Although Federer pushed Nadal’s serve hard throughout the remainder of the set, Nadal was playing too solid; he managed to consolidate his break and serve out the first set 6-4.
The second set played out much differently. This time, Federer broke early and with a subsequent hold took a 4-1 lead. Nadal, however, was relentless in making up lost ground; after holding his serve, he broke Federer back, putting the score at 4-3 Federer. With Federer’s lead effectively erased, the momentum swung back to the Spaniard. Federer would be unable to recover the second set as Nadal went on to take the next three games. The five-time defending champion was now down 4-6, 4-6; surely now Nadal could not possibly lose the title?
The third set could not have been closer or tighter as the score was pushed to a tiebreaker. Federer had been unable to convert multiple opportunities to break Nadal throughout the set, and now he was just seven points away from losing the championship. Even if he won the tiebreaker, however, there was still a monumental mountain to climb for Federer; he would have to win an additional two sets against a clearly inspired and seemingly invulnerable Nadal to win, a feat nearly every other player around the world would be unable to attempt.
The tiebreaker, though close, ultimately went to Federer; he closed it out at 7-5 with an ace. The clearly pro-Federer crowd went nuts, thrilled at the prospect of seeing more tennis. At this point, the match was already a classic.
The fourth set went much the way of the third; neither player was giving in to the pressure yet, and both were producing some of the best tennis of the match. Federer overcame a scare when serving at 4-5, 15-30, but managed to play cleanly and held serve. After two more routine holds, it was another tiebreaker.
But this tiebreaker would be different from the one in the previous set; indeed, it would set itself apart from almost every other tiebreaker ever played before in terms of drama and quality of tennis.
Nadal served first. After a lengthy rally, however, Federer returned a Nadal backhand smash for a winner, clinching the crucial mini-break. 1-0. Nadal struck back immediately, hitting a winner of his own and equalizing the score. 1-1. A Federer forehand error, and now Federer found himself down a mini-break. 1-2. An ace from Nadal. 1-3. A nonreturnable serve from Nadal: 1-4.
Only down one mini-break, Federer hit a forehand winner after a short rally; 2-4, and the players switched sides. The tension was building significantly for both players; Federer needed to recover this tiebreaker to stay in the match, and Nadal needed to keep his composure and not let his lead slip, lest he miss a golden opportunity to win his first Wimbledon crown.
A lengthy rally that ultimately ended in a Federer backhand error, and Nadal let out an energized roar. He was just two points away from the finish line: 2-5. But nerves began creeping in, and Nadal uncharacteristically double-faulted the next point: 3-5. Knowing he was still two points from losing the match, Federer played an aggressive point that ultimately ended with a nervous Nadal backhand in the net: 4-5. A big serve from Federer followed by a winner, and the score, amazingly, was exactly even at 5-5. Federer had come back into the tiebreaker.
Federer served another unreturnable serve and, suddenly, he was up 6-5 with a set point. It was a miraculous comeback from the Swiss, and Nadal had lost of the momentum he had been building.
Nadal missed his first serve, and the question pops into everyone’s mind: will he double-fault again? He didn’t; instead, he played a brilliant offensive point that ended with Federer missing a forehand wide. 6-6. Once again, the players switched sides.
Nadal served again. A long rally and Federer hit a ball near the baseline that was called out. After a challenge, the ball was proven to be well out. 6-7. Nadal now had, for the first time, a championship point.
Federer responded by serving an unreturnable serve. Nadal challenged, but it was smack on the line. 7-7. Federer was still alive.
A long rally, and Federer hit a forehand approach shot down the line; Nadal scrambled and smacked a forehand passing winner. Nadal yelled in triumph. 7-8, and this time, Nadal had the championship on his racket.
Nadal served a first serve out to Federer’s backhand, which was sliced back into the middle of the court. Nadal sensed an opportunity and hit a deep approach shot back to Federer’s backhand, running to cover the net in the process. Federer’s only chance was to hit a backhand down the line; he blocked Nadal’s approach shot and the ball flew into the corner past Nadal: 8-8.
The commentator, stunned, simply exclaimed, “…the two best passing shots of the tournament, without doubt!”
Federer dictated the next point, opening up the court enough to hit a clean winner against an exasperated Nadal. The score was 9-8, and Federer had a set point on his serve. A second serve was returned long by Nadal, and Federer turned to team sitting in the crowd and yelled triumphantly; at last the tiebreaker was over, and Federer had fought off two championship points to win it 10-8. The match was exactly even between the two players. It was anybody’s championship, now.
The fifth set was a true test of will from both players, particularly from Nadal; as the score went from 2-2 to 3-3 to 4-4, Nadal proved to everyone that he had the mental strength not to crumble from the disappointment in the fourth set and continue pushing against the five-time reigning Wimbledon champion.
Federer could taste the championship at last at 4-3, 40-30, when he had a break point against Nadal. A strong forehand down the line and a put-away overhead from Nadal, however, erased the window for Federer. The score continued to climb upwards after Nadal eventually held for 4-4.
Break points and opportunities continued cropping up for both players, but each was successful in holding serve and evening the score. The quality of tennis was rising as well; as a player served at 0-30 or 30-30, he would find a way to overpower or out-maneuver the other player and win the point to escape danger.
Finally, Nadal broke first at 8-7, and earned yet another opportunity to serve for the championship. If Nadal wanted to win Wimbledon that day, he would have to serve it out here; it had become very late, and because of the darkness (there were no lights present on Centre Court in 2008), officials determined that they would have to postpone the rest of the match until the next day if the score went to 8-8.
A break appeared possible as Federer went 0-15 on Nadal’s serve, but Nadal rattled off the next three points easily. Now, he was up 40-30, and he had championship point once again.
A miraculous Federer backhand return winner, however, denied Nadal’s third opportunity to win the match, and the score in the game was brought to deuce. With nerves of steel, Federer had extended what had already become the longest championship match in history; after over 4 hours and 40 minutes, Federer wasn’t done yet.
Nadal, taking his time, walked back to the baseline and prepared to serve. The darkness had become so bad that Federer later claimed he almost “couldn’t see who I was playing”; lights from cameras in the crowd shone brightly, illuminating the players below.
Nadal’s first serve was a monster, and Federer could only stab at the ball, sending it far outside of the court. Nadal’s coach leapt out of his chair, pumping his fist and screaming “Vamos!” (Spanish for “C’mon!). Nadal had a fourth championship point, and another opportunity to close out what had easily become one of the most memorable championship matches in history. The crowd was going ballistic; even after watching close to five hours of tennis they still wanted to see more.
Nadal hit a first serve to Federer’s forehand, which was easily returned. Nadal hit a short, nervous backhand to the middle of the court, which Federer went to attack, but the ball had an odd bounce, and Federer was out of position and hit an unforced error into the net.
It was over. Nadal slid to the ground, spreadeagled, and yelled at the top of his lungs in victory. He had dethroned Federer, and in doing so had won his first Wimbledon trophy. He quickly got up and went to shake Federer’s hand at the net, then the umpire’s and then he climbed into the crowd and hugged his family. He was the champion of what was the longest Grand Slam final in history, and what John McEnroe described as the “greatest match I have ever seen.”
A 1,400 megawatt spike (or the energy equivalent of 550,000 kettles being boiled) was recorded throughout Great Britain as Nadal lifted the winners trophy. A National Grid spokeswoman for Great Britain said that there was such a massive increase in electricity because “fans were so transfixed by the tennis, they could not move from the sofa to switch the lights on until the end.”
Both Nadal and Federer have gone on to continue making history in tennis. Federer has won Wimbledon two more times since the 2008 championship (one of those wins occurring the very next year) and would ultimately win more Grand Slams than any other male player in history. Nadal would also win Wimbledon again, in 2010, and has accumulated 14 of his own Grand Slams.
Their famed rivalry has pushed each other to greater heights, and the sport of tennis has been all the better for it; even today, nearly eight years after the greatest match of all time, fans become overjoyed when Federer and Nadal play each other in a tournament. Nobody has forgotten their famed battle at the 2008 Wimbledon Singles Championship, and there is always a hope that there will be another level of tennis similar to the one that was produced during that match.
