UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

For some time now, Roger Federer, 26 and Rafael Nadal, 22, the two top-ranked tennis players in the world were playing at a far higher level than the rest of the world.

They then inevitably met at Wimbledon’s 2008 final, arguably the greatest tennis tournament in the world, the unofficial world championships for tennis.

Federer came into the match on a 6-year, 65-match unbeaten streak on grass, his favourite surface. He had won the previous 5 Wimbledons, he’s bidding to win his 6th straight, to be the first man to do so in more than 100 years, and he had been world number one for 200+ consecutive weeks. If he won this, he’d be on Grand Slam no.13, one short of Pete Sampras’ haul.

Nadal meanwhile is the undisputed king of clay, having won the last 4 French Opens (2005-2008), the last 3 over Federer, and the last time they met in the final it was won with ridiculous ease (6-1, 6-3, 6-0). And he’s improving all the time, where at Wimbledon the year before he lost to who else but Federer in 5 sets. At the time of writing, Nadal is currently ranked world number two, a position he has held for a record 156 consecutive weeks.

It was the 6th time the two have met in a Grand Slam final – an Open era record.

The match started at 2.30pm on Sunday the 6th of July 2008.

And what a match it was: the longest Wimbledon final in history: a true epic at 4 hours and 48 minutes, the final score 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 in favour of Nadal, who became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles in the same year.

A video of the last few minutes of the match up to Nadal’s moment of glory when he collapsed on the turf:

The general consensus is that this match is even better than the previous classic: the 1980 Wimbledon final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe where Borg prevailed 1-6 7-5 6-3 6-7(16) 8-6 after almost 4 hours, and hence won Wimbledon for the 5th consecutive time.

3-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker said of the match:

I’ve never seen a final that was so nail-biting but the right player won and it signals a changing of the guard. We were watching two of the greatest players to have played this beautiful game of tennis; Roger Federer, arguably the greatest player who’s lived, against arguably the best player on clay who’s ever lived. By winning Sunday’s final Rafael Nadal became the first person since Bjorn Bjorg to win Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year and whoever wins the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year is the best player in the world. The rankings may still have Federer as number one but it’s only a matter of time before Nadal takes over.

Minutes after the match, Roger Federer said:

I tried everything. Look, Rafa’s a deserving champion. It’s been a joy to play here. It’s shame I couldn’t win it but I’ll be back next year.

…and Rafa Nadal said:

It’s impossible to explain how I feel. It’s a dream. I never imagined I would win this tournament. It’s very tough to play Roger – especially here – he is excellent when he wins and when he loses. He’s still the number one and he’s still the best. He’s won five and I’ve only won one.

Source
Text commentary of the entire match at the BBC

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