Tennis · 2008 · London, England
The Greatest Final Ever Played
Two rain delays, two tie-breaks and nearly five hours later, Rafael Nadal finally beats Roger Federer at Wimbledon, in near darkness.
Nadal def. Federer, 9-7 in the 5th
Result
4h 48m
Match length
2
Championship points saved by Federer
Roger Federer had won the previous five Wimbledon finals in a row. Rafael Nadal had lost the last two of them, the most recent in four sets. Their 2008 final took four hours and forty-eight minutes of playing time, was stopped twice by rain, and finished with the players barely visible on court.
Nadal took the first two sets. Federer won the third and fourth in tie-breaks, saving two championship points in the fourth set alone, and the fifth ran on until Nadal held on 9-7 with the light almost gone from Centre Court.
Commentators and former players called it the best match either man had played, and few have argued with them since. It was also a handover: Nadal's first Wimbledon title, after years in which the grass had belonged to Federer.
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