Nadal is the New King of Grass
Rafael Nadal Battles Past Federer to Lift Wimbledon Trophy
World number two, Rafael Nadal, endured three rain delays interrupting almost five hours of play, a hefty fightback from the world number one, Roger Federer, lots of gusty wind, and looming darkness during the last few games, to capture his first ever Wimbledon title and end Federer's 5-year reign at the All England Club with a marathon 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 victory.
The 22-year-old Spaniard made history by grabbing the Wimbledon trophy following his French Open success last month to become only the second player in the Open Era to win both Grand Slams in the same year; a feat only the great Bjorn Borg had managed to achieve.
The match is arguably the best final ever to take place at Wimbledon as both players pushed each other to their limits. Nadal had raced to a two-set lead over the Swiss and by the time the third set was nearing its final stages, the crowd had thought the Spaniard was going to make it before a rain delay came to Federer's aid, who came back with a vengeance, acing his way through the third-set tiebreak to force a fourth set.
Again the fourth set saw no service breaks but Federer managed to turn around a 1-4 scoreline in the tiebreak to force a decider, saving two championships points on the way.
The fifth set was a gruelling one for both players as Federer kept saving breakpoint after breakpoint denying Nadal a chance to serve for the match until the crucial break came at 7-7 for the Spaniard, who capitalized on his break and served the match out in what was close to sheer darkness, to throw himself to the ground and relish in his first Wimbledon victory and his first win over Federer on grass.
This title makes Nadal the most successful Spaniard in Grand Slam history as he surpassed Manuel Santana's record of four Grand Slam titles.
The Spaniard is now a mere 545 points away from the summit of the world rankings and has a strong chance of catching up with Federer if he manages to do well on the North American hard-courts, where he has plenty of room to gain points as he has not reached a single final there last year, losing in the semifinals in Montreal, the fourth round at the US Open and retiring from his first match in Cincinnati.
Federer remains without a Grand Slam this year as Novak Djokovic ousted him from the Australian Open semifinals earlier this year before Nadal defeated him in the French Open final last month. This is the first time in 5 years that the Swiss has not won one of the first 3 Grand Slams of the year.
Federer, who was bidding for a record-breaking 6th Wimbledon title (only Borg and Federer won 5 straight), will now head to the hard-court season where he has 2 important titles to defend to try to avoid conceding his number one ranking; the Cincinnati Masters Series and the US Open.
