Best of Wimbledon Championships: 2008 gentlemen's singles final

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

As Wimbledon enters the second week, there are no surprises so far in the gentlemen’s singles draw. While we are waiting for the full magnificence of the tournament to hit us, let us revisit some of the best Wimbledon matches from the past.

It was July 2008. The rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal was at its peak. Like the past two years, they made it to the finals. Rafa was unyielding on clay, but Federer still had his stronghold on all other surfaces.

The stage was perfectly set. It was the most important final for both the players. Federer was playing for a record sixth consecutive Wimbledon title and Nadal was playing to prove his abilities to win beyond clay.

The contest began and Nadal claimed the first two sets 6-4, 6-4 before the match had to be stopped due to bad weather conditions. It was the first time in a Wimbledon final that Federer was two sets down. The tension was high, but Federer put forth his best game and took the third set in a tiebreak. In the fourth set, Federer denied Nadal two championship points to level the match as he won the tiebreak 8-6.

The match was now forced into a decider. Nature did not intervene again in one of the greatest finals of the modern era. It soon got really dark on Centre Court, and the Swiss was in trouble while serving in the 15th game of the fifth set. Nadal converted his break point opportunity despite Federer’s brilliance. And after 4 hours and 48 minutes of magnificent tennis, history was made when Federer’s forehand landed in the net on match point.

Thousands of cameras flashed on Nadal, who had now started a new chapter in the modern era of tennis. Federer’s phenomenal dominance on grass was finally broken and Nadal had achieved the rare French Open-Wimbledon double, only the third to do so in the modern era.

The two best players in modern tennis had played one of the best finals that can be ever played that night to rewrite history. Nadal eventually topped the ATP rankings later that year, after Federer’s consecutive 237 weeks record.

The match is now seen as the beginning of Federer’s decline, even though Federer won two other Wimbledon titles in 2009 and 2012 and regained the World No. 1 ranking.

With Federer and Nadal scheduled to meet in the semis this year, the fans are expecting another classic!