"I cried incessantly for half an hour in the dressing room" - When Rafael Nadal opened up about 2007 Wimbledon final defeat to Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have forged one of the fiercest rivalries in tennis history. They have played out some thrilling matches that rank among the greatest in the sport.

One of those came in the final of the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, with Federer winning 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2 in three hours and 45 minutes. This was the second straight year that the Swiss beat Nadal in the final of the grass-court Major.

Rafael Nadal wrote in his memoir, "Rafa," that the 2007 Wimbledon final, unlike 2006, had an adverse effect on him and left him "utterly destroyed."

"The defeat in 2006 had not been so hard. I went out onto the court that time just pleased and grateful that, having just turned twenty, I’d made it that far. Federer beat me pretty easily, more easily than if I’d gone out with more belief," he wrote.

"But my defeat in 2007, which went to five sets, left me utterly destroyed. I knew I could have done better, that it was not my ability or the quality of my game that had failed me, but my head," he added.

The King of Clay revealed that he cried for half an hour in the dressing room following the heartbreaking loss, before adding that he had veered from his game plan during the match.

"And I wept after that loss. I cried incessantly for half an hour in the dressing room. Tears of disappointment and self-recrimination. Losing always hurts, but it hurts much more when you had your chance and threw it away," Nadal wrote.

"I had beaten myself as much as Federer had beaten me; I had let myself down and I hated that. I had flagged mentally, I had allowed myself to get distracted; I had veered from my game plan. So stupid, so unnecessary. So obviously, so exactly what you must not do in a big game," he added.

Rafael Nadal won just 1 match against Roger Federer on grass

Rafael Nadal at the 2023 Australian Open

Rafael Nadal's head-to-head record against Roger Federer stands at 24-16. But the Swiss maestro dominated him on grass.

The Spaniard's only win over Federer on grass came in the 2008 Wimbledon final, which he won in five sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7.

Interestingly, they did not face each other again on grass until the semifinals of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships. Federer won that match 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

That Wimbledon semifinal was the last ever competitive match between the two legends.