Nadal outlasts Federer in 5 sets to win 1st Wimbledon title

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-7  |     ONLINE EDITION

Spain's Rafael Nadal holds his trophy aloft as he celebrates his defeat of Switzerland's Roger Federer in the men's singles final on the Centre Court at Wimbledon yesterday. More in photo gallery

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BACK and forth they went in the Wimbledon final, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the two greatest tennis players of their generation producing one of the greatest matches of any generation on the sport's grandest stage.

For five sets, through rain, wind and descending darkness, the two men swapped spectacular shots, until, against a slate sky, Nadal earned the right to fling his racket aside and collapse on his back, champion of the All England Club at last.

"Is impossible to explain what I felt in that moment, no?" Nadal said after accepting the golden trophy that has belonged to Federer since 2003.

The No. 2-ranked Nadal ended No. 1 Federer's five-title run at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament by the slimmest of margins, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7, last night. Nadal is the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win Wimbledon and the French Open in the same season.

"Probably my hardest loss, by far," said Federer, who was trying to become the first man to claim six consecutive Wimbledon championships since the 1880s.

Nadal stopped Federer's streaks of 40 victories in a row at Wimbledon, and a record 65 in a row on grass, thereby stamping his supremacy in their rivalry, no matter what the rankings say.

"Look, Rafa's a deserving champion," said Federer, who hadn't lost a set all tournament before Sunday. "He just played fantastically."

And that tremendous play lasted a record 4 hours, 48 minutes, longer than any of the classic Wimbledon men's finals it will be recalled alongside, including Borg's five-set victory over John McEnroe in 1980.

Nadal, the first Spanish man to triumph at the All England Club since Manolo Santana in 1966, managed to regroup after blowing a two-set lead, managed to recover after wasting two match points in the fourth-set tiebreaker. He earned his fifth Grand Slam title, but first away from the French Open.