Wimbledon 2008: Rain, More Rain and a Monumental Change

It took a record four hours 48 minutes for the boy from Majorca to steal the crown from the Swiss king. In the end he stood tall in what may be considered the greatest Wimbledon final ever, if not at least within the past twenty years.

Roger Federer came in to the All England club with a 65-game grass win streak in tact and first loss at Wimbledon since 2002 when he lost to Mario Ancic in the first round. He and Rafa Nadal had met in six previous finals, with the Swiss master losing only at Rolland Garros; however, for this final not even rain could save him, though it came it close.

The 22-year-old Spaniard came in to Wimbledon fresh from his victory on the clay courts at the French Open, in which he defeated Federer in the final. Both gentlemen cruised through to the final round of the tournament, Roger expressing his typical domination of the grass courts and Rafa dispatching opponents just as easily.

The final was tipped to be one for the ages, after Federer’s third defeat at Rolland Garros and stumbles in minor tournaments previously this year. No longer was Nadal considered a long shot to usurp the title; however, the title was not his for the taking, as Federer was seeking to become the first player since 1880 to win in six consecutive years.

The final started in Nadal’s favor, he went 6-4 and 6-4 in the first two sets, breaking Federer’s serve three times. The third set stood at 4-5, 30 all with Nadal serving before the rain hit, halting the match for 81 minutes.

After a brief warm-up the players resumed play, however the rain dampened more than the fans: the tide seemed to have switched after the rain delay. Federer began to play more inspired, like the player that he is capable of being. He pushed the third set to a tiebreak, coming back from his pre-rain deficit, and played his typical style of dominating tennis winning 7-6 (7-5).

Federer retained his form in the fourth set, once again pushing Nadal to a tiebreak where he held off two championship points to take the set 7-6 (10-8). Each game went on serve until the fifth set when Rafa broke Roger’s serve for the fourth time out of 13 chances in the match.

It was the last break that proved to be Federer’s undoing (as well as the fact that he completed only one break point). Despite his best efforts he could not hold back the Majorcan, after 16 games in the last set Nadal collapsed to the grass in the near dark at 9:16 p.m. after winning the fifth set 9-7.

Until this match Federer had been able to contend to reporters that despite his failures on clay, he still held dominance on every other surface. Now, after his defeat to Nadal, his dominance over the game is in question, as is his number one overall ranking in the world.

Over the past five years that he has won the All England Club Cup, Federer has made tennis exceedingly boring to watch for the casual fan. Bill Simmons, in his “The Sports Guy” column for ESPN the Magazine, explains, quite well, how this dominance has taken the game away from the spotlight.

He states that in a sport like tennis, which is dominated by precision and accuracy that is attainable through practice and equipment, the type of dominance that Federer has achieved is not surprising. No longer are there players like Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe battling each other and swapping majors; rather, Roger’s competition has solely been Nadal, who has denied him the Grand Slam by the narrowest of margins.

Simmons explained that though Federer’s dominance can be likened to the dominance Tiger Woods has held over the golf world, it is not the same. Golf is a sport that is dependent on luck, course conditions and weather as well as player skill, which makes the kind of dominance Tiger has had unfathomable.

However, with the training that Roger goes through and the advances in technology of tennis rackets, the type of dominance that he has held is completely imaginable and has instead created a game that is predictable and no longer attractive to the common viewer.

If the game truly has become such that the common sports fan is no longer willing to watch the game then unfortunately many people will have missed one of the best tennis matches of all time.

The fact that the match extended over several hours due to rain delays, and the actual play went well over four hours and still ranks among the highest in initial U.S. television ratings proves that a changing of the guard is what is needed to revolutionize the sport.

Those who stuck around and watched the match were treated to a beautiful match between two of the most talented young (Federer is still only 26, Nadal 22) tennis players in the world.

I hope that with the dethroning of Roger Federer as the reigning tennis king will open the game to other young players and usher in a new era of play. The rise of young players such as James Blake, Novak Djokovic and even Andy Murray of Scotland, who could become the first British player to win at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.

Perhaps, if parity becomes the norm and new stars are born with each tournament, men’s tennis can become more than just a sport to watch in between commercials