Wimbledon's Trilogy Of 5-Set Finals 2007-09: Part 2

As spectacular as the final of 2007 proved for tennis fans, things were to heat up a year later. One might have sworn that Nadal's narrow defeat to Federer had signalled the high point of the tennis decade, the acme of the ultimate spectator moment - that elusive and dream combination of drama and glorious shotmaking.

How wrong, or rather naive, one would prove to be.

Nothing can compare, it may be said, with the final that ensued on a rainy afternoon on the final Sunday of Wimbledon 2008. Long had been the wait for this moment, a cherished clash between the greatest players of the day, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Their swift progress through the draw - between them only one set, one errant loss of focus, had intervened in an otherwise unflappable march to the final. The world No. 3 and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic had bundled out disappointingly in the third round; this was to be the time for the titans and true gods of tennis to do battle.

Nadal had thrashed his Swiss rival just a month before, in the final of Paris at Roland Garros, making short work of the world No. 1, 6-1 6-3 6-0, to break wide open, it seemed, the adamantine stranglehold Federer had had on the world of tennis for the five years before. It was a watershed moment in the increasingly dramatic power struggle between Federer and Nadal.

Yet this was Wimbledon, where Federer was unbeaten for 41 matches. However badly Nadal had beaten him on clay, he hadn't won here yet on grass and had never beaten Federer. As confident as he justly may have been, the demons of 2007 would well have lingered in his mind.

But Federer may have been afflicted by a more pernicious malaise, as confident as he may have felt from his record on grass, Nadalitis. He had been suffering from a particularly bad case of it for much of the clay season, to add to the woes of mononucleosis that plagued him in Australia in January. He had lost three straight matches to the Spaniard, twice having squandered big leads in sets. Now, he would have to face him again, where any lead would be the biggest lead in tennis.

For much of the first two sets, the match played again to the script. Nadal dominated the baseline and took his opportunities wisely, while Federer struggled to find his best tennis when he most needed it. A single break had been enough to win the first set, after Federer had fluffed a skidding backhand on break point in just the third game. He would not find himself in the lead for another three hours.

In the last game of the first set, Federer mustered two break points, but again the inconsistency of purpose haunted him, and he failed to convert. Nadal closed the door, winning the first set, 6-4. It was the first time in four years Federer had lost the first set in a Wimbledon final.

Order looked to be restored, and there was a typical Federer resurgence in the second, a champion's vengeance. A whipping forehand pass earned the first break of Nadal's serve in the second for 2-0. Little would it be known then, however, that this would be Federer's only break of serve in the whole match, so tidily and carefully would the Spaniard guard his own deal.

This eruption from Federer would only prove short-lived, however. At 4-2, Nadal broke back, and the set was again on level terms. A few moments later, another viciously purposeful game from Nadal secured the decisive break in the second set. A few points later, he won the second. A collective gasp exuded from the crowd - the Spaniard had earned a two sets to love lead.

These were echoes of Paris, the French nightmare threatened to relive itself in Federer's mind. Yet another straight sets defeat, at the hands of his arch rival, and here, on his beloved home turf, Wimbledon.

Federer readied himself bravely for the onslaught in the third and continued to hold his serve with courage, determinedly oblivious of the score. Twice in a row, the events of the second seemed to repeat themselves, with Nadal down 15-40 on his serve, but again, Federer's nerve and tentative play failed to make dividends.

Then, at 3-3, there were the first intimations of the great drama in store for that night, with Federer down a hole, 0-40 on his serve.

The unimaginable happened - Nadal cracked under the pressure. The usually watertight self confidence suddenly deflating, as he retreated behind the baseline in defensive posture. Federer would win the next five points, and regain the lead. A minor shift in momentum had occurred, the iron hold of Nadal on the match palpably loosened.

A short rain delay at 5-4 would confirm the crowd's suspicions, as Federer earned some time to recollect his thoughts. On return to the court the match, as visibly a contest between two equal and unrelenting forces, began to truly awaken. A tiebreak beckoned in the third, a must-win for Federer.

The Swiss came out firing, all guns, as they say, blazing - scorching forehands putting Nadal, for the length of the tiebreak, in the shade. It was a spectacularly overt, dominating display.

Here, at last, was Roger Federer, the five-time defending champion, come to fight for his Wimbledon crown. A stunning ace out wide secured the set 7-6.

At last, here was a true match, and propitiously, a rare occasion when two players were playing their hearts out for something that meant the world to them, at the same time.

The fourth proved a most salivating affair. Federer with his off forehands and Nadal with his stubborn, unbreakable defense. It was a war of cannon and artillery, tennis balls cracking through the stadium like thunder. At length, another tiebreak. It was to prove one for the the ages, perhaps for all time.

Opening with a point worthy already of any highlight reel anywhere else, with Federer hitting a sneaky forehand down the line, Nadal nonetheless maintained his determination and composure, frustrating his Swiss rival into error. He made his way to 5-2, with two serves to come.

Then the unbelievable happened again. Another startling Nadal lapse into nerves saw Federer win the next four points, for a set point. Had he converted then, off a forehand, it may be argued, the match may have been very different, but he missed it wide. 6-6.

Another Federer error saw the first championship point, which he duly snuffed out with an utmostly nonchalant serve. The next point was destined to be Federer's, but would prove to be Nadal's defining moment, the first of two of the most spectacular passing shots ever witness in the decade of 2000-2010.

A deep Federer forehand was returned with the same pace down the line, stunning the Swiss. He had done everything correctly and now faced a second match point - this time on Nadal's serve.

This time, it was Nadal's turn to do everything right - a wide lefty serve, a forehand approach to Federer's backhand. It would only elicit, however, the most remarkable, not to say important, shot of Federer's career, a flat, down-the-line, go-for-broke winner.

Defeat had been averted by the narrowest of margins and the most genius of inspiration. Twice in a row Federer and Nadal had done exactly the right things, performed by the textbook, and twice each utterly flabbergasted by pure tennis divinity.

Two points later, a shell-shocked Nadal sailed a backhand wide, and a fifth set was in the making. Federer had done the impossible and erased a two-set deficit. It was now all to be played for. Federer had found a way to dominate the match in the last set and a half, and was arguably the favourite going into the final set. At this point, however, it was Nadal's chance to shine.

Patient as he is famously known to be, Nadal pulled off, in the fifth set, a classic weather-the-storm manouvre; holding serve and waiting just for the right opportunity to strike and with renewed vigour.

On the battle raged, and Federer would come close at 4-3 to breaking for the match, with stunning forehands down the line. Yet Nadal, characteristically, averted the danger with well-timed aggression. From this point, it was the Spaniard who would get increasingly closer to the Federer serve, than the Swiss would to his rival.

At 5-5, he earned 15-40 in Federer's deal and would do so again at 6-6 and finally 7-7, with a cracking backhand crosscourt, which for its sheer power left Federer stranded.

Two breakpoints were saved again, but a third was coming, and Nadal at last broke decisively, with a frustrated Federer forehand going wide. The match was finally totally on his racket, as the Spaniard readied himself for the dream win of his career.

Some tentative errors were balanced with shocking serve and volley, as Nadal revealed, in the last moments, his knack for guile, his sublime tennis brain. A third championship point was averted by a magnificient Federer backhand swish, but it was to be the last roar of the great champion.

Two points later, another Federer forehand, finally deceived by Nadal and the darkness, landed into the net, and the Spaniard fell to the ground in triumph.

It was a devastating match, lengthy and attritious, and Nadal had come out the victor at last, after nearly five hours of tennis. This was the pinnacle, as many would say, of this era, the finest match ever played in the history of tennis.

Comparisons were instantly made with the final of 1980 between Borg and Mcenroe, but even by the admission of those champions, this was the greater match. The Roland Garros-Wimbledon double was finally achieved again too, after 28 years.

The epic of 2007 was suddenly overshadowed, this match all the longer, fuller and more historic.

Thus ended the second of Wimbledon's trilogy. His Spanish nemesis outgunning the five-time champion. Little would everyone know, however, that yet another epic would await them a year later, which would draw comparisons with this match, which all had thought incomparable.