The 2009 Wimbledon final was a moment everyone wanted to witness. Roger Federer and Pete Sampras were tied for the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era with 14, and Sampras flew to London for the occasion. The American wanted to be in the Centre Court stands to watch the Swiss star break his mark.

“Today with Pete it was a bit special. When he walked in and I saw him for the first time, I did get more nervous,” Federer said. “I said hello to him, too, which is unusual. But I thought, ‘I don’t want to be rude.’”

One year earlier, Federer played what is still considered by many the greatest match ever against Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final. But this time, it wasn’t Nadal standing across the net, it was former World No. 1 Andy Roddick, against whom Federer owned an 18-2 ATP Head2Head series lead.

The first time the pair met in a Grand Slam final was at 2004 Wimbledon, when Federer rallied from a set down to win his second title at The Championships.

“I threw the kitchen sink at him but he went to the bathroom and got his tub,” Roddick said at the time.

In the 2009 final, with the American still pursuing his first Wimbledon trophy, Roddick threw an Olympic-sized swimming pool at Federer. For four hours and 16 minutes, the 2003 US Open champion played arguably the best tennis of his career. Somehow, it still wasn’t enough.

Federer beat Roddick 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14 behind a career-high 50 aces to earn his 15th Grand Slam crown and deny the American a second major trophy.

Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Rod Laver” />

“It’s frustrating at times because I couldn’t break Andy ‘til the very, very end,” Federer said. “The satisfaction is maybe bigger this time around to come through, because I couldn’t control the match at all.”

From 2006-08, Federer played Nadal in the Wimbledon final. Those matches were full of baseline rallies, while his battle against Roddick was mostly a serving duel. Federer did not break Roddick’s serve until the final game of the match.

But credit goes to the sixth seed for making it that far. Roddick led the second-set tie-break 6/2, giving himself four consecutive set points — including two on his rocket serve — to take a two-set lead. At 6/5, Roddick hit a forehand approach shot, and Federer’s ensuing passing shot seemingly froze in the air. Would it fly long or drop on the baseline? Roddick appeared he would let it go, before reaching for the backhand volley at the last second, missing well wide of the doubles alley.

“I thought the second set was obviously key to what came after. Maybe being down two sets to love, the way Andy was serving, would have always been a very difficult situation to be in,” Federer said. “Even then down two sets to love it’s still possible, but it definitely increased my chances of winning.”

Match Stats

Roddick could have fallen apart after the massive momentum shift. But instead, he dug into the SW19 grass and gave Federer everything he had in his third Wimbledon final.

“We’re human. We’re not Cyborgs,” Roddick said. “At that point, like everything else, there’s two options: you lay down or you keep going. The second option sounded better to me.”

Roddick entered the match with a 26-4 record in tie-breaks that season, but Federer took two in a row from him to move to within one set of the title. Roddick, who defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the quarter-finals and Andy Murray in the semi-finals, kept fighting.

At 8-8 in the final set, Roddick crushed a backhand winner down the line on the run to earn two break points, but Federer quickly served his way out of a jam.

With Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Boris Becker among the legends looking on, the men traded holds until 14-15. Roddick mis-hit a forehand, and Federer leapt into the air to celebrate his sixth Wimbledon title in seven years.

“It’s staggering that I’ve been able to play so well for so many years now and stay injury-free. Happy what I’m doing,” Federer said. “It’s crazy that I’ve been able to win so many in such a short period of time, I think.”

Federer has since won two more trophies at The Championships, and improved his Grand Slam total to 20. Nadal (19) and Djokovic (17) have also passed Sampras on the Open Era list.

Roddick never got another chance to win a second major trophy. Just more than a year later, the former World No. 1 retired after the 2010 US Open.

After losses to Roger Federer in the 2006 and 2007 championship matches at SW19, Rafael Nadal entered his third straight Wimbledon final against the Swiss in the form of his life in 2008.

In the past month, the Spaniard had dropped just four games against Federer to win his fourth consecutive trophy at Roland Garros before clinching his maiden grass-court title at the Fever-Tree Championships. By the time he walked onto Centre Court against the five-time defending champion, Nadal had won 34 of his past 35 matches, including 23 straight victories.

But Federer was still the man to beat on grass. The 26-year-old was riding an all-time record 65-match winning streak on grass, which included 40 consecutive wins at the All England Club. Federer was aiming to become the first player in the Open Era to win six consecutive Gentlemen’s Singles titles, after tying Bjorn Borg’s streak of five straight titles between 1976 and 1980 with a five-set win against Nadal in the 2007 final.

After rain had delayed the start of the match, it was Nadal who made the brighter start on final Sunday. The Mallorcan claimed the only break of the first set and recovered from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to lead by two sets.

Less than 10 minutes after Federer escaped from 3-3, 0/40, in the third set, rain forced the players to leave the court for 80 minutes. When the final resumed, Federer raised his level to extend the match to a fourth set.

As was the case in the third set, neither player was able to claim a break of serve in the fourth set. In one of the greatest tie-breaks in Wimbledon history, Federer rallied from 2/5 down and saved two championship points to force a decider. Memorably, at 7/7, Nadal ripped a forehand passing shot winner to earn his second championship point, only for Federer to save it with a backhand passing shot down the line before levelling the match.

Roger Federer entered the 2008 Wimbledon final on an all-time record 65-match winning streak on grass.” />

After a half-hour rain delay at 2-2 in the decider, Federer and Nadal could not be separated. The crucial break came at 7-7, as Nadal claimed three of the opening four points on Federer’s serve and extracted back-to-back forehand errors from his opponent to serve for the match.

Federer bravely saved a third championship point in the following game, before Nadal clinched the title with his fourth opportunity. As Federer struck a forehand approach into the net, the Spaniard collapsed to the ground in near darkness, after four hours and 48 minutes of play, at 9:15 p.m. local time.

“It’s impossible to explain what I felt in that moment but I’m very, very happy,” said Nadal. “It is a dream to play on this court, my favourite tournament, but to win I never imagined.”

After greeting his rival at the net, Nadal climbed into the players’ box to celebrate with his family and friends, before marching across a commentary box roof to greet Crown Prince Felipe, the then-heir to the Spanish throne, and his wife, Princess Letizia in the Royal Box.

With the victory, Nadal became the first man since Borg in 1980 to capture the Roland Garros and Wimbledon trophies in the same year. The 22-year-old also closed the gap on World No. 1 Federer in the FedEx ATP Rankings to just 545 points. Nadal eventually passed Federer to become World No. 1 for the first time in his career on 18 August 2008.

“[It is] probably my hardest loss, by far… I’m happy we lived up to the expectations. I’m happy the way I fought. That’s all I could really do,” said Federer.

Federer was attempting to become the first man since Henri Cochet in 1927 to recover from two sets down in a Wimbledon final. The Swiss made a successful return to the All England Club in 2009, beating Andy Roddick 16-14 in another extended fifth set to move clear of Pete Sampras with a record 15th Grand Slam crown.

Tim Henman still remembers his first visit to Wimbledon when he was six. That moment changed the course of the Brit’s life.

“That was when I made my one and only career decision, that I wanted to play tennis,” Henman said on this week’s Tennis United. “Fifteen years later I was playing the first round [at the All England Club in ’96]. There was some sort of debate about changing [Henman Hill’s] name, but I’ve quashed that.”

Henman’s favourite memory at Wimbledon is of the third round in 1997 when he played Paul Haarhuis. He won the match 14-12 in the fifth set.

“When we came on court, Centre Court was absolutely packed and every shot I hit in the warm-up the crowd cheered and every shot he missed the crowd booed!” Henman recalled. “That was the best atmosphere I ever played in.”

The Brit was joined on Tennis United by former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, who triumphed at The Championships in 1999. The American remembered the experience of playing at SW19 while Henman was in the draw.

“Playing in that whole era when Tim played at Wimbledon was crazy. Everything for those couple weeks when Tim was in, it was all about Tim. I honestly don’t know how he survived it. You picked up a paper and everything was about Tim,” Davenport said. “I suffered through a few of Tim’s losses there, too. I wanted him to win.”

Swedish legends Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander also joined the show to discuss Wimbledon, including Edberg’s first title in 1988.

“Winning Wimbledon the first time is always going to stand out,” Edberg said. “It’s a fantastic feeling, being on Centre Court and lifting the trophy.”

The two best returners on the planet in 2019 and the first two months of 2020 were Rafael Nadal and Diego Schwartzman.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of their prowess winning points that begin by absorbing and redirecting the power of a serve identifies two key areas that help elevate them above all others:
• Technique – developing their return of serve skill set to the highest possible level.
• Location – growing up in a culture in Spain and Argentina that perennially produces the best returners in our sport.

Nadal and Schwartzman were the only two players to win north of 42 per cent of their return points during the 14-month period, which was significantly higher than the ATP Tour average of 36 per cent.

Return Points Won (Jan 2019 – Feb 2020)
1. Nadal = 42.39% (2499/5895)
2. Schwartzman = 42.07% (2689/6391)

Both Nadal and Schwartzman like to stand well behind the baseline to return, providing the opportunity for the serve to slow down marginally more, which helps them avoid being rushed by the raw power of the biggest shot in our sport.

Did Nadal and Schwartzman have an advantage developing their return of serve by growing up in Spain and Argentina? They absolutely did, as both countries are a perennial hotbed producing the best returners in our game.

Career Return Metrics (1991-2020)
Spain and Argentina account for seven of the leading 10 players in the Career Return Points Won category and 44 per cent of the Top 50. The data set includes players that competed in at least 100 ATP Tour and Grand Slam matches from 1991-2020, excluding Davis Cup ties.

The top four spots are a trade-off between the two countries with Argentina’s Guillermo Coria leading the way, followed by Spain’s Nadal, then Argentina’s Franco Davin, and Spain’s Alberto Berasategui. The three other players ranked in the leading 10 spots from the two countries are seventh-ranked David Ferrer (ESP), eighth-ranked Francisco Roig (ESP), and ninth-ranked Guillermo Perez-Roldan (ARG).

Coria led all players with a career-leading 43.7 per cent (11,139/25,492) of return points won against first and second serves. His metrics at Roland Garros, where he went 17-7, were some of his career best, winning a dominant 48.06 per cent (1217/2530) of return points. Coria reached the final of Roland Garros in 2004, winning very close to half of all return points played for the tournament at 49.85 per cent (333/668).

The 10 Argentine players ranked in the leading 50 players with return points won are listed below.

Argentines – Leading 50 Players Return Points Won

Nadal was the elite Spaniard, and it is in Monte Carlo where he has posted the best return metrics of his illustrious career. He has won a staggering 49.93 per cent (2369/4745) of return points in the principality. At Roland Garros, Nadal has also been well above his career average, winning an impressive 47.82 per cent (4245/8877) of return points.

The 12 Spaniards in the leading 50 players with return points won are in the table below.

Spaniards – Leading 50 Players Return Points Won

The fifth-placed player, Michael Chang, was one of just three Americans in the leading 50 players, along with Andre Agassi (15th) and Aaron Krickstein (50th). Chang’s best tournaments with return points won (min. 1000 return points) were on hard courts at Atlanta (46.13%), Washington, D.C. (44.69%), and Los Angeles (44.49%). The third-placed country overall was Sweden, with four players placed in the leading 50 returners. They were:
•No. 21 Magnus Gustafsson = 41.44%
•No. 25 Stefan Edberg = 41.28%
•No. 40 Christian Bergstrom = 40.48%
•No. 45 Jonas Svensson = 40.32%

When Spaniards compete against Argentines, you know a crucial sub-plot is to be the best returner on the court.

Wimbledon pledged on Friday £10 million to the men and women who would have competed at The Championships in 2020 had the COVID-19 pandemic not forced the cancellation of the event. The grass-court Grand Slam is allocating funds to 620 players from all disciplines whose world ranking would have enabled them to gain entry into the tournament.

The 256 players who would have competed in gentlemen’s and ladies’ singles draws will each receive £25,000; 224 players who would have competed in the genlemen’s and ladies’ qualifying events will each receive £12,500; 120 players who would have competed in Main Draw Doubles will each receive £6,250.

In addition, Wimbledon announced that the grass-court seeding formula it has used for the gentlemen’s singles draw since 2002 will be discontinued beginning in 2021. The seeding will be based solely on the FedEx ATP Rankings.

The All England Club has focussed Wimbledon’s efforts on supporting those most affected by the pandemic at a local, national and international level. These efforts have included the Wimbledon Foundation’s £1.2 million COVID-19 fund to support charities tackling the crisis response and recovery, the donations of strawberries, towels and balls intended for The Championships 2020, the distribution of daily hot meals to those in need in the local community.

Wimbledon has also contributed to the Player Relief Programme and wheelchair tennis fund established by the governing bodies of world tennis, as well as an auction in support of members of the ATP Coach programme most in need due to the pandemic. Andy Murray will hit with the winning bidder and a guest at The Championships in 2021, and they will follow that session with a private lunch in the All England Club’s members’ enclosure. The winning bidder will also receive two tickets to the gentlemen’s singles final.

The chief executive of the All England Club, Richard Lewis , said: “Immediately following the cancellation of The Championships, we turned our attention to how we could assist those who help make Wimbledon happen. We know these months of uncertainty have been very worrying for these groups, including the players, many of whom have faced financial difficulty during this period and who would have quite rightly anticipated the opportunity to earn prize money at Wimbledon based on their world ranking. We are pleased that our insurance policy has allowed us to recognise the impact of the cancellation on the players and that we are now in a position to offer this payment as a reward for the hard work they have invested in building their ranking to a point where they would have gained direct entry into The Championships 2020.”

The Wimbledon battles between Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter were a contrast in playing styles that perfectly suited grass-court tennis. Rafter’s relentless serve-and-volleying and Agassi’s blistering returns produced high-octane rallies that frequently left the Centre Court crowd gasping in their seats.

Rafter and Agassi faced off in three consecutive Wimbledon semi-finals from 1999-2001, with the Aussie prevailing in two of them. ATPTour.com looks at their epic clashes at the All England Club.

2000

Rafter’s had slipped to No. 21 in the FedEx ATP Rankings after undergoing shoulder surgery the previous October, but he once again found his top form in time for Wimbledon. Leaping around the net to block Agassi’s powerful returns with acrobatic volley winners, the 27-year-old withstood Agassi’s baseline power to prevail 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

“Today was a match that I couldn’t have played any better under the circumstances, on a big court against one of the best players ever,” Rafter said. ”I think it was probably very satisfying to have actually done it on these grounds.”

Although Agassi couldn’t have performed any better off the ground, his serve let him down in crucial moments. He was broken to love at 3-4 in the third set and managed to get the break back in the next game, but hit a pair of costly double faults at 5-6 to aid Rafter in taking a commanding lead.

Another double fault at 2-3 in the final set gifted Rafter a break point that he converted with a timely trip to the net. The slight advantage was all he needed. Landing 80 per cent of his first serves in the decider, Rafter held the momentum to become the first Australian to reach a Wimbledon singles final since Pat Cash (1987).

”I wasn’t satisfied with the semi-finals. I got to the semis last year and wanted to go one step further now,” Rafter said. “You never count your chances as great when you’re playing against Andre, but I played very well today.”

Rafter fell to Pete Sampras in the championship match, enabling the American to surpass Roy Emerson as the overall leader for most Grand Slam singles titles with his 13th crown. It was a loss which ate at Rafter until the following year at Wimbledon.

Wimbledon 2000 SF” />

2001

Agassi and Rafter’s 2001 semi-final drew plenty of buzz after their thrilling clash the previous year and the high-quality match lived up to expectations. The American served for the match and came within two points of victory, but Rafter, who trailed throughout most of the final set, clawed back to score a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6 win.

“When it’s best-of-five, I know there’s time to work things out and to try different things,” Rafter said. “I was still aggressive, like last year. I had to be. I had to take my chances and give myself opportunities, hopefully get the right bounce of the ball. And it worked the same way.”

Rafter saved four break points at 0-2 in the deciding set, then erased another in his next service game. Agassi continued to hold serve comfortably until he had a chance to wrap up the match. Serving at 5-4, 30/30, a wild baseline error set up break point for Rafter and the Aussie made good on it with a volley winner.

Drama outside of the rallies also played a critical role. Agassi shouted at himself after losing a deuce point at 6-6 and a lineswoman raced to the umpire to report his language, causing the American to receive a code violation. He later admitted that the incident rattled him as a string of wild unforced errors caused him to fall behind 0/40 in the next game. Rafter cracked a backhand passing shot winner on his third match point and raised his arms in delight at reaching another Wimbledon final.

“The closer you get to winning, the harder it is to accept. He won the fifth set decisively last year. This year, I had a lot of chances. It’s more disappointing,” Agassi said. “You’ve got to just shake it off, try to move forward. What else can you do?”

Rafter would come within two points of the title, but fell to Goran Ivanisevic in a match that is still considered to be one of the best finals in tournament history.

Wimbledon SF” />

1999

The first Wimbledon semi-final between Agassi and Rafter provided little of the theatrics that their future encounters would have. Agassi never gave the match a chance to heat up as he produced a flawless performance on Centre Court, cracking 48 winners to only 10 errors in his 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-2 win.

Rafter had a slight opening at 4/2 in the second-set tie-break, but Agassi responded by hitting four winners, including a backhand return on set point, to grab a two-sets lead. The 29-year-old poured it on in the final set and didn’t hit a single unforced error, breaking Rafter twice to reach his first Wimbledon final in seven years.

Although he suffered a convincing loss to Pete Sampras in the championship match, Agassi’s run to the final enabled him to unseat Sampras as World No. 1 on the following Monday.

Wimbledon 1999 SF” />

In July 1980, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe met at Wimbledon for the first time. Any and all who were lucky enough to watch the encounter live will swear the match was and continues to be the greatest that tennis has ever seen. Being 27, I was one with the misfortune of never having seen it. I thought it time that changed.

My own fandom has involved as much a fascination with tennis history as it has with what is happening in the present. But it was not until I sat down on a drizzly June afternoon at my flat in London to watch in its entirety the 1980 Wimbledon final – which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month – that I realised in reality I knew little, if anything, of substance about it.

Of course I was aware of the match and of Borg’s eventual victory, but in reality for people of my age it has been reduced to something of a reference point in debates about whether Nadal and Federer’s titanic Wimbledon final in 2008 topped it.

For me, McEnroe was more familiar as one of tennis’s finest talking heads, a voice of authority to guide me through the game’s nuances and subtleties, while Borg was someone I associated with looking effortlessly cool in Centre Court’s Royal Box. I was aware of their exploits, of their famous matches and even of their diametrically opposed styles on court, but awareness was all it amounted to.

I figured that I knew what I needed to know about them and the 1980 final but 18 points into their legendary 22 minute fourth-set tiebreak, won 18-16 by McEnroe to draw himself level with Borg at two sets apiece, I realised my previous appreciation for the match had come up woefully short.

What became apparent at that most dramatic of moments was a sudden realisation that at no point in the previous two hours and 52 minutes had I even considered the action anything other than utterly compelling, fiercely competitive and, while undeniably less brutish than the modern power game, exquisitely skillful.

A reductive notion often levelled at sports from a bygone era is that they are boring, slow and simply not as exciting as the offerings of the present day. As a millennial myself, I humbly present this Borg-McEnroe final as an example proving this to be a falsehood. If you gave this one a five-star review, you’d be doing it a serious disservice.

I was having reactions akin to those that come with the most dramatic live sport. I experienced sweating palms, an elevated heart rate and audible cries of amazement as I sat alone in my house on what was ironically one of this summer’s wettest days so far.

Throughout, I found myself drawn to both. McEnroe, his heart as clearly visible on his sleeve as the headband penning in his mane of curly locks, married looks of anguish after a backhand slice into the net with shrieks of joy after a cross-court winner.

In contrast Borg, who at the time already boasted four Wimbledon titles to supplement his astonishing five Roland Garros crowns, seemed utterly unfazed, outwardly at least, by any occurrence. Not a bead of sweat apparent on his unquestionably stylish Fila get-up as he metronomically met every McEnroe challenge with one of his own.

What they both possessed was an easy grace of play almost absent from the modern men’s game, where a premium on heavy hitting often trumps all else. Lithe and fleet of foot, McEnroe and Borg hailed from another era of tennis which, at Wimbledon at least, involved endless attacking forays to net and shots demanding delicacy over destruction.

Perhaps the most prominent parallel to be drawn from that famous afternoon to the modern day is the undeniably unique atmosphere produced by Centre Court. Very few sports venues can lay claim to matching it during moments of pure sporting theatre, silence followed by eruptions of noise. There really is nowhere quite like it.

One sad reality of passing time is its tendency to sentence great moments of sporting history to nostalgia. In the moments before, during and after seismic clashes, it is easy to think that the significance of what has occurred will continue to be felt for lifetimes, weaving itself into the fabric of the sporting consciousness.

The 1980 Wimbledon final will forever be the standard of excellence in tennis and remain entrenched as one of the finest athletic achievements of all time. And so, on its 40th birthday, put down your strawberries and cream, raise your Pimms and pay homage to greatness.

Young tennis players from Bond Primary School in South London recently got a memorable surprise, speaking to two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.

Middleton introduced Murray, who gave the kids life advice they won’t soon forget.

“[The] most important thing is to have fun,” Murray said. “If you’re enjoying doing it, you’ll get more out of your lessons and your practising. Listening to your coach is very important.”

Game. Set. Match. ?

To mark what would have been the start of finals weekend of the famous Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon Championships, The Duchess of Cambridge was joined by surprise guest Sir @andy_murray, as she spoke to young tennis players from Bond Primary School in South London. pic.twitter.com/Nje9LGRXlH

— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) July 10, 2020

Murray is a natural competitor, but he advised the students to keep tennis in perspective.

“Try really hard in [your matches], but winning and losing isn’t the most important thing,” Murray said. “Enjoying playing a sport and being active is the most important thing.”

Murray has openly acknowledged how much he has simply enjoyed playing the sport he loves since undergoing hip surgery after last year’s Australian Open.

“I have come back from quite a lot of difficult situations, especially recently with injuries and things,” Murray said. “Even when I was in difficult situations or struggling physically or mentally, I just always kept going forwards. It’s always important in those moments, I’ve been very fortunate to have good family around me and friends to talk to and help me through the difficult moments. You’re definitely going to have setbacks. Everybody does [have] difficult moments in your life, but you need to try and keep moving forwards, keep working hard.”

Murray has enjoyed the extra time he has had with his family due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I started to find it a bit harder [around the six-week mark of quarantine] to find things to do for the kids, to stay creative with ideas and games for them to enjoy,” Murray said. “We were doing home schooling, which is difficult as well. It was difficult, but I at times really enjoyed it as well.”

The former World No. 1 says he didn’t play tennis for about 10 weeks. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t kept busy.

“I tried to stay in shape as much as I could. I did a lot of cycling. I was going out on my road bike, which I’d never done before. That was something that was new that I enjoyed during lockdown,” Murray said. “I stayed in reasonable shape. It’s quite important during these times to stay as active as you can, because it’s good for the mind as well, for the mental health.”

The 2019 Wimbledon semi-finals featured an ATP Head2Head clash that hadn’t been seen at the All England Club in more than a decade: Roger Federer playing Rafael Nadal.

The last time the legendary foes met on the London grass was in the 2008 championship, which many experts still say is the best match in history. Entering the match, Federer had won five of their past six meetings, with three of those victories coming in straight sets.

But Nadal, who was trying to reach his first Wimbledon final since 2011, had just cruised past the Swiss with the loss of only nine games in the Roland Garros semi-finals. The Spaniard led their rivalry 23-16.

“It’s always very, very cool to play against Rafa here, especially [as we] haven’t played [here] in so long,” Federer said.

After a hiccup in the second set, Federer booked a place in his 12th final at The Championships with a 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph.

“It lived up to the hype, especially from coming out of the gates, we were both playing very well. Then, the climax at the end, with the crazy last game, some tough rallies there. It had everything at the end, which was great,” Federer said. “I’m just relieved it’s all over at this point.

“But it’s definitely, definitely going to go down as one of my favourite matches to look back at, again, because it’s Rafa, it’s at Wimbledon, the crowds were into it, great weather. I felt like I played good also throughout the four sets. I can be very happy.”

The Swiss superstar played at his aggressive best on return of serve, at the net and in long rallies across the three-hour, two-minute battle on Centre Court.

Federer seized the momentum in his 40th FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Nadal with a break of serve at 3-1 in the third set and, in spite of an early break in the fourth set, kept 18-time Grand Slam championship winner Nadal at bay before converting his fifth match point chance.

The 37-year-old became the third oldest man in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach a Grand Slam championship final. Federer, who registered his 100th Wimbledon match win over Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals, earned a chance to capture the 21st major crown of his career in his 31st final.

Nadal stood deep behind the baseline on return of serve and Federer soon picked up on the ploy, exposing the angles of the court and serve and volleying with great frequency.

“I thought it was a tough first set with not many chances,” said Federer. “[It] came down to I thought a really good tie-break. I think I served well there, but [I] also came up with some really good returns and rallies. He got off the gates faster with a great lob, I believe, to get the mini break first. As the first set was dominated by a lot of good serving, I thought that was probably a big problem for me. But I was able to get out of that one.” 

While Nadal’s return positioning, deep behind the baseline, was questioned, the Spaniard soon won 10 points in a row, capitalising on a lapse in concentration from Federer, who lost his serve to love after a backhand error in the second set. That allowed Nadal to gain the momentum. 

But as the intensity level increased early in the third set, Federer out-duelled Nadal in the key moments and took over the match.

“The early break in the third set, I had a couple of mistakes in that moment. That was a tough moment I needed to resist. The beginning of the third set probably was one of the keys of the match,” said Nadal. “I started to play much better at the end of the match, but it was too late.”

Federer converted his fifth match point and pumped his fists in celebration. He struck 51 winners, including 14 aces, saving six of eight break points against Nadal, who committed 25 unforced errors.

“It’s been a tough one. I had my chances, but he played a little bit better than me,” said Nadal. “Probably I didn’t play as good as I did in the previous rounds, and he played well. So he deserves it. Congrats to him.”

Nadal bounced back from his defeat, triumphing at the Coupe Rogers and earning his 19th Grand Slam title at the US Open. The lefty finished atop the year-end FedEx ATP Rankings for the fifth time.

Federer, however, suffered heartbreak in the Wimbledon final. Novak Djokovic saved two championship points to stun the Swiss 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3).