Rafael Nadal's 2008 Final win against Roger Federer the Spaniard's top Wimbledon moment

The 2008 Wimbledon Final featured a clash between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Both the players are considered the finest tennis players of all time, and their rivalry, among the greatest in sporting history. The Wimbledon finals match between Nadal and Federer is also regarded as the best match in history by many experts. Nadal and Federer put on a clash for the ages, with Nadal emerging as the champion with a scoreline of 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5-7), 6-7(8-10), 9-7. The iconic match lasted for four hours and 48 minutes with rain delay extending the total duration of the match to seven hours, and now, Nadal has named it his top Wimbledon moment.

Federer was the favorite leading up to the tournament but was stunned by Nadal in the finals

Speaking on his favorite Wimbledon memory, Nadal mentioned the iconic match against Federer- the best-remembered match of their rivalry, that was played 13 years ago. Nadal became the third man in the open era to have both the French Open and Wimbledon title to their name in the same year, as well as the second player from Spain to win Wimbledon. Rod Laver in 1969, and Bjorn Borg in 1978–1980 are the first two players in the open era to have previously achieved the feat.

The 2008 Wimbledon final was the 18th time Federer and Nadal faced each other in the history of the ATP Tour. Heading to the Wimbledon 2008, Federer had won 12 of the 15 Grand Slam finals he had played and was highly expected to pick his 13th title. But Nadal had plans of his own. He led their head-to-head encounters 11-6 coming into the match but wasn’t considered the best by most people. He had come close to winning Wimbledon in the year 2007 but was denied the title after losing to Federer in five close sets.

Watch the best rallies of the match-

In the finals, Nadal was ahead of Federer in the first two sets, however, he lost the next two sets in tie-breakers. Nadal held his nerve to close the match 9-7 in the fifth set. The sight of Nadal falling on the floor with happiness as the sunset on the Centre Court can not be forgotten by anyone who watched the match. The next time, both the legends came face to face in the court was during the 2019 Wimbledon semi-finals. Federer won the match convincingly to advance into the finals. However, he lost the final to Novak Djokovic who picked the 2019 Wimbledon title by defeating top seed Roger Federer in five sets.

Watch the full highlights of the Nadal vs Federer 2008 Wimbledon Final Match-

Rafael Nadal is currently ranked as the World No.5 by the ATP. He has a total of 88 career titles to his name since taking up Tennis as a professional player in 2001. Federer however, is ranked World No 9 and has a total of 20 Grand Slam men’s singles titles and 103 career titles to his name.

(Image Source: AP)