Nadal wins the Wimbledon "WAR" against Federer

The Wimbledon 2008 final was one of the greatest matches anyone would have ever seen in the history of tennis. It was an epic battle and honestly speaking, the way they were playing, I didn't want it to end. Two warriors fighting for glory. One trying to hold on to his fort while the other, trying to finally get what he didn't have. When Nadal beat Schuettler in the semi-final to set up the
much expected Federer-Nadal final yet again, I was really hoping for it to be a 5-setter and that was it. I was on nobody's side really and if somebody forced me to take sides, I was with Federer. I wanted him to defy history to break Borg's record of 6 consecutive Wimbledon titles. Not to be.

Nadal beat him 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. Half of my wish was granted with a great 5-setter but Federer lost. He lost a lot more than just the title. I would say he pretty much lost the chance of winning 6 consecutive Wimbledons ever and Borg's title can stay intact unless Nadal goes on a run.



Nadal is revelation. After crushing Federer at the French Open which is pretty much Nadal's territory, Wimbledon was all set for Federer to come back and prove that grass is his territory but Nadal was prepared. He was absolutely ready as to what he needed to do to win on grass. The new tricks in his armoury, the spin serve and the serve-and-volley. Yes, Nadal learnt to serve-and-volley as he knew that the greats of Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe etc were all great at that. That is an essential on grass and Nadal adapted. That is why he won. He was the better man not only on the day but also during the tournament. Absolutely relentless and unforgiving. The baseline game didn't go anywhere and with additional tools he looked invincible.

The final was not one-sided at all even though it started with Nadal rushing to a 2-set lead. Rains disturbed the game a lot and even though it would have affected both players, I think Federer was the one climbing back from a deficit and deserves credit for making a match out of it. he saved championship points along the way with some big serves. The two top players were at war to say the least and it got a bit dark towards the end. Whether that affected the match is a diddly-doddly topic to talk about but it wasn't easy out there in the evening.

Federer has a lot to prove and he had gone so high that the fall is a hard one. That was bound to happen. Nadal is the new champion and a deserving one at that. I am already excited about the hard courts where some dark horses can surprise both of them. These 2 however are way ahead of the pack that is for sure. Djokovic at No.3 is no where close to the high class tennis of Federer and Nadal and that has got the game to be a bit boring. Lets hope there are some breakthroughs so that we see some new champions in the near future.