Wimbledon Final One of Sports Finest Moments

To pull a quote from the finest hour in the career of the late great comedian Chris Farley, "I swear I've seen a lot of things in my life. But that... was... awesome!" To make a slight revision to that statement, I've watched more sporting events in my life then I care to remember or report, but the 2008 Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and the new champion, Rafa Nadal, may be the best of them all. For once a championship event lived up to the hype that surrounded it and how often do you come away disappointed in situations like that? Let's go back just a few weeks to the French Open final, when many felt this was the year Federer would overcome Nadal to claim his first French title and complete the career Grand Slam. Federer instead was embarrassed, winning just four games and losing the final ten in a match that was over when it started.

The so-called experts began questioning Federer's game and his spot in history following that debacle, but let's make one thing clear after his 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8), 7-9 defeat on his home turf: his legacy is intact and when all is said and done, he will still go down as the best player in tennis history. In 2008 he has won two events, lost in the Australian Open semifinals to eventual-champion Novak Djokovic, and lost the French Open and Wimbledon final to Nadal. Just about every player on tour not named Roger Federer would kill to accomplish that much in a career, let alone a single year. As for yesterday's performance, aside from converting just one of 13 break chances, there isn't much more to dissect about Federer's play. In fact, that may have been one of the best matches he has ever played considering his opponent, the pesky rain delays and the stage itself. The saddest part about the final was that it had to end with a loser in a match that truly didn't deserve one.

Casual sports fans will say that you can turn on the last two minutes of a football or basketball game and that's all you need to see because ultimately everything else leading up to the last moment means nothing, which is absurd because there wouldn't be a last two minutes without the ones before them. The casual idiots that stand by that assertion would have no ground to stand on when talking about Sunday's final. Every point from game one to game 62 was played with the intensity of championship point and each player had to play it that way because they knew it was unlikely the other was going to make that fatal mistake that completely swung the momentum one way or the other. There were no service breaks from the fourth game of the second set up until the 15th game of the final set when Nadal finally broke Federer to serve for the match. Some would say that's bad tennis, I say it's a case of two great players doing exactly what they are supposed to do: hold serve.

The mental toughness of Federer and Nadal may be the untold story from the final. I thought the first set was going to tell the story of the match because my feeling was that, after what happened in France, no one needed a first set victory more than Federer did yesterday. Losing the first set was bad, but blowing a 4-1 lead in the second to fall behind 0-2 left little doubt that there was going to be a new Wimbledon champion and that the match was going to end in another serious disappointment for Federer and the fans. As was once said by former Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." Federer fought back again and again, dodging two match point's in the fourth set tiebreak to force a fifth set, setting the stage for one of the greatest finishes in sports history.

Now to Nadal. How many people out there thought the 22-year old Spanish phenom had any shot to win after his forehand shot went long at 9-8, clinching the fourth set tiebreak for Federer and erasing his once comfy two set lead? Anybody? You in the back with your hand up, you're lying. Nadal has been thought of as the great clay court player of this era and nothing more and, despite his successes against Federer, had yet to beat him on grass. Last year's Wimbledon final went five sets and Nadal took the momentum into the final stanza by winning the fourth. He was blown out 6-2 then and the stage was set for another heartbreaking result for Nadal. Yet one service hold and clutch shot after another, the Rat fink never folded, and he finally captured the championship that seemed so certain to be his hours before.

The question now is whether or not Nadal unseats Federer's four year run as the world's No. 1 player. I'm not sure how the whole point system works in tennis, but I don't see how he isn't the top seed when the U.S. Open rolls around in late-August. He has won two of the three Grand Slams and beaten the current No. 1 in both finals. Regardless of what the points say, Nadal has earned the title of "World's Best Player" and should hold onto it until he is unseated by Federer or another challenger.

John McEnroe, who knows great tennis when he sees it, said that Sunday's final in England was the best in the long, storied history of the game. I would agree with that, but I'll take it a step further. The 2008 Wimbledon final was one of the great events in sports history and it will be very hard for the field in Flushing Meadows to live up to. The Federer-Nadal rivalry is the finest in sports at the moment (sorry Yanks and Sox fans) and the hope here is that they meet again eight weeks from now in the Open final to cap what has been a year to remember in tennis.

DTM