Wimbledon Serves Up Championship For The Ages
10 Jul 2008

by Eric Christiansen
It was one of those weekends any sports fan can appreciate, and every tennis fan will never forget.
It was one of those weekends where tennis fans around the world called/texted their friends to make sure they were watching.
It was one of those weekends where I remembered why I am a sports fan.
Wimbledon 2008 will go down as the greatest weekend in the history of the tournament.
Not only did we get Venus and Serena Williams dominating the women’s field, meeting in the singles finals and destroying every doubles team in their path, but we got Federer-Nadal III in the men’s singles finals to boot.
If we only had one of those stories to talk about, it would have been a successful fortnight. Instead, we have two instant classics. In fact, ESPN Classic aired the Federer-Nadal match Monday night.
Saturday morning, Venus and Serena squared off for the first time in five years. Historically, their matches have been less than invigorating. Saturday, they made history, playing one of the highest quality women’s matches of all time.
They were focused, sharp, and playing error-free tennis. When it was over, big sister won her fifth Wimbledon title, and little sister was left frustrated, yet happy for Venus.
Sunday was a full time job, not only for Roger Federer, who was gunning for a record sixth straight title, and Rafael Nadal, who was looking to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, but for the fans as well.
The match was supposed to begin at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. Instead, the first of three rain delays caused a late start. When it was all said and done, it was 4:30 p.m. before Rafa started chewing on the championship trophy.
What happened between 9-5 was pure magic.
Nadal took the first two sets, and had a match point in the fourth set tiebreak. Federer, not wanting to pass the torch just yet, forced a fifth set, which ended in darkness in England with Nadal pulling it out 9-7.
John McEnroe, working as a commentator for NBC, proclaimed it the best match he had ever seen. Not many will argue with the former champion.
The match itself was one to behold. Add to that the drama of the rivalry between the top two players in the world, both players trying to make history, both players gunning for the top ranking in the world, as well as the most prestigious championship in tennis.
The grace that Federer showed after the match, despite probably feeling like he had been kicked in the gut, and the humility of Nadal, proclaiming that Federer is the best to ever play the game, made the post match ceremonies almost as fun to watch as the match itself.
The respect between the two rivals is unparalelled in sports.
What hammered home the point of how much the Wimbledon title means to these players, Serena Williams was visibly upset after losing to her big sister, and Federer was in tears in the post match interview with McEnroe, despite all of his success on the grass.
Both runners-up played amazing tennis, which is probably what made losing that much more difficult, despite losing to the two players they respect most on the pro circuit.
For tennis fans, and sports fans alike, all four players gave us a weekend we will never forget.