The 122nd Championships came to the most magnificent of conclusions in near-darkness on Centre Court as Spain’s Rafael Nadal brought the five-time champion Roger Federer crashing to earth in the longest, and quite possibly the finest, men’s final in the history of The All England Club.
It was the 22-year-old Nadal, rather than Federer, who fell prone on the turf as flash bulbs went off in the gloom, in joyous celebration of capturing the title he has always said means more to him than any other. Nadal is only the second Spaniard, after Manolo Santana in 1966, to become Wimbledon’s Gentlemen’s Singles Champion, and it was fitting that Santana should witness this historic occasion from the Royal Box.
Though the final day was one of rain, gusting wind and a distinctly un-summer chill, the 2008 Championships were generally blessed with fine weather, while the skeletal outline of the nearly-completed roof over Centre Court was a stark reminder that next year the British climate will be irrelevant, at least on one of the All England Club’s courts.
For instance, the sun shone throughout the women’s final on the previous day in the third contest between the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, in the past seven years. Serena had won in 2002 and 2003 but this time Venus was the victor, and deservedly so. The defending champion clocked up her fifth Wimbledon victory of the century – five in nine years, a truly marvelous accomplishment, which she emphasised in her 7-5, 6-4 win by shattering the Wimbledon women’s speed record with a serve of 129mph.
The American sisters had demonstrated familiar consistency and determination as they focused on dominating the women’s singles for another year while all around them the higher seeds were tumbling.
It was a disastrous Championships for the newly-emerging tennis nation, Serbia, as Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, the number one and two seeds, crashed out in the third and fourth rounds respectively. Ivanovic, fresh from her triumph at the French Open, was confounded and defeated by Zheng Jie, a diminutive Chinese wild card entrant who had missed most of 2007 through ankle surgery but had been a 2006 doubles champion at Wimbledon.
Zheng, who marched into the semi-finals before falling to Serena Williams’s firepower, had warmed hearts by saying she intended to donate her prize money to the Chinese earthquake relief fund.
The 2006 champion, Amelie Mauresmo, down at 29th among the seeds, was also a victim of the Serena juggernaut, while the third-seed and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova got no further than the second round, knocked out by compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva. The only other former champion in the women’s field, Lindsay Davenport, on more of a sentimental return than a serious tilt at the title, was forced to withdraw from her second round match because of a knee injury.
Serbia’s other reigning Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic, fared no better in the men’s event. The Australian Open title holder, expected to challenge Federer in the top half of the draw, crashed and burned against Marat Safin, the Russian who had almost made a career out of criticising tennis on grass.
Perhaps history, as well as Nadal, was against Federer as he battled to recover from the loss of the first two sets. Such a feat has not been accomplished since Henri Cochet came from two down against fellow Frenchman Jean Borotra in 1927.
The final was so nearly done and dusted more than an hour earlier, Nadal holding and missing two Championship points in the fourth set tie-break. A resolution at that moment would have allowed Nadal to get away to the Champions’ Dinner in London before heading off next morning to play the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, an event on the clay surface which Nadal rightly calls his own after four successive Roland Garros victories.
Now, in his third straight Wimbledon final, and having come so close last year, Nadal can also lay claim to fame on grass. Federer’s 65-match winning streak on the surface – which included his pre-Wimbledon title in Halle – is over. You can’t say Federer was not warned, though.
