15 years of the epic first ‘big’ of Spanish in London
MADRID, 6 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Sport and tennis in particular celebrate this Friday, July 6, the fifteenth anniversary of a unique match, the 2008 Wimbledon final that crowned the Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal for the first time on the London grass, after more than seven hours of tension before the Swiss Roger Federer, a rivalry turned into a classic until it molded the two best tennis players in history.
“I tried everything”, were the first words -and very significant– of Federer, on the darkened track of the Central of the third ‘big’ of each season, after losing there (6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7) his first game in six years. Nadal was a rock, which the script demanded, while the Swiss survived a two-set deficit and two tie-breaks, until the Spaniard’s fourth tournament ball, already in the fifth set.
‘The match of the century’, as that final was defined, lasted almost five hours, but it started late and had two stoppages, also due to rain, and ended with Federer looking for his sixth Wimbledon in a row, improving the five that also had achieved Borg. With hardly any light, bordering on postponement, Nadal took revenge that day for the two lost finals against the man from Basel and managed to colonize new domains of the ‘Grand Slam’ beyond Paris.
Yes, 10 years ago, Nadal was already king of the land, but the Swiss was the king of tennis, dominator of the circuit in the face of the Spanish. Nadal’s biggest blow came at Roland Garros, where he won three finals from 2006 to 2008, and Federer returned it to him a month later in London, until that July 6 10 years ago. Shortly after debuting in the All England, Nadal would reach number one in the world, in the hands of the Swiss since 2004.
A classic was then forged, still valid for the second youth that both live, to which Nadal began to take the measure. That 2008 he won four finals and in the run-up to Wimbledon, there was only talk of the 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 that he had endorsed weeks before in the French Open. Federer discovered his black beast, at a historic turning point, and Nadal glimpsed his ability to be among the best in this sport.
After 65 victories in a row on grass, a 1/13 in ‘break’ balls confirmed a wound in Federer’s armor, who at that time was looking at the 14 ‘greats’ of Sampras. They were prevented from reaching Nadal himself in Australia 2009, the end of the famous deranged crying of the Swiss. The Spaniard had hardened himself with his first Wimbledon, in a lesson in perseverance, even if you go two sets up or have two championship points in the fourth set.
The Spaniard, who had won at Queen’s as a perfect adaptation after Paris, maintained the directness of his sweet moment. Two perfect sets to start, regardless of the setting, the wind or the opponent, in which he always served against Federer’s backhand and also hit, preventing the Swiss from playing with his forehand. Nadal followed his plan, while Federer cried out to heaven.
And it is that the Spanish was not allowed gifts, nor a ball in the middle of the track that ‘plugged in’ the Swiss. He did not flinch, nor did he celebrate an extra point, nor did he regret the rival response. He seemed to know that the final was going to be long, which was helped by the rain at 4-5 for the Swiss in the third set. Both on ice, they returned to the grass as if nothing had happened: a festival of blows and a rising level.
FEDERER COME BACK BUT NADAL FINISHES
The Swiss managed to send the set to ‘sudden death’, where his serve would make a difference. Nadal would take him further to the limit in the fourth act, with ‘Roger, Roger’ in the stands and the Spaniard on his own, until another ‘tie-break’ in which he made it 2-5, two points away and with his revenge serve from the 2006 and 2007 finals. Federer swallowed hard at times, until facing two tournament balls.
An unblinking ‘ace’ and a parallel backhand to return another to Nadal in the previous race were the remedy for the Swiss, who found his forehand later to force the fifth set. Toni Nadal’s face in a box shared with Federer’s team and family was a poem. On the track, the Spaniard seemed calm, but before anyone else, the one that broke in again was the rain, with 2-2 and 40-40.
Another long half hour of break, but not a moment of doubt in the Spaniard’s head, to also begin to hear ‘Rafa, Rafa’, with a strong “yes” at 5-5. Federer’s escapism with his serve and volley freed him from two ‘break’ balls. But the insistence of the Spaniard, seeking to go to the net for the first time, crushed the confidence of the Swiss at 7-7 with another shot that he celebrated for the first time, with that fist and knee up still in force.
Then came the ‘break’ and the conquest of the double in Paris and London that had not been seen since Borg in 1980. Nadal broke the mold and the almost iron tradition of the All England also in the celebration, climbing through the boxes to greet his team and family and then the Prince and Princess of Asturias, as the second Spanish male champion, 42 years after Manolo Santana, and third in total after the success of Conchita Martínez in 1994. The rain of flashes confirmed the dark night in London, after the final longest of the tournament, the one that rewrote the difficult or the impossible on a tennis court.