…. longest one in Wimbledon history — 4 hrs. 48 min. — just went to Spain’s Rafael Nadal, 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7, dethroning reigning champ Roger Federer, who was attempting to break his record of 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles — a record he shares with Bjorn Borg. Alas, not to be. Amazing match. Possibly the greatest ever. It was Rafael’s time, finally. He’d been so close before.
What a day! Two rain delays. Over 6 hours in total time elapsed. I swear, these men could NOT have been more evenly matched. It could have gone any way at any moment. I think it came down to a one-point difference if you total all the points together. I mean, at various points in the match, they kept showing a tally of the total points won by each player and they were literally TIED. The match ended at 9:15 p.m. London time. A sweaty Rafa crawled up into the stands to hug his parents and, oh, you know, the prince and princess from Spain. Hahahaha. So spontaneous and wonderful. Like, Rafael Nadal, you just won Wimbledon! You are totally sweaty and dirty from falling to the ground in victory, what are you going to do now? I’m going to crawl my sweaty winner’s butt over the broadcast booth into the stands to hug the prince and princess of Spain in all their sartorial splendor! And when the trophies were handed out, wow, such class from Roger Federer, the runner up. Calling Nadal a “deserving champion.” Uh, yes, definitely. I’m totally tearing up at this. Writing as it’s happening. Nadal in his comments thanked Roger Federer, said he is still No. 1, said how great he is for tennis, said “He’s won 5 times; this is just one for me.” These are the comments from the WINNER. Wow. Such humility — and in his somewhat broken English. Adorable and classy and beautiful. Man, I love tennis. Roger was clearly disappointed not to break the record — he will never break it now, not consecutive wins — but he went out of his way to acknowledge the unquestionable greatness of the man he’d bested.
John McEnroe waited back in the locker room to get some immediate reactions from the players and he — John McEnroe — felt so bad for Roger that he blurted, “Can I give you a hug?” I mean, this is JOHN FREAKIN’ MC ENROE; not Oprah Winfrey. He is not a “huggy” kind of guy at ALL. I’m laughing and crying because I love these moments; these moments that are spontaneous and awkward and real. What you see come out of people in the middle of it all. John McEnroe, tennis’ perennial bad boy, just HUGGED Roger Federer! I love him. (I must write more later on why I love McEnroe.) Seconds later, he talked to Nadal and Rafael thanked him for “hitting with him the other day.” McEnroe clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Well, thank you for lying.” Hahahahaha. I am in love with this whole darn thing.
AMAZING TENNIS. I didn’t want it to end.
Roger Federer, 5-time Champ!
Congratulations, Rafael Nadal, New Wimbledon Champion!!
Yup. Awesome. This is why sports matters.
Amazing. We had it on yesterday before we left for church, and I was in shock to see that Nadal had just won the first set. And then by the time we left for church we had just seen Nadal close out the second set, and I was like, “Holy crap! Federer always wins Wimbledon! Nadal may actually take the title, and holy crap!” And then as we walked out the door to leave for church, I ranted at Courtney Friel about how there is no “t” in WimbleDon. It drives me mad when people call it WimbleTon.
Anyway, so glad for Nadal, but just a little heartbroken for Federer. But not as heartbroken for him as I am glad for Nadal.
sarahk — My sentiments exactly. The whole thing was thrilling.