roger federer won the men's wimbledon final this year.
roger federer won the men's wimbledon final this year.
who won the men's wimbledon final this year?
roger federer
nadal entered the 2008 wimbledon championships as the two-time runner-up. he was riding a winning streak of 17 matches. nadal had lost the previous two finals to roger federer, including the 2007 wimbledon final, which was considered to be one of the great matches in recent times. nadal defeated german andreas beck in the first round. he then lost his first set of the tournament in a tight second-round match against latvian ernests gulbis. nadal stormed through the rest of the tournament, thrashing nicolas kiefer, 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-3, russian mikhail youzhny, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 and future wimbledon champion andy murray, 6–3, 6-2, 6-4. nadal then defeated surprise semifinalist rainer schüttler 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-4 to set up a third consecutive wimbledon final with 5-time defending champion roger federer. nadal then played what is considered the greatest match in tennis history, defeating federer in a 4-hour, 48-minute match, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7 in the longest wimbledon final in history. the win gave nadal his first grand slam outside the french open, and his fifth grand slam overall. the match is notable for its long, well-crafted rallies and the clutch shots produced on crucial points. federer saved two match points in the fourth-set tie-break, but eventually caved on nadal's fourth match-point. the two greatest passing shots of the tournament were hit back-to-back late into the fourth-set tiebreak. nadal hit a clutch forehand pass to set up match-point on his own serve. federer responded with a backhand pass to save the match-point. federer eventually closed out the set, but lost the match. many experts agree this match set nadal up to the great success that would ensue in the following months.
2008 rafael nadal tennis season
nadal then played federer in the final of wimbledon for the third consecutive year, in the most anticipated match of their rivalry. nadal entered the final on a 23-match winning streak, including his first career grass-court title at the artois championships staged at the queen's club in london prior to wimbledon. federer had won his record fifth grass-court title at the gerry weber open in halle, and then reached the wimbledon final without losing a set. unlike their previous two wimbledon finals, though, federer was not the prohibitive favorite, and many analysts picked nadal to win. they played the longest (in terms of time on court, not in terms of numbers of games) final in wimbledon history, and because of rain delays, nadal won the fifth set 9–7 in near-darkness. (the 2019 final later broke the record of longest wimbledon final.) the match was widely lauded as the greatest wimbledon final ever, with some tennis critics even calling it the greatest match in tennis history.
rafael nadal