Vintage and prestigious are the words that could be used for the oldest tennis tournament, Wimbledon. The championship has been played in All England Club since 1877 and is the most happening tournament of summer.
The dramatic, interesting, sensational, and thrilling match between Rafael Nadal (Spain) and Roger Federer (Switzerland) in the 2008 Wimbledon final made a historical record of being the longest match. The exciting and aggressive match lasted for 4 hours and 48 minutes.
The match started with Federer’s serve. The first set consisted of 10 games and ended up with Nadal winning by 6-4. Nadal won the second set by 6-4, too. There had been 20 games so far. The third set consisted of 13 games that Federer won by 7-6.
Between the 9th and 10th game of the third set, the match was stopped for 30 minutes due to rain. New 13 games were played in the fourth set which Federer won by 7-6 again. Now the game was at an exciting stage. There was a 2-2 setpoint tie between both the players.
The fifth set was the longest during the match, as 17 games were played. During the fifth set, between the 5th and the 6th game, Nadal and Federer stopped playing for 30 minutes again due to rain. Nadal won the set by 9-7, thus winning the 2008 Wimbledon final.
Through that victory, Nadal became the first man to win French Open and Wimbledon tournaments after Björn Borg did in 1980. Nadal became also the first Spanish to win the Wimbledon title for his country after Manolo Santana did it in 1966.
Losing the game cost Federer 40 consecutive victories record at All England Club and 65 consecutive victories on grass record too. Federer admitted this to be his hardest loss, but at the same time he admired Nadal and said that he deserved the victory because he played “fantastically”.