Rafael Nadal famously denied Roger Federer 6th successive title at SW19 as he won the classic final at the All England Club to secure his maiden win Wimbledon title. Now the Swiss maestro admits he lost the encounter from the word go.
Just weeks after Nadal’s 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 drubbing of Federer in the 2008 Roland Garros final, the pair crossed path once again for their French Open final rematch at Wimbledon championship match.
The outcome remained didn’t change as the Mallorcan clinched his first Grand Slam at the SW19 lawns, although the duo took a more scenic route as they remained involved in the classic duel for 4 hours and 48 minutes before Nadal sealed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5-7), 6-7(8-10), 9-7 victory in the dark on Center court.
Federer opened up about unarguably one of greatest matches of all time when he delivered the graduation speech at Dartmouth College in the US.
“I tried not to lose, but I did lose. Sometimes, big. For me, one of the biggest was finals at Wimbledon in 2008. Me versus Nadal,” the 20-time major winner started off.
“Some call it the greatest match of all time… all respect to Rafa, but I think it would’ve been way, way better if I had won. Losing at Wimbledon was a big deal. Because winning Wimbledon was everything.
“In 2008, I was going for a record six consecutive titles, I was playing for history. I’m not going to walk you through the match point by point, if I did we would be here for hours, almost five hours to be exact.”
The 7-time Wimbledon champion confessed he was a beaten man right from the very first point of the match.
He added: “We found ourselves at seven all in the fifth and I understand why people focus on the end. The final minutes were so dark, you could barely see the chalk on the grass but looking back, I feel like I lost at the very first point of the match.
“I looked across at the net and I saw a guy, who just a few weeks ago crushed me in straight sets at the French Open. And I thought, ‘Maybe this guy is hungrier than I am, and he’s finally got my number.’
“It took me until the third set to remember, ‘Hey buddy, you’re the five-time defending champion, and you’re on grass, by the way! You know how to do this.’ But it came too late and Rafa won, and it was well deserved.
“Some defeats hurt more than others. I knew I would never get a shot at six in a row, I lost Wimbledon, I lost my number one ranking and suddenly people said: ‘He had a great run, is this the changing of the guard?’ But I knew what I had to do – keep working and keep competing. In tennis, perfection is impossible.”