Nadal's the champ

Rafa and Venus: Worthy champions

Well, he's done it. Rafa Nadal has finally won the Wimbledon Men's Singles title.

But he came damn close to throwing it away again.

In a match hampered by rain, the Spaniard raced to a two set lead and looked to be on track for his first Wimbledon victory.

However, nobody told reigning champ Roger Federer, who started fighting back.

Federer took the thrid set on a tie-break... and repeated the feat in the fourth, even saving two Championship points in the process.

With the fifth set tied and going with service, rain interrupted yet again, but then stopped long enough to allow play to continue and Nadal hit his winning shot in near darkness at 9.15pm.

The final score showed just how close this classic final had been. Nadal finally won 6-4 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7.

'It's impossible to explain what I felt in that moment but I'm very, very happy,' Nadal told the BBC. 'It is a dream to play on this court, my favourite tournament, but to win I never imagined.'

Federer, who should have seen the challenger off but only converted one of 14 possible break points, declared Rafa 'a deserving champion, he just played fantastic.'

It was, remarkably, Federer's first defeat on grass for 65 matches.

Still, five championships under the belt and a part in the longest Wimbledon men's singles final ever – a remarkable four hours, 48 minutes – should ensure Federer's place in the history books.

Besides, as he also declared post match, he will be back.

share this story: