Rafael Nadal’s epic triumph in the most extraordinary of Wimbledon finals is the best advertisement for tennis since … well, since Roger Federer arrived as a grand slam champion five years ago with a game to die for.
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In quite possibly the match of the century – pitting arguably the world’s greatest-ever fast-court player against almost certainly the greatest-ever claycourt exponent – the indomitable Nadal reigned supreme after four hours and 48 minutes of pulsating and breathtaking action.
Whether Nadal’s 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7 victory, coupled with his brutal disposal of the Swiss master in the French Open final four weeks ago, has dethroned Federer as the king of his sport is not overly important to anyone, except of course to the two living legends themselves.
More significantly, Nadal’s breakthrough has confirmed the birth of the most exciting, enthralling rivalry tennis has seen since the Borg-McEnroe era more than a quarter of a century ago.
Thirteen months ago, Nadal had two slams to his credit – both earned on the red dirt in Paris.
Now the Spanish bull has five, including one yielded on the most hallowed of grass court which Federer had owned for five long years.
Federer is stranded on 12 slams and, suddenly, the race to Pete Sampras’s benchmark 14 majors is truly on.
Barely 22 years old, it would not surprise to see Nadal accrue another six – maybe more – French crowns before he retires, so invincible does he look on clay.
Last year, Federer won three of the four slams and, for the second straight season, lost the Roland Garros decider to Nadal.
He was utterly dominant.
Now it is conceivable that Federer may end 2008 without one solitary major, a once-unthinkable scenario.
One wonders, with the emergence of Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic along with the increasing threat of Nadal, where Federer will snare the three more slams he so desperately craves to surpass Sampras.
Yet even in defeat today the mighty Federer could still lay claim to having been the finest player in history at his peak.
Although he eventually succumbed to the incredible will of Nadal, Federer’s courage under fire defied belief.
Federer’s jaw-dropping backhand pass, when cramped for room and in the face of untold pressure, to save a match point in the tension-filled fourth-set tiebreaker was the kind of shot which has defined his five-year tenure as undisputed world No.1.
No other player could have pulled it off and that one shot, more than even his comeback from two sets down, set the scene for the most riveting Wimbledon final since – like Nadal – the left-handed John McEnroe thwarted Bjorn Borg’s quest for a 20th century record six straight titles at the All England Club back in 1981.
It was why sports fans all over Australia stayed transfixed to their TVs through two rain delays to see the climax knowing they would have to get up for work almost as soon as they got to bed.
Rod Laver’s split career in the amateur and professional ranks makes it too difficult to compare with Federer’s.
Borg’s failure to conquer New York leaves him a smidgen behind Federer, notwithstanding his phenomenal effort in landing six titles in Paris and five in London, while Sampras’s inability to even reach a French final at a time when the likes of lesserlights Sergi Bruguera and Michael Stich were racking them up leaves him short of the mark.
If Federer does manage to eclipse Sampras’s tally, even if the brilliant 26-year-old is unable to complete his major collection because Nadal continues to rule Roland Garros, he should still finish his career with the deserving tag of greatest ever.
Second-best on clay and most successful slammer on other surfaces will be good enough, for who is to say Laver or Borg – or anyone but Superman really – would have beaten Nadal in Paris either?
Regardless, the stage is now set for Nadal to carry Federer to unprecedented standards of excellence, just as Federer has dragged the dogged Nadal to similarly heady heights.
And that can only be healthy for tennis.
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