Hero emerges from shadows after epic final

[Elano]

Ramón Calderón, the president of Real Madrid, called it “the perfect end to a lovely script” and before Manchester United supporters start to bombard the Glazers with more hate-mail, he was not discussing the potential move of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabéu next season. Calderón was amid a privileged throng on Centre Court yesterday when Rafael Nadal, a lifelong fan of Real, became Wimbledon champion and the texture of tennis changed for ever.

Had there ever been a men’s final such as this, the longest in history in this cherished place? The two best players in the world went at each other hammer and tongs, spikes and staffs, and it was Nadal, with tears in his eyes and draped in the red and yellow of his nation, who took the most precarious walk of his life, having beaten Roger Federer, the five-times champion, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 in four hours and 48 minutes of such drama, such raw emotion, in such trying circumstances, that this was heroism of a glorious kind.

Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back, and this having won a grass-court title, the Artois Championships at Queen’s Club, in between, before heading back to Majorca for a spot of fishing and golf with his father.

After clambering over the shoulders of the paying flock to fall into his family’s arms in the players’ box, he then bestrode the parapets to greet Crown Prince Felipe of Spain and Princess Letizia in the Royal Box, hoping for a kind word. What could they possibly say but that he is a credit to Spain and everything Spanish? We are talking about a sporting colossus here.

“It is impossible to explain how I feel, just very, very happy to win this title, but I never imagined anything like this,” Nadal said on a court now in semi-darkness like during Pete Sampras’s tear-jerking victory over Pat Rafter in 2000. “Thank you very much everybody.”

You could only feel for Federer. He was so close to winning his sixth successive title but simply could not shake off this soft-spoken leviathan. When Federer trailed by two sets to love and then snaffled sets three and four in monumental tie-breaks, the record books were being scoured for the last time anyone had recovered from so far behind to claim victory in a Wimbledon final; Frenchman Henri Cochet’s 81-year record is safe for one more year.

The rain breaks seemed to come at advantageous times for the Swiss, leading 5-4 in the third set when Nadal had been within one shot of being 5-3 ahead himself; and then at 2-2 and deuce with the balls in his hand in the final set. Upon the second resumption, both Boris Becker and Tim Henman, in the BBC studio, felt that Federer would have dealt better with the rain interjections. Few would have argued with these veterans of how to use up one’s time positively in such trying circumstances.

But Nadal does things that are not entirely explicable. He surely had to be feeling the pressure. After all, he had managed to win the first two sets, the second from 4-1 down, and in such circumstances, he usually mangles his prey.

Federer had given up only two points on his serve in that set to that point but Nadal suddenly reached a Federer off-forehand for the first time and sent back a forehand riposte so vicious that the Swiss was trying to retrieve from his shoelaces. That was enough of an invitation for Nadal.

He might have been 40-0 up in the next game but, after an extraordinary rally of twists, turns and pirouettes, he tried a drop shot and failed. Federer rallied to break point but Nadal smacked in a forehand winner and at deuce, with the court begging and the ball gently arcing towards Federer’s racket, one of his fan club screamed “come on”, a cry that disturbed Federer in mid-flight, to the extent he hit the backdrop first bounce.

“Shut up,” the champion screamed, but the damage had been done. Nadal held once more and, on his second break point in the subsequent Federer service game, fashioned a remarkable forehand winner from a ball that stopped and spun on the baseline like a Shane Warne special. He never stops doing things like that.

It was so dark by midway through the third set that were it not for Wimbledon’s predominantly white clothing rule we would not have been able to distinguish one player from another. Nadal should have been 5-3 ahead, the third of three break points offering a forehand service return to a Federer dolly. But he netted. Was it the first sign of a slight choke? The rains came a couple of games later and after a 100-minute break, Federer returned to crunch four aces in the tie-break.

There were no breaks in the fourth set. Another tie-break. Nadal led 5-2 with two serves to come. He missed his first serve, the second touched the top of the net and landed gently on the wrong side. On the next, he netted a backhand. Federer had a set point at 6-5 but skewed a forehand wide. A match point to Nadal, saved by an unreturnable serve. Nadal then produced the forehand pass of the match for a second match point, to which the Swiss responded with the best backhand pass he can ever have produced in such circumstances. On to the final set.

Once more it rained, once more the message was relayed that it would be a brief disruption. Federer looked the more composed on their return, Nadal needing to save a break point in the eighth game with a solid overhead. Then it was Federer’s turn to survive in the eleventh, an ace saving one break point, a lash by Nadal the next.

Something had to give and Federer could not resist the onslaught, succumbing in the fifteenth game when he pushed a forehand long. Nadal served for the match, missed match point No 3, but steadied and enticed a forehand error by Federer on the fourth. All hail Rafa the Remarkable.

Five key statistics

— Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg 28 years ago to hold the French Open and Wimbledon titles simultaneously and is one of only three men to do so

— The rain-delayed match ended in near darkness after 4 hours, 48 minutes of play - the longest men’s final in Wimbledon history

— Nadal became the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon since Manolo Santana in 1966, ending Federer’s unbeaten run on grass at 65 matches

— As a fine illustration of how grass-court tennis has changed in recent years, Nadal serve and volleyed only once in the final - after four hours and 43 minutes of play. He won the point

— Henri Cochet is the only man to have triumphed in the men’s singles final after coming from two sets down. The Frenchman beat Jean Borotra, his countryman, in 1927 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5

Five key moments

— First set, game three: An early blow for Nadal, who becomes only the third man to break Federer’s serve all tournament with a deep backhand dwn the line to take a 2-1 lead

— Second set, game eight: Nadal broke back in the seventh game but was struggling when a wrong call of “out” from the crowd unsettled Federer at deuce. Nadal served out the game

— Third set, game seven: Federer falls 0-40 down on his own service at 3-3 but pulls off five big serves in a row to save the game. Rain comes soon after

— Fourth set, tie-break: Nadal moves 5-2 ahead, with two serves to come, but blows his chance with a double fault and a netted shot. Nadal gets two match points but the Swiss then passes Nadal with a stinging backhand down the line and produces a big serve

— Fifth set, fifteenth game: Federer had saved serve in his two previous games from 15-40 and 0-30 down but eventually Nadal broke through with a series of stunning shots to serve for the match

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