It was dark. On 6 July, 2008, Rafael Nadal fell to the grass as flashbulbs popped around a darkened Centre Court. The match he had just won, over Roger Federer, in four hours and 48 minutes, was already being hailed as the greatest ever played. Even the score, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7 had a symmetrical, escalating beauty to it. A decade later, no contest has come along to knock Nadal vs. Federer from its Olympian perch. To commemorate the 10th anniversary, we look back with some of those involved.
Judging by their recollections, it wasn’t just the players who had a special experience that afternoon in London. The 2008 Wimbledon men’s final, like so many other sporting events that ascend to legendary status, belongs to all tennis fans.
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David Law (BBC radio commentator, host of The Tennis Podcast)
Andrew Jarrett (Wimbledon referee)
Beth Wilson (photographer and founder of Nadalnews.com)
George Murphy (ball boy)
Jon Wertheim (Sports Illustrated senior writer; author of Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played)
Vivienne Christie (Editor Australian Tennis magazine)
Brad Gilbert (ESPN commentator)
Ted Robinson
David Law
George Murphy
Jon Wertheim
Beth Wilson
Andrew Jarrett
Brad Gilbert
Ted Robinson