Federer, Nadal & the Greatest Match Ever—An Oral History, Part 4 of 12

Few tennis matches have seemed as fated to be classics as the one that was played on Wimbledon’s Centre Court on July 6, 2008. The skies over southwest London were ominous that afternoon, but anticipation had rarely run higher. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were about to face off in another final at the All England Club.

TRAILER: Strokes of Genius, sponsored by Humana

Part 4: First ball(follow the entire oral history at TENNIS.com/StrokesOfGenius)

Beth Wilson, photographer and founder of former fan site NadalNews.com: I remember waking up in my house in Austin, TX, and turning the match on right away. I hadn’t been watching a lot of tennis, and I didn’t have cable. I wasn’t really a big sports person, but my grandma loved tennis, and we used to watch it together when I was younger. We would also watch matches over the phone. She loved Borg, and thought McEnroe and Jimmy Connors were punks. When I called her during the 1980 Wimbledon final between Borg and Mac, she was so into it, she said, “I’m in the middle of watching this, I can’t talk to you now.”

I always needed a player, a personality, to get me into tennis. I was a huge Mats Wilander fan, but I stopped watching in the ’90s, during the Pete Sampras-Andre Agassi era, and no one had brought me back. I had seen Nadal a few times and was interested, but mainly out of curiosity, because of the way he looked. The first time I saw him was at the French Open in 2005, when he had the pirate pants and sleeveless shirt. I said, “What the hell is this outfit this weirdo is wearing?” He seemed so dark and mean, too.

But then I saw him in the 2006 Wimbledon final against Federer, where he lost the first set 6–0. When he held serve to start the second set, he did a big “Vamos!” and I thought, “Awww, that’s cute, he still thinks he can win.” It wasn’t until the 2008 French Open final, when he beat Federer so badly, that I thought, “This guy really is a great player.”

So I wanted to see what he would do at Wimbledon. The match started, and I saw the first point, which was incredible. I was like, “Oh, I have to get out of bed for this.”

A LANDMARK DOCUMENTARY DURING THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS EVENT IN SPORTS, CELEBRATING THE UNPARALLELED FEDERER-NADAL RIVALRY AND 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREATEST MATCH EVER PLAYED.

In association with All England Lawn & Tennis Club, Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment and Amblin Television.  Directed by Andrew Douglas.