Federer, Nadal & the Greatest Match Ever—An Oral History, Part 5 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

Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated senior writer; author of Strokes of Genius: At the beginning of the year, I had a contract to write a book about Federer. Then he lost the Australian Open final to [Novak] Djokovic, and the French Open final to Nadal, and I’m wondering if I still have a book.

I was still wondering that after the first two sets, because Federer lost them pretty quickly. Then there was a rain delay, and Federer got through the third set, and the vibe changed from a blowout to a battle. That’s when the story started, and eventually my book would be about this match. It had every element of a classic. The rain, the darkness, the suspense of whether they would finish, the contrasts between the two that you couldn’t make up. But they were both likable guys, too, and they liked each other. This wasn’t Red Sox and Yankees, where there was bad blood. When these two played, it was like you were rooting for tennis.

I was also on deadline for Sports Illustrated, and I remember running between my seat in Centre Court and my desk in the press room, scrambling in and out to see the match and then come back and write something about it. You never knew what was coming. Were they going to play, or come off the court? Was it going to rain, or hold off? Was Nadal about to take down Federer, or was Federer about to stage the biggest comeback of his career?

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.