Federer, Nadal & the Greatest Match Ever—An Oral History, Part 6 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

Brad Gilbert, ESPN tennis analyst; former ATP player and coach: I was watching with [colleague] Chris Fowler. We had pretty good seats, and we weren’t calling the match. But we had to come out for it. How could you not?

I was slightly leaning toward Fed to win, but was just hoping for a good match. Then Rafa comes out and wins the first two sets, and I’m thinking this is going to be over in a hurry. I think it was the third-set tiebreaker where Fed ripped off a couple of winners, the crowd erupted, and I had this feeling, “Strap in.” From there it was a great match.

It’s hard to play a high-level match on grass because it’s a tricky surface. But both Fed and Rafa slugged back and forth with huge swings, and got to so many balls that no one else would have come close to. In that small arena, where the ball echoes, the match had a heavyweight-fight feel. It might not have been their best match, quality-wise, but it was about 50 times better than any match on grass I’d seen.

But this one was about the drama. There were rain delays, which we don’t have on Centre Court anymore; it was the last year without the roof. It got to be 7:30, 8:30 p.m., getting darker, and I’m saying, “Are they going to get this in? Are they going to restart this so late?” It was sweaty-palm time.

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.