Nadal the king of clay turns grass master in Wimbledon's all-time epic

Both the Guardian and The Independent are referring to it as "the greatest tennis match ever played" and, as someone who sat riveted in front of the TV for the four hours and forty eight minutes it took to complete it, I would have to say that I agree.

A contest that should go down as the greatest Wimbledon final in history ended in near darkness at 9.15pm with Nadal winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 to end Federer's five-year reign as champion.

At four hours and 48 minutes it was the longest Wimbledon final ever, beating by 32 minutes Jimmy Connors' 1982 victory over John McEnroe. Two rain breaks meant that the match finished nearly seven hours after it had begun.

And whether you were on centre court, or watching as I was from home, for those seven hours you were going nowhere.

From the noises being made by the crowd on centre court it appeared that they, like most Brits watching, wanted Federer to take his sixth Wimbledon victory and - with Bjorg watching - surpass his unbelievable record.

But in the end victory went to Nadal and, even though I had wanted the opposite result, it was impossible not to applaud what we had all just witnessed.

Federer defended his title with all the courage we have come to expect of a player who is still tantalisingly two Grand Slam titles short of Pete Sampras's record of 14. Having saved two match points in the fourth set tie-break, the Swiss went within two points of becoming the first man for 60 years to win a Wimbledon final from two sets down.

But Nadal always appeared to force Federer to make yet another return. No matter how often he thought he had him beaten, Nadal would somehow get the ball back over the net and force Federer to play one more shot.

It was simply riveting stuff. And, as Nadal climbed over the Wimbledon roof to shake the hand of the Spanish prince who had come to watch him play, I suddenly thought what a good year it was to be Spanish.

They won the European Championship for the first time in 42 years a few weeks ago and now here was Nadal becoming the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon since Santana in 1966.

It was simply unforgettable.

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Tags: Wimbledon, Nadal, Federer