Nadal Defeats Federer In Wimbledon Final

It took an entire day and an incredible amount of mental and physical toughness, but Rafael Nadal, who was once considered a clay-court specialist, narrowly defeated Roger Federer in the Wimbledon Men's Final.

Federer had won the previous 5 Wimbledon championships, but throughout today's match he made several un-Federer-like mistakes. Federer had to fight to save many break points and it always seemed like he was playing from behind in the match. Nadal's main advantage was clearly his quickness though, and even though it was the longest championship match ever, Nadal was full of energy to the end.

After the match, John McEnroe, who does analysis for NBC, was rather adamant that the match was the greatest he had ever witnessed. It was definitely a great match, but I don't think it was the greatest one I've watched.

Some of my favorite matches that come to mind include:

-2000 Wimbledon Final, Pete Sampras defeated Patrick Rafter in a very entertaining 4-setter. It was also Sampras' final Wimbledon championship.

-2001 Wimbledon Final, Goran Ivanisevic defeated Rafter, another exciting match that went 5 sets, and the final set was won by Ivanisevic 9-7.

-2002 US Open Final, Pete Sampras defeated Andre Agassi, end of an era for US tennis, Sampras beat Agassi in 4 sets.

-2003 Australian Open Quarterfinal, Andy Roddick defeated Younes El Aynaoui in a 5 set match, the final set was 21-19.

-2005 US Open Quarterfinal and Semifinal, Andre Agassi, in his second to last US Open, defeated James Blake in a 5-set quarterfinal, and then Robby Ginepri in the semifinals in another 5-setter. Agassi ran into Federer in the Championship, losing in 4 sets.