There's just no one who's been as dominant as Graf, which I kind of like really. I like to see a lot of different people winning and some REAL competition out there. I guess that's really why Federer has annoyed me so much. But he's not annoying me right now. *cough* Sorry, sorry . . . I do kind of feel sorry for Fed. He truly did give it everything he had today. It's great to see a match like that, just GREAT!

i saw a lot of martina prior to steffi and she too raised the bar for womens tennis. gotta give them their dues and that includes roger.

it was an unbelievable match but i would have liked to see roger win his 6th in a row there. i love watching history being made and no nadal winning the french and wimbledon back to back doesn't really count in comparison. but such is life.

Honestly, the way that match was going, I thought it might go on till next Tuesday, lol. And theoretically, I guess it could have. Jeez, they both seemed like they could keep going till then too. Federer barely broke a sweat! How does he do that?!?

practice, practice, practice.

Nadal-Federer epic the most thrilling of all the Wimbledon finals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Ravi Ubha
Special to ESPN.com

Sunday's Wimbledon final was one of those times when you call a buddy immediately after the match ends and say, "Did you see that?"


Hope so.


Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer battled for nearly five hours, braving the conditions and each other, before the Spaniard finally ended the Swiss's reign at the All England Club. John McEnroe, a three-time Wimbledon champ, proclaimed it was the best tennis tussle he had ever seen.


Fitting, then, that we unveil the top five most memorable Wimbledon finals in the Open era. The most recent one leads the way.


1. Rafael Nadal versus Roger Federer, 2008. Nadal wins 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7



He needed four match points, but Rafael Nadal finally ended the longest men's final in Wimbledon history.
Before we talk about the actual tennis, let's throw some intangibles in there. The match began 20 minutes late due to rain and two more interruptions ensued -- one arguably helping Federer and the other favoring Nadal. Had they been on court much longer, surely bad light would have sent a third interruption for Monday.


In any case, at 4 hours, 48 minutes, it turned out to be the longest men's singles final in Wimbledon history.


The two gladiators delivered a combined 149 winners, almost double the unforced error tally, and Federer served huge when he needed to, especially in the third and fourth sets, and early in the fifth.


Nadal, though, proved how tough he is mentally. Blowing two match points in the fourth-set tiebreaker surely would have sent others downhill, but the Spaniard persevered and was impregnable on his own serve in the fifth, facing just one break point.


He held serve from early in the second set onward.


Nadal ended Federer's five-year hold on the trophy and his 65-match winning streak on grass. He probably silenced detractors, too, finally claiming a major on a surface other than clay.


"Probably later on in life, I'll go, 'That was a great match,' '' Federer said.


And he would be right.


2. Bjorn Borg versus John McEnroe, 1980. Borg wins 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16), 8-6


Getting over two match points is one thing, but recovering to win after squandering five in a tiebreaker -- perhaps the greatest in Wimbledon history -- is quite another.


Bjorg Borg, the stoic and super-fit Swede, achieved the feat in 1980, downing brash upstart John McEnroe. Chasing a fifth consecutive Wimbledon crown, Borg held set points on five separate occasions in the fourth-set 'breaker before McEnroe converted on his eighth set point to make it 18-16 and send the tussle to a fifth. To make matters worse, Borg held two match points earlier in the fourth.


The tiebreaker lasted 22 minutes and Borg would later admit he thought he had no chance of taking the fifth set.


"I have never been so disappointed on a tennis court as when I lost that fourth set,'' Borg said afterwards. "Seven match points and I failed to do it. Every time I had another match point, John came up with a great shot.''


Borg kept it together in the fifth, only dropping one point in his final six service games. McEnroe gained his revenge by beating Borg in 1981, bringing to an end his reign at the All England Club.


3. Goran Ivanisevic versus Patrick Rafter, 2001. Ivanisevic wins 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7


Rain played havoc with Wimbledon seven years ago -- should we say, more so than usual? -- and it ultimately led to one of the most memorable occasions in Grand Slam history. The men's final began on a Monday due to the precipitation, the first time that happened at Wimbledon since 1922. As a result, 10,000 tickets went on sale 2½ hours prior to the match, meaning a younger, more boisterous crowd was in attendance. And who to root for, the popular Ivanisevic, or, uh, popular Rafter?


Ivanisevic prevailed in what turned out to be the longest fifth set of a men's singles final at Wimbledon, in terms of games, at the time. In the process, he became the first men's wild card to capture a major.


Getting there was the fun part.


Ivanisevic, ranked outside the top 100 and a loser in three previous Wimbledon finals, cried, kissed the ball and jolted his left -- and serving -- arm as he tried to serve out the encounter. A service winner finally did the trick and Ivanisevic could hardly believe his Wimbledon misery was over.


"I think I'm dreaming,'' Ivanisevic said at the time. "Somebody is going to wake me up and tell me, 'Man, you didn't win.' ''


4. Venus Williams versus Lindsay Davenport, 2005. Williams wins 4-6, 7-6 (4), 9-7



Venus Williams has five Wimbledon trophies but is was her marathon final versus Lindsay Davenport that will go down as the most memorable.
The elder of the tennis playing sisters became the first ladies finalist at Wimbledon to save a match point, then go on to win, since Helen Wills Moody in 1935. Staring at defeat at 4-5, 30-40 in the third set, Venus Williams crunched a backhand that left Lindsay Davenport, who hasn't claimed a major since 2000, with no answer.


Williams had to rally once more in the third, trailing 2-4, and the two-hour, 45-minute thriller was the longest Wimbledon women's final in history.


Adding to the drama, Davenport carried on despite struggling with a back injury that surfaced in the deciding set.


"Every time the chips were down for Venus, she played unbelievably,'' Davenport said.


5. Steffi Graf versus Gabriela Sabatini, 1991. Graf wins 6-4, 3-6, 8-6


Graf had something to prove, coming off a humiliating 6-0, 6-2 loss to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the semifinal of the French Open weeks earlier and not winning a Grand Slam since the 1990 Australian Open, an age for her.


The final wasn't pretty -- Graf and fan favorite Sabatini were broken a combined 12 times in the second and third sets. However, there was plenty of drama.


Sabatini, who claimed her lone Grand Slam title by downing Graf at the U.S. Open 10 months earlier, turned things around by moving forward.


Twice she failed to serve out the encounter deep in the third set: At 6-5, 30-all, Sabatini hit a backhand volley that looked like a winner, but Graf chased it down and sent a winning reply, then broke and didn't lose another game.


It was the third of Graf's seven Wimbledon titles.




Ravi Ubha is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wi...&id=3475655

My future boyfriend, Federer lost

Yes....it can come true...he can be my boyfriend...there's nothing that good conversation, dim lights and a keg can't take care of

So, Federer lost in the Rogers Cup TO AN UNSEEDED player, Simon! Wow! Wow! Fed hasn't won a slam all year, and he may lose his No. 1 ranking at this rate. Wow! Wow!

lol ~ i'll play you 3 sets for him.

i think it was all strategic altho i haven't seen any of it (yeah yeah i know it's like the canadian open of tennis and i'm canadian but i've been busy)

think about it ~ if i am not mistaken this is the 1st time both nadal and roger have competed in it and it is right before a grand slam event. roger loses to a no name and nadal gets tired.

who knew i was a ct

Well, that's what I call wishful thinking, lol.

Nanny, nanny boo boo, Nadal is No. 1.

Sorry, you know how much I love the guy. Now he can fight for it. I'm looking forward to seeing if he can get it back.

The U.S. Open is gonna ROCK!

this is exactly why you are missterifuckingsunshine to me.

nadal is evil. well at least an asshole. no offense.

lol

Aw come on, you know he's a sweet kid. Federer is going to have to fight and play never before to get it back, and I'm going to enjoy the heck out of seeing some real competition in men's tennis. He's dominated for too long, but he's still one of the greats - okay? Imagine how satisfying it will be to seem him win the U.S. Open now! This is edge of your seat stuff.

i really don't like nadal. he dresses poorly and has that arrogant even mean look to him. that and his obsessive picking his underwear out of his ass drives me insane.

if we are talking talent well he has it but i think he may burn out quickly. he always seems injured.

altho it is definitely nadals year, my moneys on novak djokovic to become the next great one.

but yeah the us open is going to be fantastic this year.

The underwear pulling is annoying - I'll certainly agree with that, lol.

I don't know, it seems wide open to me this year. The U.S. Open always brings out the best in American players too, who haven't been looking so hot lately, on the men's side anyway. I could actually see myself almost cheering for Federer at the Open. He's really been out of sorts this year and just can't seem to find those "way to win" adjustments in his game that have served him so well all these years. He'll have to get that back to win the Open, and that would be GREAT TENNIS! I can't wait!