BBC expert Boris Becker has placed the 2008 final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at Wimbledon in the category of the 5 best matches in history. After losing to Federer in back-to-back Wimbledon finals, Nadal burst into the 2008 Championships with a bang by beating the Swiss in an epic 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 final.
Federer was trying to extend his dominance at Wimbledon, but Nadal prevented him from winning a sixth straight Championship title. The 2008 Wimbledon final is considered by many to be, if not the greatest Grand Slam final in history, then at least one of the greatest Grand Slam finals in history.
“What I remember most from the 2008 final is that they got to play in the dark! It was so dark,” Becker recalled of the 2008 Wimbledon final, according to the BBC. “They probably would have only played one more game, the maximum, and then the game would have been called off and we would have had to see the final on Monday.
Roger was the favorite so it was a big surprise that Rafa won. If you think of the top five tennis matches, then this would be one of the five”
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The 22-time Grand Slam champion opened up about his love for football and his passion for Real Madrid in his book, Rafael Nadal: My Story. He said on this subject: “Football was my passion when I was a child, and it remains so today.
I can be at a tournament in Australia or Bangkok, and if there’s a big Real Madrid game on TV at five in the morning, I’ll wake up to watch it, even, sometimes, if I have a game to play later in the day.
And I will build my training program for the day, if necessary, according to the match schedule.” He adds: “I’m a fanatic. My godfather remembers that when I was four years old he showed me pictures of the crests of all the Spanish first division teams and, to his amazement, I was able to put a correct name on each of them”
Earlier this year, Real Madrid faced Liverpool in the Champions League final. The match took place at the Stade de France in Paris. The final took place at the same time as the French Open and Nadal was able to attend.
