Wimbledon

I have been a hard core tennis fan since watching 'Boom Boom' Becker break through in 1985 and have seen some intense matches including finals. A few that come to mind

1988 US Open final - Wilander vs Lendl
1989 Wimbledon semifinal - Becker vs Lendl
1990 Wimbledon final - Becker vs Edberg
2007 Wimbledon final - Nadal vs Federer

I missed it this year, so unfortunate! But it was looking ominous for Federer with him slipping and Nadal improving year on year, the levels had to intersect.

Leander Paes has said it is slower at Wimbledon and in an earlier era Nadal would have been taken apart by Federer. I disagree as the gap between Nadal and Federer now is not so great on non-clay courts and it keeps increasing on clay and reducing on other surfaces.

The key this year was Federer not being able to break the Nadal serve so a quicker surface does'nt change that! What about Nadal breaking the Federer serve?

That was when Federer dropped his serve level briefly so again nothing to do with the surface. As always at Wimbledon the winner took his opportunities and the loser did not. No other slam turns around so quickly which is what makes Wimbledon the most attractive.

The thing is that Nadal has never been in awe of Federer. He goes at him like some great fighters of the past which include Jimmy Connors, Michael Chang who were never awed by their more fancied oponents, respectful yes, awed never.

This final is a closer match to Connors vs McEnroe 1982 than the more oft mentioned Borg vs McEnroe.