5 Most Memorable Slam Finals Of The Open Era

#1 Wimbledon 2008 (Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal)

(The Clash of Titans)

Overview:

Time Duration: 4 hrs 48 minutes

Total No of points: 413

Total games played: 60

Total No of Aces: 31

Total No of Winners: 149

Final Scoreline

Nadal def. Federer: 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(8–10), 9–7

Background:

Federer had already won 5 Wimbledon titles in a row and Nadal was the runner-up in the previous two. Though Federer had won last two finals on this ground, everyone could sense that the Spaniard was getting closer to end Federer's dominance on the grass of the All England Club. It had just been a few weeks since Nadal had thrashed Federer in a one-sided final at Roland Garros. And legends like Borg predicted Nadal to be that year's Wimbledon Champion. Both the top 2 seeds reached the final fairly easily - Roger without dropping a set and Nadal losing just one.

Match:

Federer served first to start the proceedings but got broken on his second service game. Nadal held all of his service games to clinch the first set by 6-4. The second set started exactly opposite to the first with Roger breaking immediately after holding his own serve. After three more games the Swiss Maestro was up 4-1 in the set, but Nadal fought back as always winning 5 straight games to win the set by 6-4. The third set went the distance with both of the players holding their serves saving a few break points in the process. Federer dominated the tiebreak and clinched it with an ace in the end.

The fourth set was for the servers to hold without facing a single break point in the process. And so the tiebreak started with Roger gaining an early mini-break just to give it back to Nadal in the next few points. Nadal was up 5-2 on his serve, however, at that point, the pressure of a big point started to build and Nadal double-faulted.

The Swiss went on to win next four points to get a set point at 6-5. This was Federer's turn to panic to mistime a forehand and the score was level. The game of gaining and losing of match points and set points went on until finally, Roger converting one of the set points to level the match.

The final set was no exception to the rest of the match, service games held, break points were erased from both ends, until finally in the 15th game, Nadal broke Roger's serve and his spirit too. But the five time champion was yet to give up. He saved another championship point on the final game of the tournament but this was Nadal's moment to shine and he did so by holding his serve and then he laid on the ground in joy. "There is a new man in the Jungle" was the cry from the commentator and indeed the Spaniard was the man of the moment.

Honorable Mentions: 1980 US Open(Borg vs McEnroe), 1982 Wimbledon(Connors vs McEnroe), 1988 US Open(Lendl vs Wilander) , 2007 Wimbledon(Federer vs Nadal), 2017 Australian Open(Federer vs Nadal).