Federer vs Nadal: 5 Best Grand Slam finals between the two legends

1. 2008 Wimbledon

Enter caption

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

Match Stats:

Time Duration: 4 hrs 48 minutes

Points Won: 209-204 (Nadal)

Aces: 20-5 (Federer)

Winners: 98-65 (Federer)

Unforced errors: 41-65 (Nadal)

2008 was in a way the beginning of a new golden era of tennis. All three of the 'Big 3' won Slams that year, and the rest is history.

Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open at the start of the year to start his Slam count. Nadal won at Roland Garros in one of the most one-sided Slam finals ever, against Federer. Now it was time for Wimbledon, where Federer had defeated Nadal in the previous two year's finals.

Nadal won the first two sets by breaking Federer's serve thrice. Federer won the third in a tiebreak, and saved a few championship points in the fourth set tiebreak before winning it 10-8 to force the fifth set.

The final set was no exception to the rest of the match - there were numerous service holds and break points erased from both ends. Finally, in the 15th game, Nadal broke Federer's serve and seemingly his spirit too.

But the five-time champion was yet to give up. He saved another championship point in the final game of the tournament, but this was Nadal's moment to shine and he did so by holding his serve.

After the match Nadal lay on the ground in joy for a few minutes to take in the surreal experience. It was a changing of the guard moment in more ways than one.