It seemed an eternity as the ball spiralled into the air before Roger Federer played the final stroke of the most enthralling Wimbledon men’s singles final since the days of Björn Borg and John McEnroe, who, keen of eye and grey of hair, were on hand to witness it.

Federer smacked the shot away into one of those rarities yesterday, an open court, rolled on the turf and rose to Centre Court’s confirmation of his greatness, as if anyone doubted it.

Federer, a champion for the fifth time in succession, defeated Rafael Nadal, a certain future champion here, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2, both men combining to give the tournament a send-off that it could not have expected when the rains poured, locker-rooms were crowded and matches were taking five days to complete.

Banish the bad images, forget about the damp, the cold, the drizzle, harken not to those who departed Wimbledon muttering darkly under their breath about the unfairness of it all and celebrate instead the brilliance of the two best players in the world, who sparkled and shone on a day just perfect for the kind of sport they provided. Spare a thought for Nadal, who came perilously close to upsetting the bandwagon — four times in the fifth set he had points to break Federer and on two of those he ought to have managed to keep the ball in play.

Expert View

Never again can anyone question Nadal’s aptitude to transfer his clay court game onto grass

Barry Flatman

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BACKGROUND

• Federer equals Borg's famous five

• Swiss maestro survives Nadal barrage

• Murray’s mixed blessing ensures domestic bliss

• Fans starting to feel short-changed

• Results from SW19

Related Internet Links

• Rafael Nadal blog

• The Wimbledon blog

• Wimbledon Timeline

Multimedia

• Wimbledon match tracker

• Flushing Meadows Image Highlights

• 2007 Wimbledon draw

Related Links

• Timing is everything for Federer

• Comment: Barry Flatman

The last momentum shift, however, was in favour of this giant of an athlete from Switzerland, two of his favoured forehand passes skipping off the turf in the sixth game of the final set to engineer the crucial service break. He backed it up with three aces, his 22nd, 23rd and 24th of an afternoon when that aspect of his game was to prove the critical difference.

To Federer then, the spoils. He had the strokes of luck, no arguing about that. When others were losing their heads, he won three matches with limited toil, learnt that Tommy Haas, his fourth-round opponent, had withdrawn with a stomach muscle tear, returned after a five-day hiatus and proceeded perkily to the final. His arrival was in marked contrast to Nadal, who lived on the premises for the best part of a week, picking at his socks in the locker-room, coming perilously close to losing in the third round to Robin Söderling, a feisty Swede, and needing five sets the next day to close out Mikhail Youzhny, of Russia.

Given all of that, though, Federer knew that Nadal would not give an inch, for it is simply not the Spaniard’s style. The Swiss burst into a 3-0 lead and one revisited last year’s final when he breezed the first set to love, but Nadal pegged him back, a crunching double-fisted backhand winner that took the Federer serve the first indication this would be a seismic scrap.

It took Federer five set points and the first of his duels with his second opponent of the afternoon — the Hawk-Eye technology — to get his nose in front. The timing of Nadal’s use of the machine can get under an opponent’s skin — he often waits until the opponent is walking around to serve before pointing to the sky — almost as much as the trustworthiness of the system itself. The longer the final went on, the greater Federer’s exasperation; it is further testament to his temperament that he was able to keep body and soul in harness.

It was sorely tested when Nadal claimed the one break in the second set, winning one point in that game when seated on his backside on the baseline and managing to conjure a winning backhand pass. If Boris Becker had copyright on the full-length dive, the winner-while-seated patent is one for the Spaniard.

A third set without a break of serve might have been Nadal’s to claim when, at 5-6, 15-30 on Federer’s serve, he had sight of a forehand in mid-court, the like of which he usually sticks in the corner, but he snatched at this one and netted. The reprieve offered Federer a second wind and he played a tie-break of consummate concentration. Then, he answered a call of nature which is an unusual occurrence for him — during a match, that is.

Perhaps he sneaked a look at the champions’ roll of honour because he came back in an extremely edgy state. The ball was bouncing from the frame at crazy angles, Hawk-Eye was giving him bum calls and Nadal was suddenly 4-0 ahead. At the 4-1 changeover, Federer let rip. “This system is s***,” he stormed at Carlos Ramos, the umpire. “Look at the score, look what it’s doing, it’s killing me.” He asked for the umpire to throw the off switch, but Ramos declined.

And so to a fifth set, the first time Federer had been in such territory in a Wimbledon final. He held serve to love, Nadal hung in and within a flash the champion was a couple of break points down — but Nadal missed another of his whipped forehands on the second; 2-1 to Federer. In his subsequent service game, he was break-point down — Nadal saw a second serve but pushed the backhand return long and Federer’s next serve was akin to a thunderbolt; 3-2 to Federer.

It became 4-2 in the blink of an eye, Nadal’s forehand on the first point clipping the top of the net and falling wide, a slice of fortune that Federer followed with two of his finest forehands of the afternoon. The final game lasted 12 points, Nadal kept pumping his fists but this was not Roland Garros but Wimbledon. His Wimbledon.

High fives

Federer’s successive titles
2007 bt R Nadal (Sp) 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2
2006 bt Nadal 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3
2005 bt A Roddick (US) 6-2, 7-6, 6-4
2004 bt Roddick 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4
2003 bt M Philippousis (Aus) 7-6, 6-2, 7-6

Bjorg’s successive titles
1980 bt J McEnroe (US) 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6
1979 bt R Tanner (US) 6-7, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
1978 bt J Connors (US) 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
1977 bt Connors 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4
1976 bt I Nastase (Rom) 6-4, 6-2, 9-7