Official Wimbledon Site | Men’s Draw | Ladies’ Draw |
Wow! John McEnroe opined that the 2008 Wimbledon men’s final was the best match he’d ever seen. At 4 hours and 48 minutes it was certainly the longest (the previous record was the 1982 Connors v. McEnroe final at 4 hours, 16 minutes). I loved it, stomach twisting and turning all the way.

In the end Rafael Nadal won the a gut-wrenching five set  6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 match that spanned two rain delays and threatened to go into Monday. Nadal had two championship points in the 3rd and 4th sets that Roger Federer managed to stave off. But Nadal was just too good. As hard as it is for me to say it, Nadal deserved that win. Point for point he chased down everything Federer threw at him.

(Nadal collapses after his hard-fought win)

    
(Nadal hugs trophy - Federer contemplates defeat)

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Tags: federer, grand slam, murray, nadal, v williams, wimbledon, wimbledon 2008

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Since I wrote about Rafael Nadal’s designer tennis shoes at the 2008 French Open, it is only fitting to post pictures the designer shoes worn by Federer at Wimbledon 2008.

As you can see, he wear’s custom Nike, Zoom Air, Fit Frame tennis shoes. On the left heal, his RF trademark is displayed. On the right heal, the Wimbledon gold trophy is emblazoned with the number 5 - signifying his 5 prior Wimbledon singles championships.

[June 6, 2008 Update: Having lost to Nadal in the finals, it appears that the insignia on the right heal won’t be changing any time soon ]

Tags: designer shoes, federer, tennis shoes, wimbledon 2008

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Official Wimbledon Site | Men’s Draw | Ladies’ Draw |
The first week of a grand slam usually offers terrific tennis. This week was no exception. There were some major upsets and terrific matches.  See my “Wimbledon 2008 Begins” post for my Monday observations.

There was a touching moment (depicted in the picture above - click for larger view) this week when Richard Williams went over and shook the hand of Mr. Keothavong after Richard’s daughter Venus beat his daughter Anne 7-6, 6-2 in the 2nd round. Mr. Keothavong was clearly impressed.

Tuesday - Davenport Injury

It was difficult to watch my all-time favourite woman’s player, Davenport’s,  struggle with an ‘aggravated’ knee (an MRI after the match revealed inflammation behind the knee cap - not a permanent injury). Davenport’s career is near and end. It was sad to see her bow out on Thursday. But in an interview on Thursday she said she’ll be ready for the Beijing Olympics in a few weeks.

Wednesday’s Matches

Two of Wednesday’s matches are prime examples of why watching early round grand slam matches can be so fulfilling:

• Nathalie Dechy and Ana Ivanovic played three nail-biting sets. As much as I like Ivanovic I was cheering for Dechy all the way. What terrific play. But for an Ivanovic shot that barely dribbled over the net on match point in the 2nd, 97th ranked Dechy would have won the match against the current world’s number 1.  Below Ana is kissing the part of the net where the ball hit the net chord.

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Tags: blake, davenport, dechy, djokovic, grand slam, ivanovic, jie, kudryavtseva, roddick, safin, safina, sharapova, tipsarevic, wimbledon, wimbledon 2008

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