JUST when you thought this tournament had seen everything -- and it had seen a lot of things: Venus Williams winning her fifth title; the top four ladies' seeds all eliminated by the end of the first week; the resurgence of Marat Safin; a first British girls' winner since 1984 -- this topped it all. Wimbledon has a new king. dethroned Roger Federer after a five-year reign by winning the longest-ever Wimbledon men's final. It will be called the greatest final ever. It was certainly the longest at 4 hours 48 minutes, and that is without the two rain delays. On occasions, Nadal and Federer could only shake their heads and marvel at the quality of their opponent's shots. They were spectators, like the rest of us, to a masterclass in tennis. On other occasions, shots that would have beaten any other player were returned as winners. Not only was the tennis of the highest quality, it was of the nerve-wracking variety as well. Federer went down two sets to love, he saved two Championship points, Nadal lost two tie-breakers, the fifth set was still going as it was getting darker, the players were tired. It was all too much. When the dust settled, Nadal was the new champion, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7, and no one who saw this unforgettable match could say he didn't deserve it. All the talk had been about Federer breaking Bjorn Borg's record of five consecutive Wimbledon titles, but it was the second seed who upstaged Borg, by becoming the first player to win back-to-back at the French Open and Wimbledon. The other matches that day, despite the quality of their tennis, were eclipsed by this finale. For the record, Samantha Stosur and Bob Bryan won the mixed doubles, Jessica Moore and Polona Hercog claimed the girls' doubles, while Chinese Taipei duo Cheng-Peng Hsieh and Tsung-Hua Yang were crowned boys' doubles champions. In the Wheelchairs Masters Series, Dutch duo Robin Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink retained their Wimbledon title. "In tennis, unfortunately there has to be winners and losers, there's no draws," Federer said. "But I really had to push hard to come back. And I wasn't able to break him in the last three sets, but still I pushed him right to the edge. It's probably my hardest loss, by far. I mean, it's not much harder than this right now." "I just say, 'Good tournament. Sorry'," is how Nadal relayed his thoughts to Federer after the match. "Because I know how tough it is to lose a final like this. This is tougher than last year, and last year I was very disappointed in the end. So he is a great champion, no? His attitude is always positive when he loses, when he wins. Always accepts the victories and the losses with the same humbleness for him." Venus Williams claimed her fifth Wimbledon singles crown after ending her losing run against sister Serena in Grand Slam finals to win 7-5, 6-4 in a riveting match which wonderfully lived up to the occasion. It was the seventh clash of the sisters in a Grand Slam final, but, ever since Venus won the first of those at the 2001 US Open, it had been Serena all the way in those big matches, including two previous Wimbledon finals. Both looked nervous as they arrived on court, but if that was the case they must have thrived on it. To describe the match as superlative is to somewhat do it down. This was not one for the conspiracy theorists to relish. The sisters had their match faces on. They were blasting not only the ball to bits but also, when they could, each other. It was an out-and-out display of competitive play, and it was gripping to watch.
