Rafa Wins - Behind Enemy Lines.

"Rafa" became the first man to claim the Wimbledon - French Open double since Bjorn Borg in 1980 and is now laying siege to Federer's coveted number 1 ranking. Nadal won a five-set battle 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 in 4 hours and 48 minutes to win his first Wimbledon title.

A day before the clash, Federer said, “It’s my time of the season.” But, Nadal proved that time wasn’t right for him, and once again Federer was overpowered, but this time in his own territory, The Wimbledon.

A combination of factors had led to Nadal claiming favoritism for the tournament despite Federer's dominance of the event for five years. Nadal's stunning performance in losing last year's final; Federer's flat start to the 2008 season [due to illness]; Nadal's crushing victory in the recent French Open final; and the Spaniard's improvement on all surfaces this year had caused authorities as respected as Bjorn Borg to favor Nadal before the tournament.

The result has many consequences, most notably; a proof that Nadal is currently the best player in the world and Federer only just holds the #1 ranking. Here are some glimpses of the cliffhanger.

The defending Champion

The New Champion

Clash of Titans

And he did it !!!

Humbled

So near, yet so far........

Champion(Nadal) and The Legend.

Sweet Success

Glory

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"Tumble"don 2008

I think it wont be wrong to call this year's Wimbledon, Tumbledon 2008. It has been a host to some great upsets, with a lot of top seed players tasting grass...i mean...dust in the initial rounds. Here's the story so far:



Round 2

It came as a pleasant surprise to all, including Marat Safin himself when he trounced Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who is ranked third in the world, in the second round of the ongoing 2008 Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday, June 25. The Russian player Safin, infact, had already booked a flight for his return home on Wednesday evening. But he will now be staying back following his plucky win of 6-4, 7-6 and 6-2 over Djokovic to continue his journey in this Grand Slam tournament. Marat Safin later admitted that he himself was hugely amazed by the way he performed.




Andy Roddick suffered his worst Wimbledon performance when he went out in the second round, beaten 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 by Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic. It was the first time he had lost at the All England Club before the third round. The American's serve was still unplayable at times, with 27 aces whistling past Tipsarevic at up to 142mph, the fastest service speed recorded so far. However, the rest of Roddick's game had too many flaws to enable the sixth seed to make further progress.






Round 3



Maria Sharapova arrived on Centre Court sporting an outfit inspired by evening wear, and she now has ample time to put it to more conventional use after crashing out in the second round to Russian unknown Alla Kudryavtseva. It is hardly the first time that Sharapova, the 2004 champion and world No3, has struggled against a compatriot, but no could have predicted that she would lose in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, to an unknown Muscovite ranked 154th



Top seed Ana Ivanovic crashed out of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships on Friday, only one day after third seed Maria Sharapova exited in the second round.
The 2008 French Open champion was upset in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 by 133rd-ranked Zheng Jie of China. Ivanovic, the current world number one, barely escaped her second round match against Nathalie Dechy on Wednesday, but today she was not lucky enough to escape with a mediocre performance.

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