By Angus MacKinnon
Roger Federer described his Wimbledon final defeat by Rafael Nadal as the most painful of his career, but vowed that he is not about to give up his World No 1 status to his great rival.
"It is probably my hardest loss by far, there is not much harder than this right now," the despondent Swiss star admitted after losing one of the greatest Grand Slam finals 9-7 in the fifth set after four hours and 48 minutes of extraordinary drama on the All-England Club's Centre Court.
Having being part of a final that will rank alongside the great Bjorn Borg/John McEnroe classic of 1980 provided little in the way of solace for Federer, who was denied the opportunity to surpass Borg's run of five consecutive titles.
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Federer, 26, was gracious in praise for the performance of Nadal, who had threatened to repeat his straight-sets win in last month's French Open final after claiming the first two sets.
But his bitterness at losing his Wimbledon crown was reflected in a gripe about the fact that the match, which was twice interrupted for rain, was finished in rapidly fading light.
"I almost could not see who I was playing at the end, it was not funny," Federer said, revealing that he would have asked for play to be suspended for the night if he had broke back to level the match at 8-8 in the final set.
"It would have been brutal for the fans, for the media and for us to come back tomorrow, but it is also tough on me to lose the biggest tournament in the world because of a loss of light.
"I thought I played well overall, but I missed too many chances in the first couple of sets," he confessed.
"I was struggling with the wind a little bit.
"On some of the break points Rafa played great, on others I played poorly.
"I should have decided much more what I really wanted to do, but Rafa keeps you thinking and that is what great players do."
Federer did not take kindly to a suggestion that he should be preparing to hand the No 1 position over to his Spanish rival. "You write what you want," he snapped.
"I'm going to try and win the Olympics and the US Open and then we can talk again."
Federer did not let his reign at Wimbledon end without an almighty scrap.
After holding his nerve to win a third set tie-break, he then saved two match points at the end of the fourth and, for much of the fifth he looked the more likely winner.
"It was a great feeling to turn it around in the fourth set tiebreak and to push it to the fifth set was awesome," he said. "I really thought that with the momentum and having won in five sets last year that I was going to do it again.
"I saw he was getting very nervous in the fourth set tiebreak. He could not make the returns he usually does. I really felt he was feeling it and the momentum was with me." - Sapa-AFP/AP
- This article was originally published on page 16 of Cape Times on July 09, 2008
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