Monday, July 7, 2008 '
Dedicated for Muhd Khairul Marshall
Nadal Sets Sights on No. 1 After Epic Wimbledon Battle
World No. 2 Rafael Nadal (pictured) has the World No. 1 ranking firmly in his sights after becoming the first man since Sweden’s Bjorn Borg in 1980 to clinch the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double on Sunday. He also emulated the achievement of Spanish compatriot Manuel Santana, who captured the 1966 Wimbledon title.
Nadal made it third time lucky against ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland in The Championships final, after beating the five-time defending champion 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7 on Centre Court. The final, which finished at 9:15pm BST, was twice interrupted by rain.
"[I'm] just very happy because I played with very positive attitude all the time," said Nadal. [To] win here is unbelievable for me."
At four hours and 48 minutes in duration, it was the longest final in Wimbledon history (since 1877), and the 9-7 deciding set was the longest in a championship since 2001 when Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia defeated Australian Pat Rafter 9-7 in the fifth set.
Nadal has closed the gap to 545 points in the South African Airways ATP Rankings behind Federer. Federer has 6,600 points to Nadal's 6,055. Nadal came into Wimbledon 1,145 points behind Federer.
