“That was the best match of all time,” enthused John McEnroe, former Wimbledon champion and now TV commentator. The Wimbledon champion this year, Rafael Nadal, spoke of the “largest, most beautiful moment” of his life. In five sentences, he had the strong Majorcans the duration champion Roger Federer niedergekämpft. In the history of Wimbledon, it was the longest final in tennis this season, it was the highlight.

In addition, there were more exciting matches. In June, Nadal won for the fourth time in succession, the French Open. In August he won Olympic gold in Beijing in the singles and Federer ousted from first place in the world.

In Women’s Tennis Venus Williams dominated the major tournaments. They won at Wimbledon and won the Ladies Masters. And the German players? Rainer Schüttler reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. Nicolas Kiefer played a solid season and was a surprise even to Shanghai Masters Cup to fly. See the following pages on the Shakers and most successful players of the tennis season