The 124th Championships, a Royal tournament thanks to the first visit to the All England Club by Her Majesty the Queen for 33 years, was also a record-breaking occasion in many ways, most notably in that unforgettable first round men's singles between John Isner of the United States and France's Nicolas Mahut, which smashed every existing record in the sport.
Then there was the wonderful weather, which ushered the tournament to a prompt conclusion and was described by the All England Club's historian, Alan Little, as 'the sunniest I can remember'. And finally, there were the champions, Rafael Nadal clocking up various new marks by winning the men's championship for a second time, and Serena Williams, who rounded out in thunderous fashion a decade in which she and her sister Venus have utterly dominated the women's singles.
In defeating the 12th seed, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 Nadal confirmed his clear status as world No.1. He became the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon twice and he again matched Bjorn Borg's 1980 mark and Roger Federer (2009) by coming from triumph at the French Open on clay to capture Wimbledon on grass, just as he had done two years ago. Nadal had been unable to defend that 2008 title last summer because of knee problems but his return to action this year has been sensationally successful as he swept unstoppably through the clay court season and then won the world's premier prize and the one he covets most of all, Wimbledon.
Nadal needed only two hours 13 minutes to do the job, the quickest men's final since Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick in 2005, and Serena Williams did an even more rapid job in the women's final on the preceding day. She dismissed Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2 in 67 minutes to complete an astonishing decade of Wimbledon domination by the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus. Between them they have captured the women's title nine times in the 11 years since the Millennium and, says Serena, they intend to be back next year to carry on the good work. In stark contrast was the Isner-Mahut first round marathon, which stretched over three days, lasted 11 hours five minutes and totaled 183 games before Isner staggered away the winner 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68. The final set alone lasted just over eight hours. Both men shattered the record for aces in one match, previously held by Ivo Karlovic at 78. Isner delivered 112 and Mahut also cracked the century with 103. An exhausted Isner crashed out to Thiemo De Bakker of Holland in the next round, collecting just five games.
The tournament was notable for the number of men's five-set matches in the early rounds. Nadal himself survived two of them, against Robin Haase of Holland and Germany's Philipp Petzschner, and another, between the third seed Novak Djokovic and Olivier Rochus of Belgium, saw the only occasion on which the Centre Court roof was closed, due to lack of light rather than the threat of rain. That five-setter also produced another Wimbledon record, the latest-ever finish to a day's play at 10.58pm.
