Federer's furously fights for fabulous fifth in five

History was made at another Grand Slam final and this time around it was the one Federer--and we Federer fans--dreamed of.

The great Swiss won a record-equaling fifth straight title at Wimbledon after battling with archrival Rafael Nadal in an intense nerve-wracking five-set final, 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(2) 2-6 6-2.

The match began fittingly with an ace from Federer who went on to pull ahead with a 3-0 lead as a nervous Nadal was broken in his very first service game. However, Nadal stepped up to break back and send the first set into a tiebreak. That tiebreak, won by Federer 9-7, effectually became a preview of the great battle to come.

Both players held serve during the next set before a couple of errors from Federer and a sharply hit passing backhand by Nadal enabled the latter to clinch the set 6-4 on a break of serve and level the match at one set all.

The struggle for supremacy continued into third set and Federer seemed to have gained the upperhand when he won it via another tie-break.

The hope of a four-set victory was erased however come the fourth set when Federer's serve in the opening game was promptly broken. Two games later, a break point earned by Nadal via a HawkEye challenge virtually handed him that set as the visibly irritated four-time defending champion fell behind 0-4. Nadal clearly could smell blood as he managed to close out the set at 6-2 despite an apparent knee injury.

In the deciding set, the end of his glorious reign on grass seemed nigh when Federer straight away fell behind 15-40 on his second service game. He managed to fight back to hold serve only to fall behind once again 15-40 on his next service game. This time, the King of Grass' accurate serve came to the rescue as he served two aces to hold serve once again. Then suddenly without warning, he swiftly struck a stunning blow to Nadal in the next game when he broke the Spaniard's serve to go up 4-2 in the final set with a passing forehand that threw up white chalk from the sideline. A visibly stunned Nadal could only basically watch helplessly as another series of unreturnable serves enabled a more confident Federer to easily hold serve for a 5-2 lead. Following that brilliant performance from the top seed, the end to the challenger's attempt to usurp the throne at Wimbledon came in a matter of minutes as Federer went for the jugular. In Nadal's next service game to stay in the match, Federer hit two formidable crosscourt forehands and fired a final smash at the net at his second championship point before crumpling to the ground in a mixture of ecstasy and relief.

On hand to applaud that thrilling and fitting end to a very damp fortnight of tennis was the legendary Swede, Bjorn Borg, whose grand total of 11 grand slam titles was likewise equaled by Federer with this latest victory. Federer also now has won 54 straight matches on grass which includes 34 straight in Wimbledon.

Federer is now within sight of Pete Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon singles titles and total of 14 grand slam titles.

Time to update that Nike advertisement, Tiger!
Photo credits: TOP: Chris Young/AFP/Getty Images; RIGHT: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images