Article

  • Rod Laver hails Nadal as Wimbledon TV ratings soar

    7/10/08 11:43 AM | Johan Lindahl
    - Grand Slam legend Rod Laver has hailed the Wimbledon win of Rafael Nadal, with the last man to win all four majors in the same season (1969) adding his voice to those proclaiming Sunday's Roger Federer-Nadal final an all-time classic.

    “It was the best match I've ever seen”, said the California-baed 'Rocket, 68 and four times a Wimbledon winner. “I was watching it and thinking 'How do you win a point?”

    “Until today, Roger was the best player in the world - now Nadal is”.

    “To not be on clay, his surface, and do that. I'm just amazed. What an unbelievable performance. My hat is off to Rafael because of how he pulled this off. His fitness is quite amazing. He looks like he could play for a day-and-a-half”.

    “It was so competitive and such wonderful tennis you have to figure it's just going to do wonders for the game”.

    Laver was among billions around the world who viewed the historic match, with television ratings through the roof in many key markets.

    BBC1 viewership topped 13.1 million in a nation of around 60 million, beating even the 10.5 million who watched Scot Andy Murray come from two sets to love down in the fourth round over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

    Even the all-Williams women's final attracted 4.9 million people, an increase of 1 million over last year's figure.

    Spanish television ratings were also huge a week after the country won the Euro 2008 trophy, as networks said viewership almost tripled during the men's final.

    The average share of viewers for Wimbledon jumped from 8.5 percent to 24 percent over the course of seven hours.

    In the US, hardly known for brilliant live coverage, a pair of non-Americans still got pulses racing. The “Breakfast at Wimbledon” show on NBC lasted for eight hours and drew ratings 44 percent higher than last year's final between Federer and Nadal.

    It was the best since 2000, when Pete Sampras beat Patrick Rafter.

Tell a friend »

Comments


Write comment

You have to be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, click here to register. It only takes a minute and you'll be redirected back to this page.
Username:

Password: