It was a summer of firsts for Rafael Nadal in 2008, beginning with winning his first Wimbledon title, where he defeated Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7, in what is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis matches of all time.
And he wasn’t done with the breakthroughs there.
Six weeks later on August 17th, 2008—exactly 15 years ago to this day—Nadal won his first Olympic gold medal in Beijing, following up a grueling 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 semifinal victory over Novak Djokovic with a 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3 triumph over Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in the gold medal match.
“I know how difficult it is to win these things, and especially here, because you only have one chance every four years,” he said afterwards. “And to win here for me is, well, unbelievable no? I just can say thank you very much to all my team for supporting me all the time, and thank you very much all the athletes in the village, because I spent a fantastic time there.
“I was two weeks here. I arrived very tired after flying directly from Cincinnati to here. And the reason, probably, that I won—the reason I won this title—is because I had a fantastic time here, enjoying a lot in the village. Thank you very much to all the Spanish athletes for coming every day to support me.
"That was an amazing experience for me.”