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.
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.”
There was one more first to come, and it came the next day—Nadal’s gold medal victory at the Beijing Olympics pushed him to No. 1 on the ATP rankings for the first time, after having spent a record 160 consecutive weeks at No. 2 behind Federer.
“For me, it doesn’t change too much two weeks ago and right now. The pressure is the same because I will be No. 1 tomorrow, but I want to continue winning the same titles like when I was No. 2,” he said. “I want to continue to be in the top positions like when I was No. 2. Probably I’m going to be No. 2 another time in a few months. You never know, no?”
At the time, Nadal was already a four-time Roland Garros champion and the new Wimbledon champion. By winning his first Australian Open in 2009 and his first US Open in 2010 he completed a Career Golden Slam, one of only two men in tennis history—alongside Andre Agassi—to achieve that feat.
Nadal would add another Olympic gold medal to his resume in Rio in 2016, winning the doubles there with Marc Lopez. He’s one of only two men in the Open Era, alongside Nicolas Massu, to have won Olympic gold in both singles and doubles.
