McEnroe: This is the greatest match I've ever witnessed ... ever

AP Photo/Ian Walton

John McEnroe can't be serious. But he was. From the vantage point of the supposedly neutral NBC's lead tennis analyst, that was his response to today's Wimbledon men's final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Taking it a step further, however, McEnroe not only thanked both players afterward on camera but he gave Federer a consolatory hug after the five-time defending Wimbledon champ came out of the darkness of Centre Court and into the lighted hallway following Nadal's 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 victory that ended past 9 p.m. London time and lasted a record 4 hours, 48 minutes of actual play.
"How lucky we are to be here," said McEnroe, whose loss to Bjorn Borg in the 1980 final, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16), 8-6, was the previous longest men's championship match.
(See highlights of both Sunday's Nadal-Federer and Borg-McEnore at this MSNBC.com link).
When Federer left the court, McEnroe said to him: "Could I just say thank you as a tennis player that you allowed us to be part of this amazing spectacle?"
As Federer seemed subdued, McEnrore finally said: "I know you're feeling so much emotion right now ... give me a hug ... thank you, man ... thank you ... thank you so much, OK?"
Johnny Mac may get torched by other media critics for his Dr. Phil moment -- imagine Erin Andrews doing that to a quarterback who just lost a game ... she has done that already, right? -- but we aren't getting in that line to slam him too much for it.
To Nadal, McEnroe thanked him as well, saying "it was a honor to watch it."
In a match that spanned about seven hours because of rain delays, it was McEnroe who will also be the first to rub it "Dinner at Wimbledon," although it was just past lunch time here on the West Coast.

Bud Collins, the former Boston Globe tennis writer and longtime NBC booth analyst, said during his appearance on ESPN's Sunday night "SportsCenter" that the match was, "to me, it's No. 1 of all time (for men's finals) that I've seen ... (better than) Borg-McEnroe of 1980 and '81 ... I don't want to take anything from those guys, but these guys, there was a higher tone to it."
Collins earlier this month, by the way, pushed a 722-page history of tennis (see the link to it here) that now probably has to be updated.

Also check out the London Times (linked here), where writer Barry Flatman says:

UPDATE: ESPN Classic will replay Sunday's final at 4 p.m. Monday with Dick Enberg and Patrick McEnore doing the call.