Wow!

I witnessed the Yankees' miracle comebacks in Games 4 and 5 of the 2001 World Series. I had the pleasure of watching Vince Young will Texas to a national title victory in 2006. I've gotten to see McGwire versus Sosa, Jordan versus Russell, Pierce versus LeBron.

All among the greatest sports events of my lifetime -- but none of which compare to what I saw on a tennis court today.

At around 9 a.m., I sat down with my breakfast to watch the Wimbledon men's singles championship, a dream matchup between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But little did I realize that this highly-anticipated showdown, which already generated tremendous excitement coming in, would turn into something so memorable, so epic, that by the time it would end, it was nearly dinnertime.

For those of you who slept through the day waiting for Joba to take on the Red Sox later tonight, you missed something truly special. I'll let the final score do the talking: Nadal def. Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7.

I won't pretend like I'm enough of a tennis aficionado to know where this match ranks all-time in the history of the sport. But what I do know is that I just witnessed the greatest sporting event of my entire life. Yes, neither player is American. Yes, it was frustrating waiting through three rain delays. Yes, it's tennis. But when something makes your heart truly pound, when you find yourself sitting literally at the edge of your seat, when you find that your jaw is actually dropping, you step back and appreciate it no matter how little you paid attention to it before.

It wasn't the outcome per se that made this such an incredible viewing experience. Sure, when someone who has never won Wimbledon in his life, who hails from a country that hasn't bred a Wimbledon champion since the late 1960's, dethrones a 5-time defending champion and arguably the greatest player the sport has ever seen, the outcome itself is pretty noteworthy.

But remember, this was hardly an upset. Given how close Nadal came to toppling Federer at the All-England Club last year and given how Nadal dismantled Federer at the French Open earlier this year, some in the tennis media went so far as to proclaim Nadal the favorite heading into Wimbledon. More so than the outcome, it was the quality of the action that separated this from anything I've ever seen.

Take Federer, for instance. Whenever he was down in this match -- which was basically the entirety of the 4-hour, 48-minute affair -- he came up with some miracle to let you know that he wasn't out. Down two sets, facing 0-40 on-serve in the third, Federer won five straight points to hold. Down 5-2 in a classic fourth-set tiebreak, with Nadal primed to serve out the title, Federer saved two championship points -- the second, on a stunning, gutsy backhand winner down the line -- to force a fifth set.

This was hardly the often lifeless and unengaged Federer we saw lay down at the French. This was Federer the champion and all-time great persisting through a colossal deficit, digging deeper than he'd ever had to before, and nearly completing a comeback for the ages.

And that was just from the runner-up. Nadal was even more sensational with his shot-making, answering all of Federer's heroics with brilliance of his own. Sure, the pressures of closing out the grass-court king caused Nadal to wilt a few times, most notably when he coughed up his 2-set lead, double-faulted away his advantage in the fourth-set tiebreak, and failed to convert on his first three championship points.

But at the end of the day, Nadal somehow had just a little more within himself than a 12-time major champion did. Down 4-1 in the second set, Nadal unleashed his incredible backhand, broke Federer twice, and won the set. How about that breathtaking forehand winner at 7-7 in the fourth-set tiebreak? Or that fearless, over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-net volley he dropped in earlier? Or the unbelievable guts he showed in saving 12 of 13 break points?

So often, you see these classic heavyweight bouts end when one side simply runs out of gas and gives in to the other's relentlessness. But this was different. Deep into the fifth set, a solid seven hours after the championship was scheduled to begin, neither player was showing any signs of fatigue. Instead, for literally the entire match, we were treated to Federer at his best against Nadal at his best, two players who have so clearly pulled away from the rest of the tennis pack throwing their best punches at each other and neither ever taking his foot off the gas.

First it was Tiger Woods pulling the proverbial rabbit out of his hat against the upstart Rocco Mediate. Then it was the Williams sisters returning to the elite of women's tennis. Now, it's Federer and Nadal continuing a summer in sports where the great athletes have shone the brightest. This stood out unlike any of the others, however, an epic duel that can probably best be described as our generation's Ali-Frazier.

And to think, the U.S. Open is still on the docket.