Nadal admits he was almost left in the dark before becoming new shining star

The Spaniard admitted that his epic victory was sealed just in time to avoid he and Roger Federer returning today to finish their classic duel.

Shining light: Rafael Nadal stands out in the darkness as he lifts the Wimbledon men's trophy for the first time.

Nadal said: 'In the last game, I didn't see anything. It was unbelievable. I thought we had to stop. If I had lost that last game, we would have had to stop for sure. I was ready to serve but I couldn't see anything.'

The world number two, who admitted that he had considered it impossible that he could win the Wimbledon title, paid fulsome tribute to Federer and insisted that in spite of his victory the Swiss Meister should still be regarded as the best player ever.

He added: 'It's impossible to explain what I felt at the moment that I fell to the floor after the final point. Wimbledon is my favourite tournament and when I was a kid, I dreamed of playing here. But to win it, I never imagined anything like this. Wimbledon is special. Tradition, everything.

'It was the most emotional match of my life. Probably it was the best also. Even after the fourth set I still felt confident. I'm very happy because I played with a very positive attitude all the time. I was fighting a lot.

'It's disappointing for me that I am playing at the same time as the greatest player in the history of tennis. Roger is very tough, every time I play him. I had a lot of chances to win the match before I managed it. But Roger always fights unbelievably. Not only when he wins but when he loses, too. He's very good for tennis.

'I lost a couple of close finals to him before but he's still the number one. He's still the best. He's still five-times champion here. Right now I have one so for me it is very important.'

Federer praised the 22-year-old Spaniard who has now beaten him in the last two Grand Slam finals. The world number one remains two behind Pete Sampras's all-time record of 14 Slams.

He refused to blame his defeat on the fading light, insisting that while the darkness made it nearly impossible to focus on the ball, tournament referee Andrew Jarrett had been right to try to play the match to its thrilling conclusion.

Photo finish: Camera flashes are a must as Nadal is acclaimed by the Centre Court crowd

Federer said: 'Obviously it's rough on me to lose the biggest tournament in the world over maybe a bit of light, but what are you going to do? It would have been brutal for the fans, the media, for us to come back tomorrow.

'It's my hardest loss by far. It doesn't get much harder than this right now. Probably later on in life, I'll think that was a great match, but right now that's much of a feel-good factor. From my side I felt I played well. I missed too many chances in the first couple of sets.

'But Rafa played well. He is a deserving champion. He was the worst opponent on the best court. He played fantastic today. I tried everything. Rafa was rock solid the way we know him. I don't think he needed a match like this today to really prove himself. Maybe in the fourth set tiebreak, he was feeling the pressure for the first time in his life.

'I'm happy that we lived up to expectations and I'm happy with the way I fought. That's all I could really do. To come up with that backhand at match point down in the fourth set tiebreak was a great feeling. To turn it around and push it to the fifth set was awesome.

'I really thought that with the momentum and having won last year in five sets that it was going to be enough. It wasn't so it was quite unfortunate.'

The mixed doubles final, shunted onto No.1 Court by the rain delays that threatened to send the Championships into a third week, finished even later than the Centre Court presentation of Nadal's trophy.

A brotherly affair was won by Bob  Bryan and Sam Stosur, who emerged victorious against the other Bryan twin, Mike, and Katarina Srebotnik 7-5, 6-4.