Rafael Nadal was today hailed as the sport's new king and his epic Wimbledon dethroning of Roger Federer labelled as the greatest ever match.

Australian Rod Laver, one of the top players to have played the game, and Boris Becker - the youngest men's singles champion - both claimed the Spaniard was now the best in the business.

Watching from his California home, 69-year-old Laver saw Nadal win the longest-ever final 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 in 4hrs 48min and said: "It was the best match I've ever seen. I was watching it and thinking 'How do you win a point?' Until today, Roger was the best player in the world. Now Nadal is. To not be on clay, his surface, and do that. I'm just amazed," said the four-time Wimbledon champ.

"It was an unbelievable performance. My hat is off to Rafael because of how he pulled this off. His fitness is quite amazing. He looks like he could play for a day-and-a-half.

"It was just amazing some of the shots they were making. They were hitting winners off winners and you think once in a while it could happen, but it happened all the way through. It was so competitive and such wonderful tennis you have to figure it's just going to do wonders for the game."

Federer may be the official world No1, but Boris Becker insisted this was "a changing of the guard" in world tennis.

He added: "The ranking computer didn't get it yet, but in my opinion, whoever wins the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year is the No1. It's only a matter of time before that computer catches up."

Nadal boarded a plane to Stuttgart this morning to defend his clay court title at the Mercedes Cup. The Spanish maestro, who has now beaten Federer in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon championships this year, is refusing to take a break from the sport he now dominates. Nadal became only the second Spanish champion at Wimbledon after Manolo Santana in 1966, who was in the Royal Box to see the left-hander's triumph.

Nadal is the first player to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980 and stands apart from everyone else because he also won the Artois tournament at Queen's.

Federer believes he was denied a record-equalling sixth Wimbledon men's singles title by the decision to keep playing in near darkness with the match finishing at 9.16pm.

Federer, whose 65-match unbeaten streak on grass is now ended, said: "I didn't argue about the light and if I had broken back to go eight-all then it wouldn't have been possible to play anymore."

Nadal revealed that he couldn't see properly at the start of that last game.

He said: "I didn't see anything. I thought we would have to stop. But it is unbelievable for me have a title here. When I was a kid, I dreamed of playing here, but to win is amazing."