Amazing end to wild man's quest to win Wimbledon

There will probably never be another Wimbledon final or a champion like the ones that exploded into such Technicolor life 24 hours after the demise of Tim Henman.

The final had thousands of Australian fans, rheumy-eyed from camping all night on the pavements outside the grounds, filling Centre Court with the raucous cries of support for their man, Pat Rafter – and it had counter cries from hundreds of Croatians wearing their red-and-white colours.

But most of all the match had that unforgettable champion, Goran Ivanisevic, and a story of resurrection unparalleled in the annals of the game – and rarely matched in drama in any corner of sport.

Ivanisevic's career had been in free-fall before the All England Club gave him a wild-card entry, out of sympathy and respect for deeds thatincluded three previous losing appearances in the final. But yesterday, he swept to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 victory over Rafter in three hours and one minute.

No one was more stunned than the hero himself. He said: "Tomorrow morning I will wake up and check if it is all true.''

Ivanisevic's mission, he had said after startling progress through the early rounds, was simply to win back some of the pride that had been eroded in his slide to 125th position in the world rankings.

But as he moved closer to the prize, and survived what looked like almost certain defeat by Henman when rain interrupted their semi-final on Friday night, he said: "Before I came here I would have settled for a place in the final. Now I want to win it all.''

Hours after Centre Court had cleared, Ivanisevic, who is 29, stood on a Wimbledon balcony happily acknowledging a crowd of fans. He took off his shirt, threw it into the crowd and said: "This is the greatest day of my life. If I never win another tennis match I can die happy ... Three times I came here and lost. It was very painful for me. But now my dream has happened. I only slept two hours last night but when I got on to the court I felt good. I knew it was my time.''

Ivanisevic, an underdog according to the bookmakers, defied his most serious doubters when his inflammable nature refused to catch fire – a development that has caused terrible moments, featuring fearful racquet-smashing incidents at the game's main venues.

His biggest psychological crisis came when his serve was broken in the fourth set after he was foot-faulted, and another near-ace was ruled a fault by a line judge. Ivanisevic erupted, threw his racquet and kicked the net. But though he was later less than gracious in saying the female judge was ugly and the male official was a "faggot", the new champion regained his head on the court.

He served with power and assurance in the agonisingly tense fifth set, which he ended with second-serve aces after three surrendered match points. This was an extraordinary performance by the wild man of tennis. He received a ringing tribute from the Australian former champion John Newcombe, who said: "It was an amazing final and it was extraordinary how Ivanisevic held himself together so well.''