Rain stops play in men's final

The Wimbledon final was interrupted by rain today as Rafael Nadal on course for victory over his great rival Roger Federer.

Dark clouds circled Centre Court and finally rain began to fall with the score at 5-4 to Federer in the third set, but with Nadal two sets to love ahead in the match.

The start of the contest was also delayed by heavy rain showers in London.

The match between the top two seeds had been due to start at 2pm, but the players were forced to wait for more than 15 minutes after rain fell throughout late morning and early afternoon.

Federer was aiming to set a modern-era record of six consecutive men’s singles titles, while Nadal was trying to become the first man since Bjorn Borg 28 years ago to hold the French Open and Wimbledon titles simultaneously.

Nadal won the first two sets 6-4, but there had been no breaks in the third set when the rain finally returned.