Roared on by colourful supporters who had queued all night for the unreserved extra-day seats, Ivanisevic and his vanquished opponent Pat Rafter trade blow for blow and set for set until the match's amazing conclusion.

Ivanisevic, who looks on the verge of crumbling after a controversial double-fault on break-point down in the fourth set prompts a furious verbal volley at the umpire, gets his chance in the 15th game of the fifth set.

He returns brilliantly on the backhand to break before getting the opportunity to serve out for the Championship he has craved so much.

Those who saw Ivanisevic's three finals in 1992, 1994 and 1998 - two of them five-setters - and who witnessed his drop to 125 in the world, will know that nothing with the Croat is ever that simple.

Despite hammering down a world record number of aces in this tournament, his big serve and his nerve temporarily desert him, as he goes15-30 down.

He recovers with a second serve ace and fashions the first of two match points, both of which were agonisingly greeted by double faults.

Rafter saves the third with an excellent lob, but Ivanisevic is not going to miss his moment of destiny, hitting a big second serve on his fourth chance which Rafter can only return into the net.

Ivanisevic dedicates his amazing triumph to his friend Drazen Petrovic, a Croatian basketball superstar who died in a car crash eight years ago.

'This is for you,' he says looking skywards after he is handed the famous gold trophy.

'He was my big friend and I hope he is up there watching me,' said Ivanisevic of Petrovic, who played in the NBA with New Jersey and Portland and is still fondly remembered for his three-point shooting skills.

The 29-year-old also pays tribute to his father Srdjan, whom he scaled the steps of the Centre Court to embrace at the end along with former Yugoslavian Davis Cup star Nikki Pilic.

'This is unbelievable but I wanted to win so badly,' says Ivanisevic. 'Yet I had to be careful out there because of my father's heart condition.

'I was afraid his heart might explode.'

Rafter, beaten from a set up in the previous year's final by Pete Sampras, is inconsolable after going down in front of a huge contingent of Australian fans who are among the near-14,000 paying #40 (about $560) a head to watch the delayed final.

Asked if he has the words to describe his disappointment he says: 'Yes I do, but I can't say them here. I'm the loser again but it could have gone either way out there. It was that kind of a match and all I can do is congratulate Goran.'

Ivanisevic's triumph meant a lot of aces, a couple of strip-teases, a bit of frustration here and there, a lot of rain towards the end of the tournament, a lot of tears, but most of all fulfilment of his dream; winning that Wimbledon trophy.

'I don't know if it is a dream and I'm going to wake up and someone is going to tell me, you didn't win Wimbledon again,' he says.