Roger Federer won the record-equalling Wimbledon final beating Britain’s Andy Murray at the All England Club men's champion.

Federer, playing in his eighth Wimbledon final and 24th Grand Slam championship match, won 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

This was Federer’s seventh Wimbledon win joining Pete Sampras and William Renshaw as a seven-time champion shattering Andy Murray's dream of ending Britain's 76-year wait for men's Wimbledon title.

In his on-court speech, an emotional Murray said that people had been suggesting to him that Federer was past it, that his genius was fading and that he was there for the taking.

With the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, sister Pippa Middleton, Australian great Rod Laver, British Prime Minister David Cameron and even the Beckhams looking on from the Royal Box, it was the Briton who started the stronger.

There was plenty of clapping and yelling to go around for both men, who produced extremely high-quality play, filled withsuperb shotmaking and volleying — all standing up to the setting and the stakes.

The Scotland native was supported by 15,000 or so of his closest friends in person, along with thousands more watching on a large video screen a short walk away across the ground - not to mention the millions watching the broadcast on the BBC.

Murray played brilliant tennis for much of the final.

But for as good as Murray was, Federer was even better. The Swiss master was effortlessly sublime in victory.

Murray reflected his temper during that epic game. He slammed his racquet down after one of the points and shouted toward his box repeatedly, a quirk he had managed to keep in check for the first part of the match.

When Murray hit a forehand long on match point, Federer fell to the ground, looked at his wife and raised his arms in triumph. The king was back.

As the three-times champion Boris Becker said a minute or two after the match: "There is no shame in losing to Roger Federer."

Two months short of his 31st birthday, Federer is back on top of the world again, with 17 grand slam titles to his name and a seventh Wimbledon in the bag.

''It's amazing. It equals me with Pete Sampras, who's my hero,'' Federer said. ''It just feels amazing.''

Once the Centre Court roof was closed, there was no stopping Roger Federer.

The Swiss had not won a grand slam title since 2010 – when he beat Murray to win the Australian Open.

In the past couple of years he had been written off with every "failure" to win a grand slam. The feeling was that with the advancement of age he was now just a little vulnerable over five sets, that his endurance could be tested and even exploited by the younger guns.

That may well be the case but Federer showed that he is still good. His forehand may not be as devastating as it was, but his serve wins him matchs, his movement is still near-perfect and when he is on, he makes the game look simple, which it really isn't.

The Swiss great is just the third man over 30 to win Wimbledon following Rod Laver in 1969 and Arthur Ashe in 1975.

With Nadal and Novak Djokovic last year winning three of the four grand slam titles, returning to the world No 1 spot is a phenomenal achievement. The No1 ranking may change a couple more times this year but Federer has now equalled Sampras's record of 286 weeks at the top in the ATP rankings and will overtake him a next week.

''Everybody always talks about the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, how tough it is,'' Murray said after the match. ''It's not the people watching. They make it so much easier to play. The support has been incredible, so thank you.''

Murray, 25, bidding to be the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win Wimbledon, has lost all four Grand Slam finals in which he has appeared.

Serena Williams bounced back from adversity to win the women's title.

Happily married and with young twin girls, his hunger to keep playing and to keep winning is still evident.

He says he is already thinking about the next Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 as that is one of the few things missing from his resumé, an Olympic singles gold medal. By that time he will be almost 35 and though it is hard to believe he will still be contending for grand slam titles- perhaps only a fool may want to write him off.