Goran Ivanisevic today made his Wimbledon dream come true in a sensational five-set win against Pat Rafter.

The Croatian hitman, 29, pulled off one of the most stunning sporting comebacks of all time by conquering Rafter 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7 in a three-hour epic.

Ivanisevic gunned down the Aussie in a classic spilling over with brilliant shots, guts, ice cool and steel nerves in a bearpit Centre Court packed with 15,000 screaming fans.

The world No125, who's been fighting back and shoulder injuries, became the only wildcard to gatecrash a Wimbledon final after being written off as a total no-hoper.

And then he won the world's greatest tournament after playing almost no tennis all year.

Ivan the Terrible burst into tears after Rafter hit one of his less lethal serves into the net to give him the Championship.

The man from Split held the Wimbledon trophy aloft as he said: "It must be my destiny.

"This has been my dream all my life.

"To serve for the match and win is unbelievable."

Ivanisevic, who has a rose, cross and shark tattoo on his shoulder, said: "I'd like to thank the All England Club for giving me a wildcard. When it went to five sets I thought please God not again."

Ivanisevic won the Wimbledon crown in an amazing High Noon showdown after losing three previous finals.

Rafter was shattered after losing his second successive Wimbledon final, going down against Pete Sampras last year.

The Aussie pin-up, 28, said: "It was one of those matches, it could have gone either way.

"It went Goran's way and I want to congratulate him.

"Both gave it our best shot, someone has to lose and I'm the loser again.

"I had an unbelievable time out there, the atmosphere was fantastic.

"I wrote Goran off two years ago. He's come here and proved all of us wrong."

Ivanisevic, 29, won the first set 6-3 before Rafter levelled the historic Monday final, winning the second 6-3.

The 6ft 4ins Croatian sniper went on to win the third set 6-3 before Rafter hit back to make it all square by winning the fourth 6-2.

Then the volatile Ivanisevic amazingly held it together to win the crunch fifth 9-7 in one of the most gripping, spine-chilling tennis matches ever played.

Read more about Wimbledon here.