TENNIS WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS:HE DOESN'T draw the epithets of Roger Federer. He is brutal to Federer's sublime. He is stirring and sensational to the graceful aesthete that describes the Swiss player.
No less loved by the fans because of it, Rafael Nadal’s game is now too bellicose, too aggressively brawling for everyone including Federer and yesterday’s defeated Wimbledon opponent Tomas Berdych was stacked up on the growing pile of players who have come to beat him but have not measured up.
It represents a stunning return for Nadal, who could not defend his Wimbledon title last year because of chronic knee problems. He was then forced out of the game for several months again with injury after this year’s Australian Open before erupting into the clay court season.
Unbeaten on clay, he won titles at Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid and the French Open before making the passage from clay to grass, where his 24-match winning streak came to an end at Queen’s at the hands of his good friend Feliciano Lopez.
It was a transitional blip with yesterday’s defeat of Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 making him the first Spaniard in history to win the men’s final twice. Victory also gains Nadal a place along side Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewall with eight Grand Slams, five of them won at Roland Garros, two at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open last year.
“Today I was a little bit more nervous than usual,” said Nadal. “I was a little bit lucky on a few moments with the break points. I just tried my best on every moment, every point. The important thing is to be there all the time. The last six or seven months of the 2009 season I wasn’t ready to play at this level. I was ready to fight but not play like I am doing now.
“I don’t expect anything before the match. I expect to play my best in every point and try to fight every point, go on court and play point by point not thinking of the next point.”
What Berdych discovered to his cost was what many first-time Grand Slam finalists have found when facing a multiple champion and that is their usual game, the one that got them to the last hurdle, is normally not enough.
But Berdych was unable to oblige the Centre Court crowd, who would have contentedly sat for hours in the warmth and long shadows to have seen another final like that of last year between America’s Andy Roddick and Federer, which went to an almost endless 16-14 fifth set.
Still, they were won over by Nadal’s striking presence, the zip and tempo of his game and his bespoke shot making. Berdych featured gamely if not threateningly and the first half dozen games of all three sets went with serve and little fuss, both players probing around neither striking out to the front.
Nadal then squeezed and a small opening appeared in the first set. Berdych invited him in with two lose points in the seventh game and the world number one accepted.
It was all Nadal was hoping for, a fracture, a chink. A great return broke Berdych’s serve and Nadal found himself in control. Imposing himself, he broke again for 6-3 and the set.
Occasionally Berdych was taking pace off his serves and putting just a little too much insurance on his ground strokes to make them pop with a number going long, which was deflating for the Czech player and fed Nadal’s confidence.
He did have some looks at Nadal’s service games, three in the second set. But that’s all Berdych did, have a peep and Nadal’s serve remained intact.
“Yeah, he was really good. I mean he was strong,” said Berdych. “The biggest difference between us was when he got a chance he took it. He gave me one in the second set, one in the third and none of them I can bring to my side.”
Berdych couldn’t take what was offered, Nadal could. In the 12th game of the second set a long Berdych forehand gave Nadal three break points and a wide forehand gave him the set.Nadal had only ever lost once in his career from being two sets up and that was five years ago against Federer.
Fittingly the Majorcan took championship point with his withering forehand, whipping it cross court to pass the advancing 24-year-old on two hours and 13 minutes.
Berdych climbs to a career high of eight in the world with Nadal at number one and Federer dropping to number three. The champion will now take a rest. He has friends on the Spanish football team but a trip to South Africa seems remote if Spain makes the final.
“I’m a crazy fan of football and a big supporter of our team. I am in contact with the players but I have to do treatment on the knees, serious work to get ready for the American season,” said Nadal. “Right now is enjoy the beach, fishing, golf, friends, party and Mallorca,” he added stirring up more than a jolt of envy around the room.
