Wimbledon Final: Federer-Nadal

Wimbledon’s Men’s Singles final between World Number 1 Roger Federer and World Number 2 Rafael Nadal was one of the all time great matches. Was it the best ever? It is arguable. It is difficult, certainly, to recall another match with tension, drama, desire and finesse in such spectacular abundance.

Two points summed up the match quite beautifully: Nadal’s running forehand pass down the line to bring up his second championship point from 6 all in the fourth set tiebreak and Federer’s equally astonishing backhand pass down the line to restore parity.

Federer went on to clinch the tiebreak 10-8 to complete a remarkable comeback. He had been 2 sets to love down after Nadal had started the game in typically barnstorming fashion. At three games all in the third, with Fed 0-40 down on serve, it looked for all the world as though his astonishing Wimbledon run would finally come to an end.

Of course, top-class sport is rarely that straightforward, and Federer wouldn’t be Federer if he wasn’t capable of the extraordinary. He drew on all his experience to battle back from the brink and then, at 4-4 in the third, with Fed serving at deuce, the rain came. It was a welcome break for Federer, who could now take a timeout to plot his comeback. With Nadal’s serve looking virtually impenetrable, Fed knew his best option was to hang on in there and hope he could nick the set on the tiebreak. This he did, and it was feat he repeated magnificently in the fourth.

I have described the two points that illustrated so perfectly the calibre of the two men on view. What I haven’t touched on, however, is that Nadal had being serving at 5-2. Two points for victory with two serves to come. Again, Fed was staring down the barrel – again, he refused to buckle. Any doubts about the strength of will of the defending champion evaporated at that moment. Questions over whether after 5 straight titles he still had the hunger were firmly dispelled.

The most miraculous thing of the entire match, however, was Nadal’s relentless pursuit of victory. Many a player would have been mentally broken by the concession of a 2 set lead, especially to the 5 times defending champion. Despite acknowledging that Nadal had remained the better player throughout, I was concerned that Fed would have the psychological in the final set given his miraculous recovery.

None of it. Nadal always looked the more likely to break and at 7 games all he deservedly achieved it. He would have been under enormous pressure having to serve out the match, but he managed to do so with minimal fuss.

Boris Becker described the moment as a “changing of the guard.” Certainly it is surely only a matter of time before the computer recognises a new World Number 1 for the first time since February 2^nd 2004, but does this represent something more? Is this the end of the Fed era? Will he win another slam? I suspect he will be back. He is too good not to be.

Wimbledon Week 1 Roundup

Wimbledon Week 1 Roundup

With the second Monday of this year’s Wimbledon now well underway, it seems an appropriate time to look back at the past week and assess the shocks and success stories thus far.

There were some big early shocks as third seed Novak Djokovic and twice beaten Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick both bowed out in the second round. This will have been a major disappointment to both players but especially the young Serb, who was so impressive in his narrow defeat to Rafa Nadal in the Queen’s Club final just a week previous. Djokovic’s exit means Nadal looks like the only realistic challenger to the reigning champ Roger Federer, looking for his 6^th successive title.

The two big upsets in the women’s draw were the second round exit of Maria Sharapova, the champion of 2004, and the third round loss of world number 1 and winner of last month’s French Open title, Ana Ivanovic. Both women looked devoid of ideas and threw in a succession of unforced errors in defeat to Alla Kudryavtseva and Jie Zheng respectively.

Among the success we can of course count the usual suspects of Federer, Nadal and, in the women’s draw, the Williams sisters. All have displayed their characteristic strength of mind and no little amount of skill in their passage through the rounds. Indeed, as I write, Federer has just performed a demolition job on the only other player on the men’s circuit to have won a Wimbledon Singles title, Leyton Hewitt.

Nadal is the obvious challenger to Federer but there have been a few other players in the men’s draw who have impressed enough to be worth a mention. Former world number 1 Marat Safin has looked in really good touch, especially in his defeat of Djokovic. He has always had the shots but he now looks to have regained some of the mental toughness that has brought two previous Grand Slam titles. If he keeps this belief he could be a danger to anyone – and he’s on Fed’s side of the draw!

Also on Fed’s side of the draw – indeed playing him in the quarter finals – is Mario Ancic. Ancic remains the last person to beat Fed on grass and has looked like a man in form so far this tournament. However, he is already carrying a couple of minor injuries and is likely to be tired following a gruelling five set win over Fernando Verdasco.

Marcos Baghdatis, Janko Tipsarevic and Marin Cilic have all come through with relative ease, but the player that I’ve been really been impressed with is home favourite Andy Murray. I keep expecting the weight of pressure to tell but with every passing round Murray has looked more and more confident and, crucially, resilient. He will have his work cut out in the next round, however, as he is due to play the exceptionally gifted, if erratic, young Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

The tie is likely to be one to savour as both will see it as opportunity to advance against a relatively inexperienced opponent. We wait to see whether Murray will have the answers to Gasquet’s staggering array of shots.