Rafael Nadal looked like a guy who absolutely couldn’t wait to get out there, clutching his racket and hopping in place near the entrance to Centre Court before the Wimbledon final.
He jiggled his left leg, unable to sit still on the sideline. He even bopped around during the prematch coin toss. When it was finally time to start warming up, he zigzagged to the baseline in a full sprint.
And when it ended, Nadal marked his victory with a celebratory somersault. That endless energy, and so many superb strokes, allowed the No. 2-seeded Nadal to outclass No. 12 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 on Sunday for his second Wimbledon trophy and eighth grand slam title overall.
PHOTO: AFP
A year ago, sidelined by painful knees, 2008 Wimbledon champion Nadal was planted on his couch at home in Spain and watched the final on television, only the fifth man in the history of a tournament that dates to 1877 who couldn’t defend his championship because of injury.
“Now last year is past,” Nadal said as he leaned back in the gray leather seat of a courtesy car ferrying him away from the All England Club on Sunday night. “I know what happened one year ago, and how difficult it was for me, how much I had to work to be back at my best level.”
He paused, tapping his chest with his left hand, and added: “That’s something special for me.”
Last year, his 31-match French Open winning streak ended, he missed Wimbledon, went more than eight months without a title anywhere, lost the No. 1 ranking, and, hardest of all, dealt with his parents’ separation.
This year, he is 47-5 with five titles, both tour highs. He won 24 matches in a row in one stretch, regained his Roland Garros title and the No. 1 ranking last month, and managed the tricky transition from clay to grass by winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year for the second time.
There is no doubt he’s the best player in tennis today.
“He’s showing in the last few months,” said Berdych, “that he’s really the champion.”
Nadal won his 14th match in a row at Wimbledon, essentially, because he saved all four break points he faced and broke the big-serving Berdych four times.
“The biggest difference between us,” Berdych said, “was that when he [got] a chance, he just took it.”
Give Nadal the tiniest opening, and the left-hander barges through. It’s no accident he has a silhouette of a bull’s horns stamped on the back of his left sneaker’s heel (the right one reads, “Rafa”).
Still, Nadal acknowledged being “a little bit more nervous than usual” before facing Berdych. Asked why, Nadal said simply: “If you are not nervous in the final of Wimbledon, you are not human.”
This was the first men’s final since 2002 at the All England Club that did not involve Roger Federer, the six-time champion upset by Berdych in the quarter-finals. The past three title matches went five sets: Federer beat Nadal in 2007, Nadal edged Federer 9-7 in 2008 in fading light, and Federer got past Andy Roddick 16-14 last year.
Unlike those, Sunday’s contest was hardly a classic. More like a coronation — or, at the very least, confirmation that Nadal is elbowing his way into any conversation about the best players in tennis history. His eight titles at major tournaments pushes him past John McEnroe and ties Nadal with quite a heady group that includes Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.
“I’m very proud to be alongside those great players,” Nadal said. “My career is much better than I could have imagined when I began playing.”
To complete a career grand slam, Nadal needs to add the US Open, where he lost in the semi-finals each of the last two years.
Asked to look ahead to New York, where play begins late next month, Nadal smiled and said: “Right now, I’m very happy to win Wimbledon. We’re going to think about the US Open in one month.”
First things first. He’s busy making plans away from the court.
“Enjoy the beach, fishing, golf, friends, party, and Mallorca,” he said.
■MIXED DOUBLES
REUTERS, LONDON
Cara Black and Leander Paes overcame some early jitters to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in straight sets on Sunday.
India’s Paes and Black from Zimbabwe took their second grand slam title of the year after the Australian Open with a 6-4, 7-6 victory against South Africa’s Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond from the US.
The title is Paes’ third mixed doubles crown at Wimbledon, following wins in 1999 and 2003, while Black had previously won in 2004.
A topsy-turvy opening set had five breaks of serve as both pairs struggled to impose themselves. But after losing three of the first four games, the second seeds rallied to win five of the next six and closed out the set in 37 minutes.
The second set turned out to be a reversal of the first and it was a tightly fought encounter without a single break of serve.
The tiebreak proved a test of nerve and Black and Paes held theirs with the Indian volleying the winner on championship point to take the match.
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