Saturday, 7 July, 2007
Despite playing four times in the last four days, Rafael Nadal has announced that he is in good shape for the men’s final on Sunday. The second seeded Nadal will make his second final appearance at Wimbledon in two years after Novak Djokovic retired in the third set of their semi-final due to an infection in his foot. “I’m good physically for tomorrow,” he said. “I’ve played two tough five set matches. The other ones I won in three sets. Today was three sets, too. I lost one set but I [only] played three sets.” While pleased with his own performance, Nadal sympathised with Djokovic following his retirement and looked forward to meeting Roger Federer in Sunday’s final. “I’m sorry for him” he said. “It was tough, he was playing good tennis to make the semi-finals and today he had to retire. That’s tough for anyone, so I am sorry for him.” With regard to the match itself, Nadal admitted he started badly, even his warm-up was ‘bad’. “I arrived at the match without the best of confidence but I started to improve and by the end of the second I was feeling the ball a bit better.” Although Nadal was helped by a successful Hawk-Eye challenge that allowed him to break Djokovic in the second set, the Spaniard was not convinced by the new technology: “I think Hawk-Eye has mistakes sometimes. I am sure about that.” While the problem of dealing with the defending champion this time round remains but as far as Nadal is concerned, he will be better prepared for Federer this year. “One more year of experience; one more year of important matches and repeating the Roland Garros title. All that is important. He is the favourite but it will be a good final. I know I will be having a difficult match tomorrow but I will be doing my best. “He is a complete player, has all the shots and can control the speed of the ball and always has time to get to the ball. All that is important when you play on grass but I have had good performances on grass these last two years.” He noted that he had more time to prepare for his shots on clay than on grass, which accounted for his lack of success against Federer last year. This year he will again arrive knowing what he has to do. “I know have had to improve a lot of things to continue to stay in the top positions. And if I want to win here any day, I need to continue improving my serve, my volley, my slice, my aggressive game, everything. “Anyway, I will have played two finals which is very good. But we will see tomorrow. I am just 21 in one month so there is a long way to go.” Written by Henry Wancke
| 
Subscription Video (Live)