Sunday, 8 July, 2007
This much we learned today: one day Rafael Nadal will win certainly Wimbledon – and he could have done it this afternoon. One year ago it seemed astonishing that he made the final, and back then he became just the fifth man in four years to unburden Roger Federer of a set at Wimbledon. But once he had lost the first set 6-0 that day, the match was never going to be his. Twelve months on, and the grasscourt gulf between the two greats of the current game has narrowed to just a glimmer of daylight. No one in five years has taken Federer to five sets on the green stuff, and in today’s last set the Spaniard had four opportunities to breach Federer’s serve. Victory was possible. Will those missed chances haunt Nadal enough to keep him awake in the nights to come? “I had big chances in the fifth,” acknowledged the number two seed. “I knew if I got the break in the fifth I had a very good chance for the title. Twice I had 15-40, and one was a really big chance to break. I missed a forehand winner. That was my best chance. My strategy today was to play as aggressively as possible. I was hitting the ball well. He played well to break me, and I congratulate him. “But I played a great tournament. I played against one of the best players in history on this surface. Right now it feels disappointing because I had good chances. These first moments – especially after you lose in the fifth set – are not easy. But I am a good loser. I accept the loss very well, and it doesn’t affect me for more than a few hours. Tomorrow I will be happy about my tournament and my game.” For so long now these two have had a symbiotic relationship – only Nadal has prevented the wondrous Federer from achieving the Grand Slam, while for two years the sole barrier between Nadal and the world No.1 slot has been Federer. Two months ago Federer finally brought Nadal’s record clay court winning streak of 81 matches to a halt in Hamburg; today the Spaniard might have exacted horrible revenge by preventing Federer equalling Bjorn Borg’s five successive titles in SW19. But true greatness deserves its reward. Nadal’s time will come, as even the Swiss himself acknowledged in the moments immediately after his victory, but for now this is still Federer’s era. Today it was fascinating to try to imagine their respective thoughts at the start of the fifth. So many players must come on court to play Federer unable to escape the idea that his impregnability on grass means the match is a done deal; but there is nothing inevitable about the acquisition of five straight Wimbledon titles. Imagine Federer’s thoughts when it seemed he might be denied his chance to equal Borg. After all, he knew his opponent was a proven multiple winner against him. And anyway, all record-breaking streaks must come to an end, as Borg himself could tell Federer. Some day the unthinkable will happen and Federer will indeed lose at Wimbledon. But not today. “He [Federer] is very close to being the greatest player of all time,” said Nadal. “His tennis is unbelievable. But I am a better player than last year, as I’ve said already this week. Maybe not as good as Roger right now because he has 11 Slams, me three. But I am young. I am improving every season. Today was tough for me but at the same time it’s good for me to be playing at a similar level to the best in the world on grass.” Whenever the day comes that Nadal wins Wimbledon, he will be the first left-hander since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 to take the title – although probably he will be the first champion of all time to hold his racket with his left hand but use a pen with his right. Such are the quirks of the Nadal game. Then again, it might be cruelly interesting to see how he would react if an opponent ever disturbed any of his carefully – not to say obsessively – arranged drink bottles by the umpire’s chair. It might shatter his competitive mindset. One of these days, that might be the only tactic available to anyone wishing to stop Rafael Nadal winning Wimbledon. Written by Kate Battersby
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