Back to his ruthless best

With his knees playing well, Rafael Nadal is calling the shots again

He seized it on Sunday with an aggressive assault on Tomas Berdych, a one-sided affair confirmed by the final tally, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Victory vaulted Nadal into rare company -- his eighth Major championship tied the likes of Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl -- and he somersaulted across the grass in celebration.

“Having this trophy in my hands is just more than a dream,” he said.
For the first time since 2002, the Wimbledon men’s singles final did not feature Roger Federer. If that seemed strange, though, Nadal’s triumph certainly did not.
Again, he had completed a feat among the most difficult in tennis, winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same summer, for the second time in the past three years.
Nadal slung groundstrokes, grunted and twisted his face into all the usual contortions. He seemed normal, only he played different, more vicious, more aggressive, perhaps an improved version of the player who won this tournament in 2008.

Last year, Nadal watched Federer duel Andy Roddick from the sofa in his living room in Spain. On Sunday, in front a Centre Court audience that included Bjorn Borg, Jaromir Jagr and the Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, Nadal reclaimed the trophy and solidified his status as the best player on the men’s tour.

While even Nadal said it remained premature to debate if he could match or exceed Federer’s 16 Grand Slam titles, it is fair to wonder where he, at 24 and ahead of Federer’s pace, will eventually fit in tennis history.

“His place is undecided,” said Darren Cahill, a former player and an analyst for ESPN. “So much of the story is yet to be written. Much of it depends on how his body holds up. That said, he better make room in his trophy case.”

After taking a mandatory drug test after the match, Nadal entered a small room in the broadcast center and finished a slice of pizza. He appeared relaxed, as if the two hours since his victory had calmed him. He admitted that he considered tennis history, and added that, in evaluating it, he considered more than major championships.
“It’s an honour for me to be with these historic players,” Nadal said. “But I’m 24 years old. It’s very difficult to say.”

Hours earlier, in the ESPN booth high above Centre Court, the commentators Dick Enberg and Patrick McEnroe said they believed the conditions favoured Nadal against the big-serving, risk-taking Berdych, the challenger from the Czech Republic.

Not only had it rarely rained this tournament, drying out the grass, but wind shot through the All England Lawn Tennis Club. That, too, worked better for Nadal, whose furious, spin-cycle groundstrokes allow a greater margin for error.  Beyond that, Nadal had showcased his versatility over the past two weeks. Once content with a strategy of attrition, standing far behind the baseline and grinding down opponents with groundstrokes, he now moved forward and attacked continuously.

Against the sentimental favorite Andy Murray in the semifinals, Nadal approached the net 26 times and won 23 of those points. He also ran around his backhand, delivering toxic doses of topspin from the forehand side.

Early on Sunday, Berdych went after Nadal’s backhand instead. But McEnroe said that Nadal had improved that shot, too, in recent months. He stood closer to the baseline than he had in Paris, changing his strategy to suit the surface.
Nadal broke Berdych at 4-3 and seized the first set with sharp serves and brutal backhands. By then, victory seemed certain. (Nadal now holds a 100-1 record when winning the first set at a Grand Slam.)

“Tactically, Nadal played a perfect set,” McEnroe said.
Berdych’s best opportunity came in the next game, when Nadal doubled his number of unforced errors from the first set -- with six -- and delivered uncharacteristic, shaky double faults. But Nadal held, and Berdych never again seriously threatened.
“He was really strong today,” Berdych said. “He’s showing in the last few months that he’s really the champion.”

Still, Berdych became the first Czech to advance to a Wimbledon final since Lendl in 1987. Along the way, he knocked out Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal played at a higher level over the past two months, compiling a 31-1 record since mid-May, than both Federer and Djokovic, who will be ranked third and second in the world when the rankings come out this week.
Nadal cautioned those predicting Federer’s demise, saying, “Everybody says the same thing two years ago.”

After the final point against Berdych, Nadal fell backward onto the grass in celebration. He followed that with the nifty somersault, a new celebratory touch.
Nadal said afterward he would withdraw from Davis Cup competition to get treatment on his right knee back in Spain. Earlier in the tournament, he said tendinitis in the knee had bothered him, but on Sunday, he said it had not hurt in any of his last four matches. He could rest until the Rogers Cup in Toronto in early August.
On tap, Nadal listed his immediate priorities as “beach, fishing, golf, friends, party and Mallorca.” But eventually he must confront and prepare for the US Open, which begins Aug 30 and is the one Grand Slam title he has never won.
Everywhere Nadal went after Sunday’s match, he carried that trophy, his new best friend.

For as good as Nadal is on clay -- and he is perhaps the best clay-court player in the sport’s history -- he said that to win at Wimbledon, on grass, had always been his dream.
Now, for the second time, he held the championship keepsake as proof.