Nadal vs. Berdych: From Breakfast at Wimbledon To Breakfast of Champions

Appetizer No. 1: Tomas Berdych vs. Novak Djokovic

From the first ball toss, from the slump of his shoulders to the resignation stamped on his face, you knew that Novak Djokovic was not going to win this match. Djokovic stood on the baseline with a defeatist attitude and allowed Tomas Berdych to dictate play. 

It was as if the soul had been sucked from his game and the Serb simply went through the motions, allowing mechanical movement to stand in place of truly inspired playing—lacking the assurance and deftness required of a champion. 

It is not enough simply to want the win.  You have to go out there and seize the match, wrestle your opponent to the ground and stamp out his will.  Tomas Berdych did that, proving he has what it takes to stand on Centre Court on Championship Sunday.

Djokovic does not seem to possess the killer instinct of a champion.  This was his latest and greatest opportunity to stand up to his critics and play the inspired game he needed to deliver in this semifinal against Berdych.  He needed to prove that his Australian Open Championship in 2008 was no fluke.

Instead, Djokovic folded in the heat, in the moment, without the requisite will to win.  The Serb’s forehand went AWOL.  He remained steadfastly content to play Berdych’s game from the back of the court, while the Czech beat him soundly from that vantage point. 

At age 23, the Serb may come back to win another major, but the odds seem to mount against him. 

Berdych, the 6’5” Czech, served like Goliath in this short-lived drama on Centre Court, where the baseline is bare of grass and the court sprouts uneven bounces like dandelions in the wild.

The man who dismissed Roger Federer, six-time Wimbledon Champion, in the quarterfinals, was not going to be denied by Djokovic.  The Czech swatted him aside in straight sets in less than two-and-a-half hours, sending the Serb packing, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, aided in large measure by Djokovic's willingness to step aside.

Appetizer No. 2: Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray

In the second semifinal, the No. 1 player in the world, Rafael Nadal, faced Great Britain’s most recent Great White Hope—Andy Murray of Scotland.  The Scot’s task for the late afternoon was to send Nadal home without his second Wimbledon Championship.  Talk about your Mission Impossible. 

The secret weapons handed to Murray, however, did him no good against the man with the all the answers plus a will of iron.  The Majorcan held steadfast and broke Murray’s serve on his first opportunity, stealing the first set, 6-4. 

The second set settled into a tiebreak. Murray could have taken the set on his own serve with a 6-4 advantage.  But he lost both opportunities and Rafa seized control of the tiebreak, and in the blink of an eye he walked away with the second set.

The writing was on the wall, so to speak, as the crowd assembled on Henman Hill descended into inevitability.  Even though Murray broke Nadal during his opening service game and took a 2-0 lead in the third set, eventually Nadal broke back to level the set at 4-4.  At that point, Nadal promptly slammed the door on Murray, winning the final three games. Even though Murray stayed close, in the end he lost in straight sets.

The verdict is that Murray executed his game plan admirably, but his second serve failed to advance his cause and the Scot didn’t return well enough.  The juggernaut on the other side of the net bent to the task at hand and blew the Scot off the court while showing no mercy, pouncing on every Murray error.

Sitting stunned at the end, the hometown folks slumped toward the exits, disappointed yet again, just as they were all those years waiting for Tim Henman to win a championship.

 
Breakfast at Wimbledon

So does Berdych have a chance?  Should he bother to show up on Sunday?  The Czech may disturb Nadal—with a rocket first serve rifled across the net by a big, tall, powerful guy.  Early round opponents who troubled Nadal all had big first serves and super aggressive forehands.  These are key ingredients in Berdych’s game and the Czech has been serving extremely well during the fortnight.

Robin Soderling, however, had such a game and Rafa dismissed him without mercy after dropping the first set.  Early on in their ten meetings, Berdych owned the Majorcan, winning three of their first four matches.  But since that time, Rafa has dominated the Czech, winning the last six times they have met, including a straight-set win over Berdych at Wimbledon in 2007. 

But that was then and this is now, so the story goes.  Berdych managed to defeat both Federer and Djokovic on his way to the final and he is playing, at long last, up to his potential.  Although there have been moments of nerves, Berdych has held onto his game and won the necessary points when his back was against the wall.

All indications are that there will be no Wimbledon classic in 2010 unless Berdych continues to play flawless tennis, because that is what it will take to stop Nadal.  Just ask Murray, who played exemplary tennis, committing just two or three major mistakes that cost him the match in straight sets. 

After watching Nadal dispatch Murray, it is hard to imagine he will do any less in the final, now that the World No. 1‘s appetite for another bite of the Wimbledon trophy has fully awakened. 

Berdych will not only have to bring his A-1 game, he will have to contain his nerves, because Sunday on Centre Court will mark his first major final.  Players with much more experience have faltered taking that last step. 

We assume without a shadow of a doubt that Nadal will rise to the occasion and take his second Wimbledon championship and his eighth Grand Slam trophy, as the World No. 1 extends his lead and his domination over the rest of the field.

For Nadal, strawberries and cream will never taste sweeter than they will on Sunday....