Nadal puts himself among tennis legends

WIMBLEDON, England

Ever tried signing autographs while cradling the Wimbledon cup in your left arm? It was possibly the most difficult thing Rafael Nadal had to do on finals day at Wimbledon as he walked out of the club’s front door to deal with the requests of hundreds of squealing fans.

And, yes, he does sign with his right hand because it is only tennis that this great champion does as a southpaw, which leaves you wondering how good he would have been playing as nature intended. Better? Not as awkward to play?

Whatever the answer, the only thing that matters is that Nadal won the eighth Grand Slam title of his career by outplaying Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in 2 hours, 13 minutes on a windy Sunday afternoon in southwest London.

It puts Nadal alongside Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Ken Rosewall and Fred Perry with the number of Grand Slam titles in a career. These are serious names in the history of the sport and there was much speculation amongst commentators after his victory as to whether he could ultimately pass Pete Sampras with 14 and chase Roger Federer, who currently leads the field with 16.

“Why not?” asked former British Davis Cup captain John Lloyd. “He is only 24. He is dominant on grass and clay and now the U.S. Open is a huge priority for him.”

Basically it all comes down to fitness and the state of those knees. If Nadal does not over play himself on the unforgiving hard courts of North America — which are by far the toughest on the body — and restricts himself to maybe just one ATP event before Flushing Meadows, he has the possibility of transcending Federer’s incredible achievements. Time will tell.

But, for now, Nadal — while admitting the U.S. Open is his next goal — was determined to enjoy the moment.

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“Right now, for me, it is to enjoy the beach, fishing, golf, friends, party and Mallorca,” he said.

He deserves them all.

What we know for now is that Nadal, in winning back-to-back French and Wimbledon titles for the second time, has established himself as a very special tennis player. Berdych, who has had a wonderful Championships with those superb performances against Federer and Novak Djokovic, began confidently enough, holding serve to love in the opening game and looking marginally the better player.

Until 3-3. Then the threat that was forever looming across the net started to get into his head. A bad forehand wide and a backhand long put him 0-30 down and Nadal, sniffing blood, uncorked the most magnificent forehand pass down the line off a perfectly good Berdych approach shot.

It was a match-changer. At 15-40, a backhand cross-court winner sealed the break, and Berdych was left to ponder the fact that, in five points, he had only got one first serve in court.

Berdych ended up with a first serve percentage of 48 percent for the set and 59 percent for the match, which is just not quite good enough against a man who returns like Rafa. There were a couple of chances in the opening game of the second set for Berdych to redress the balance, but at 30-40, Nadal came up with a great first serve into the body and on a second break point shortly thereafter, a terrific second serve was too good for the Czech backhand.

But Berdych was sensing a chance here and when Nadal netted a rather feeble forehand, he reached his third break point. This time, he netted trying to go down the line and the Spaniard survived.

Soon, those rare errors had disappeared from Nadal’s game and he was back in charge, dictating back-court rallies, curving southpaw sliders out to the receiver’s backhand in the ad court and covering every inch of Centre Court whenever Berdych could get him on the run.

Berdych needed to change it up and try getting in to the net, but that’s so easy to say from the sidelines and so difficult to achieve against a player like Nadal who pounds balls back at you, fast, deep and whirring with top spin. And the wind, for a player who hits the ball as flat as Berdych, was no help to the big Czech.

“He was strong,” said Berdych afterwards. “The biggest difference was that when he gets a chance he took it.”

It was the big-point factor again. Like Andy Murray learned all over again in the semifinal, it is Nadal’s ability to play the crucial point even better than he plays the rest which wins him matches. And titles. And the plaudits of the fans who adore him.

He thanked those fans on court after he had produced a forward roll that was a sort of a first as a way of celebrating a Wimbledon title.

“Probably the best crowd in the world, no?" Nadal said. "More respect. They have a lot of respect for every player, I think. If I think about myself, was always amazing with me, the crowd, especially two days ago when I played Andy Murray. For sure the crowd support him but, at the same time, was supporting me a lot, no? That’s unbelievable. Just can say thank you very much.”

This wasn’t a memorable final like the ones we have been privileged to witness over the past two years — the classic when Nadal won two years ago against Federer and last year’s nail-biter between Federer and Andy Roddick. But sport is not scripted.

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Today was simply a confirmation of Rafael Nadal’s ever growing stature in the game. A champion in every sense.