The Hindu : Sport : Rain delays Nadal’s Wimbledon bid

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Rain delays Nadal’s Wimbledon bid

Nirmal Shekar

Federer finds himself in an unusual situation, trails by two sets

London: Rafael Nadal was on the brink of making history in the 122nd Wimbledon championships, on Sunday, as he won the first two sets of the men’s singles final against the five-time champion Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4. With Federer up 5-4 on serve, rain stopped play on the centre court.

Ominous dark clouds hung over the most eagerly anticipated Grand Slam final in 27 years — since the time Bjorn Borg stepped out of the dressing room to defend his title against John McEnroe in 1981 — and everyone was anxiously looking up at the skies ahead of the scheduled 2 p.m. start.

“Right now, those two players (Federer and Nadal) are probably saying, `God, please let us go out and play,” said Borg, talking to Sue Barker on BBC television. That was shortly after 1 p.m. and it was still raining at that point. “The whole world is waiting to see this match.”

Short wait

It turned out to be short wait as the players walked on to the court shortly after 2 p.m. and the match got going at 2.23 p.m. Although the rain stopped, the conditions were far from perfect. With a strong breeze swirling around, it wasn’t easy for the players.

But then, gladiators seldom complain about the conditions. They just get on with the job, which is exactly what Federer and Nadal did in their sixth meeting in a Grand Slam final.

The last time they had crossed swords here, in the 2007 final, it turned out to be a high intensity battle which went all the way to the wire, one in which the champion overcame adversity early in the final set to reassert his status as a supreme grass court warrior.

There was electricity in the air and Nadal, unbeaten in 23 matches, started with all the confidence you’d expect to see in a man who had annihilated his great opponent the last time they met in a Slam final — at the French Open.

But this was Federer’s home, his surface, one on which he was last defeated six long years ago. Yet, strangely enough, it was the five-time champion who blinked first.

Federer who had lost serve only twice in six matches going into the final was broken in his very second service game. He had three chances to break back, two of them when Nadal was serving for the set in the 10th game but the Spaniard would give nothing away.

Serving to Federer’s backhand consistently and turning defensive gets into winners, Nadal was producing awe-inspiring stuff on a surface that generations of Spaniards always believed was better suited for cows.

His confidence dented in his own backyard, Federer himself was making far too many unforced errors, sometimes nervously dumping Nadal’s innocuous second serves into the net.

Yet, when the champion found the early break in the second set and opened up a 3-0 lead, it looked as if the battle had been joined. But Nadal can never be counted out of a set, not even when he is 0-5 down. The Spaniard broke back to 3-4 in a game in which Federer missed the easiest of forehand passes at 30-30, then staved off a breakpoint himself to hold to 4-4 — again in a game in which the great man missed a smash that he would have brought off with his eyes closed against any other opponent.

It was almost as if the mere sight of Nadal across the net from him was doing great damage to the champion’s confidence and skills. The Spaniard then broke to 5-4 with a forehand pass and served out the set after fighting off a breakpoint. Federer was down, but certainly not out. As the players challenged each other over every inch of the famous turf, charcoal grey clouds gathered up overhead once again. And there was a scary moment for Nadal, too, when he slipped and fell on his dodgy right knee during a point.

But after calling in the trainer during the changeover, the Spaniard continued without any signs of serious injury. What is more, he fought off two breakpoints in the fourth game and four more in the sixth.

For his part, Federer, staring down the barrel at 0-40 on serve in the seventh game, came through to hold on. Soon the rain arrived with the champion leading 5-4.

THE RESULTS Men’s doubles: 2-Daniel Nestor (Can) & Nenad Zimonjic (Srb) bt 8-Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) & Kevin Ullyett (Zim) 7-6(12), 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3.

Women’s doubles: 11-Serena Williams (U.S.) & Venus Williams (U.S.) bt 16-Lisa Raymond (U.S.) & Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-2, 6-2.

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