Rafa Nadal, the 24-year-old Spanish professional tennis player has once more proved he is the best player right now. He seamlessly made the transition from the French Open clay courts at the Roland Garros, where he won his 7th Grand Slam, to the green lawns of the All England Club, where he once again won his 2nd Wimbledon Cup. Thomas Berdych had had one heck of a season. He had managed to upset 2010 defending champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals in four sets and kept on his momentum with a clean victory over Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3 to make it into the finals. And despite keeping up with his best technique, and his strong serve, Rafa Nadal made it look quite easy as he defeated the Czech player in three straight sets 6-3 7-5 6-4. Rafa had a clean and swift run in the Wimbledon Tournament. He defeated the No. 6 seeded player Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals by 3-6 6-3 7-6(4) 6-1. He kept on with his good shape and defeated Andy Murray in the semifinals. Despite playing in what could be considered his home turf, Murray was unable to answer to the speed and constant agressivness of Nadal’s game and lost his game by 6-4 7-6(6) 6-4. A year ago, Rafa could not defend his title, and had to watch the tournament from home, as his aching knees had kept him from having great performances at both the Roland Garros and Wimbledon. That year, it was Roger Federer who stepped up to the plate and again, for his 7th consecutive final, took over the tournament. But things changed very quickly. This time around, Federer is back in great shape. And he has trained much and has changed some of his stance and style in order to take better care of his knees. The result: well, he has now won both the French Open and the Wimbledon Grand Slam in the same year, he has managed to win 3 other major ATP tournaments, and many are speculating that, with Federer on the verge of his best seasons, and losing a bit of his touch, he might very well keep on moving to match the Federer Express record of 16 Grand Slams. Now lets take a look at the game. Rafa was as stable and confident as one could expect from a player at the Wimbledon final. It seemed as he just wanted to get on with the game and finish off the tournament as quickly as possible. He was energetic and very outgoing throughout the match. It took Nadal only about three games to really catch up with the very strong serve from Berdych. At one point he was able to return a serve that hit the 134 mph mark. For those of you more used to the decimal system that’s returning a ball that was flying in your direction at 215 kilometers per hour. That’s faster then most people will ever drive on their car. And despite having such a powerful and fast serve, and making very few unforced errors, Rafa stepped out and won the match in three straight sets. Nadal won his 14th consecutive match in Wimbledon. But then experienced kicks in. Thomas Berdych was playing his first Grand Slam final. He had yet to make it pass the quarterfinals in Wimbledon. Nadal on the other hand was playing his 10th Grand Slam final. Just for the record and to get things straight and into perspective, Nadal has won the last 5 of those finals. That’s really how it is done. Berdych had a great run; he kept on being the underdog and defeating the odds. And yet playing Nadal at the Wimbledon Final is a whole other story. Federer, the fantastic player that Berdych left behing in the quarterfinals, could very well tell you so.
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