Tennis: Rafael Nadal Regains Number One World Ranking
Queen Elizabeth had the perfect idea of visiting the All England Club during the very first week of the grass court Grand Slam Tournament.That's when the championship yielded most of its excitement, while the last weekend baffled with a familiar script, thanks to Serena Williams as well as Rafael Nadal.
Nadal consolidated his ranking as the world number one tennis player from the men’s side on after gaining his second Wimbledon title, eighth Grand Slam tournament and second major trophy in a period of four weeks. He knocked down his opponent from the Czech Republic, Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 at the All England Club.
The Women’s number one, Serena Williams, won the Wimbledon title for the fourth time. She cruised through seven rounds without dropping a single set. Nadal, however, had the more difficult ride, being forced to five sets in the second round and three sets while fighting his right knee injury that settled in time for his final round matches.
He succeeded in the final, skilfully knocking down Berdych's strength and commanding important points.
Rafa celebrated with probably the first Centre Court tumble in the history of the grass court Grand Slam championship. Later, holding the trophy under that skilful left arm, he gave autographs to his fans at the All England Club.
The win protracted Nadal's winning streak to fourteen at the grass court Grand Slam tournament. The twenty four years old Spaniard tennis ace grabbed the trophy back in 2008 for the first time in his career, then skipped the championship last season due to his knee injury.
''One of the hardest moments in my professional life, isn’t it?'' Rafa said during the presentation ceremony. “It’s really astonishing for me that after a tough season previous year I have again managed to triumph”.
Although the last week at the All England Club went as predicted, with a victory by the number one tennis player, the first week produced couple of startles to go with the Queen’s first ever appearance at Wimbledon since 1977.
Apart from Rafa's close calls, there was a slender departure of top-seeded Roger Federer, who was just three points away from a loss in his very first Centre Court match. Then there was the lengthiest tennis match in history. John Isner battled for three days to knock down Nicolas Mahut, succeeding in the fifth set 70-68, fabricating such a persistent buzz, that Nadal was still talking about the match after his final victory.
''Simply incredible,'' he said. ''They displayed excited high spirit for the tennis fans, for the youngsters, because the patience level was extremely admirable, like for ten or eleven hours. Just outstanding.''
As far as Nadal's title is concerned, the Spaniard well deserved it in the end. Nadal after the match said, “to contest on the grass court was always one of my dreams and thank god I have done it again as a result of my hard work”.Nadal's spirit was obvious even prior to the final match. He stepped onto the Centre Court lawn grabbing a racket, willing to start rotating.
The twelfth seeded finalist Tomas did well in the quarter final to hammer down Roger Federer however couldn’t repeat that performance in the final at the All England Club.
Nadal turned four out of his six break-point chances, and prevented all four break points he experienced.
The distance between Nadal and the rest of the players from the men's side is obvious. This week Novak Djokovic replaced Federer at number two in the world’s rankings, but the Serbian tennis ace hasn't succeeded in reaching a major final since triumphing in his only Grand Slam championship in the Australian Open back in 2008. Roger Federer, now ranked number three in the world, has gone more than four months without a championship title since grabbing the Australian Open title.
Nadal, on the other hand, is 31-1 with a total of five titles since April. But the twenty-four year old, Nadal has not succeeded in winning a title at the United States Open so far in his career probably as a result of his injury issues over and over again.
“Definitely the U.S. Open is going to be one of my ambitions for the rest of my professional life”, said Nadal. ''But at the moment, it is the time to enjoy the beach, Mallorca, party, buddies, golf as well as fishing”.
So, the Wimbledon Champion 2010 is in a perfect mood to enjoy his victory at the moment and is feeling on top of the world beyond any doubt.
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