Wimbledon 2010: Nadal and Berdych in the final
About a year ago, Rafael Nadal watched the final of the grass court Grand Slam tournament sitting on the sofa at home. However, this season, the story has totally changed. The Spanish tennis sensation will be playing the Wimbledon 2010 Mens’ Singles final. The top ranked player in the world defeated the last Brit hope, Andy Murray in the semi final clash on Friday at the All England Club. He won the semi final battle with a 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4 match set.
“I am glad that I have made a solid come back in this season’s Wimbledon. I worked extremely hard in all my training sessions prior to the start of the grass court Grand Slam Tournament”, said Rafa.
Andy Murray on the other hand while commenting on the semi final defeat said that, “I eagerly wanted to triumph for the people I work with as well as for my country”, said Murray who looked extremely disappointed in his news conference after the match.
Rafael Nadal has succeeded in his previous thirteen clashes on grass as well as 25 of 27, with the only defeats coming against the tennis master Roger Federer back in the final match of 2006 as well as 2007. However, the twenty-four year old Nadal hammered down the big man Federer back in the 2008 Wimbledon final at the All England Club.
But this season, Nadal will face someone other than the Roger Federer for the very first time in the final encounter of Wimbledon 2010. The twelfth-seeded player from the Czech Republic, Tomas Berdych will take on second seeded Nadal for this season’s Wimbledon trophy. Berdych has made his way into the final by beating the first seeded Federer in the quarter final match and later on thrashing the third seeded Serbian player Novak Djokovic in a 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3.
This will be Berdych's first ever Grand Slam final. On the other hand his opponent, Rafael Nadal, will be battling for his tenth Grass Slam win. When asked about the pressure that Berdych will be feeling being in a Grand Slam final for the first time, Nadal said, “ I wish so... but I actually don’t think that any sort of pressure will affect his game”.
As far as the semi-final match is concerned, Murray in the first two sets did play extremely well. However, fighting on a major event versus the top ranked player in the world isn’t easy.
Murray had some opportunities in almost all of the sets but the truth of the matter is that Nadal exhibited a better display of tennis as compared to the Brit sensation, Andy Murray.
On the other hand the twenty-four year old player from the Czech Republic, Tomas Berdych showed a tremendous amount of courage and class while reaching the Wimbledon’s final for the very first time since his compatriot Ivan Lendl did it back in 1987.
“The experience is definitely mind blowing. It is absolutely hard to put it in words”, said Berdych. “I am completely ready for the final battle and not feeling any pressure at all”, he added. Berdych in his semi final encounter defeated Novak Djokovic, the third seeded player, to reach the final match at the All England Club.
So the question is, can Tomas Berdych, who has knocked down many top ranked players before reaching the final, repeat his performance on the most important occasion, or, will Rafael Nadal succeed in grabbing his second Wimbledon trophy?
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