As to the actual play, well this probably wasn't the most entertaining Wimbledon in recent memory, however the event had a worthy winner in the end. Novak Djokovic continued his remarkable run of form this year in dispatching the now former world number one Rafael Nadal in 4 sets in the final. On his way to the final, the Serb failed to produce his best tennis however it seems he was saving his best for last as the great players do, and unfortunately for Nadal it has been a common theme this year for him and especially in finals. It would be fair to say now that Djokovic has the edge both physically and mentally over Nadal at this stage in their careers and Nadal and Uncle Toni have even come out and said they don't have a winning game plan to defeat the Serb at the moment. Djokovic simply has to hit the ball hard and deep with his backhand to Nadal's forehand and wait for the short loopy reply and then he can attack the backhand side. This combined with the uncharacteristic lack of confidence that exists in Nadal's groundstroke swings whenever he encounters Djokovic spells worrying signs for the Spaniard in their future meetings. Of course Nadal's relentless determination will come to fruition now and you can bet your bottom dollar that he will be back on the training paddock soon to set upon devising a plan to trouble the world number one. Apparently he is out of action for the next six weeks because of the fracture to his foot but he wasn't meant to compete during that time anyway. People will see what they want to see there. As for the match, I'll keep it simple. Both players started off solid, with Nole beginning to get the edge in most of the baseline exchanges as the set went on. As it got to the business end of the set at 4-5 with Nadal serving, the Spaniard felt the effects of this and committed some unforced errors to hand Djokovic the set. The serb then lifted his level in the 2nd and Nadal couldn't keep up and was no doubt disappointed with the way he had gifted away the opening set. 6-1 to Djokovic. In the 3rd set Djokovic dropped his level while Nadal began to regain some belief and started hitting through the forehand more solidly. As it got to the latter stages it became clear that Djokovic had pretty much given this set away and was preparing himself for battle at the beginning of the fourth. Nadal takes it 6-1. Then in the 4th Djokovic breaks and serves it out at 5-3. Surprisingly there were no nerves on the Serb's part and he even through in a serve and volley play to set up the match point. The better player won and the celebrations the following night in Serbia was off the chains.
As has been stated before, the tournament wasn't the most memorable but there were a few aspects to savour. The coming of age for young Australian Bernard Tomic is worth noting and his run to the quarter finals was much needed for the game and for tennis in Australia. It was hilarious in the media during the event that when Hewitt crashed out to Soderling that tennis was at it's lowest point in Australia history, and then the next week it's looking great again with Tomic being a "superstar" now and having two junior winners as well. Typical knee jerk reactions from the press but I guess that is their job. Getting back onto Tomic, and quite simply the kid has got the X factor. He has the court craft and awareness that can't be taught and this will be his biggest weapon going forward. It's refreshing to see a player think his way around a tennis court, mixing up the pace and slicing the ball to the corners instead of watching the endless production line of ball bashers hitting the fur off the ball with no clear intention of constructing a tennis point. Of course there are many things he still has to improve. His movement is the most alarming that this stage, but thanks to his great anticipation, this doesn't get exposed as much as it should. The serve has improved a lot but still needs work, especially the second delivery. And he will need to spend more time on the clay where he is at a loss on the surface. Granted he's improved since last year, but that area is very much a work in progress. The youngster has barely any points to defend for the rest of the season and will now make the US Open directly so he has a great chance to progress further up the rankings.
Question marks over the career of Roger Federer will no doubt be raised by the media over the coming days and months after the great Swiss player bowed out in the quarter finals to enigmatic Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. What was more surprising about the loss was the way it came about, with Federer giving away a 2-0 sets lead to lose in five. It was the first time in 178 grand slam matches that Federer had lost a match while being two sets to love up. But there's always a first time for everything and Tsonga simply played lights out tennis for the final 3 sets to take the match. It was one of those matches that the Frenchman can play maybe once a year and I doubt Tsonga will be able to kick onto to threaten the top 5 in the rankings and i'm a glass half full kind of guy. He just doesn't have the consistency required to play at that level week in week out on the tour. Some of the shotmaking and drop volleys he was pulling of in this match are just to high risk to make every match and that is what he needs to do to beat the top players. Federer in his interview with the press following the match couldn't care less that he lost, saying that he played well and these things can happen. Well, at least it was classier than last year's interview at the same stage where he said some unnecessary comments. He is far from done and it wouldn't surprise me to see him holding the US Open trophy in a couple of months time.
Andy Murray once again folded to the pressure of grand slam tennis and Wimbledon, crashing out in the semi finals for the 3rd consecutive year. Murray was in good form leading into the event, winning at Queens but unfortunately for him it was the same old story for the Scot at the slams. After an encouraging start against Nadal in the semis, it all went pear shaped at the beginning of the second set where at 15-30 on Nadal's serve he missed an easy forehand and failed to break serve. From there he mentally capitulated and surrendered the next 3 sets 6-2 6-2 6-4. The forehand, which was working well in the opening set, went walk about and he will never be the best player mentally due to all the pressure that is heaped on him by the British press. British if he's winning and Scottish if he's losing was obvious again here during these championships. It's tough for Murray, there isn't really much more he can do to win a slam but hope that the top 3 somehow don't make it to the latter stages of it. He's still got plenty of time though, and I still think he will win one just not at Wimbledon. The AO is probably his best shot followed by the US.
It was also refreshing to see some old school serve and volley at Wimbledon, with Lukasz Kubot and Judy Murray's boy toy Feliciano Lopez bringing back a bit of old school in their 4th round and quarter final runs respectively. Kubot has been on fire at the slams this year and came through qualifying to make it to the 4th round and even had match points on serve in the 3rd set tiebreak but just couldn't pull through. You have to give credit to Lopez there, yes he is a hard player to pull for (if your male) but he showed some good old fashioned fight and determination to get himself out of that one. Kubot has never been the most clutch type of player but he had improved this year, coming through a number of tight matches at the French and during this Wimbledon but it wasn't to be for him. At least we got to see the epic dance quite a bit.
We'll finish on a light note, and Alex Bogomolov gets the prize for the best racquet throw of the championships, but perhaps not as good as his opponent Donald Young's one a couple of years ago where he threw his racquet out of the stadium.
