Reginald Brace at Wimbledon: Comfortable wins for Nadal and Williams afford us a breather

One of the most tumultuous of recent Wimbledons ended with two predictable finals. Rafael Nadal extinguished the challenge of Tomas Berdych with sublime efficiency to recapture the men's title he won in 2008 and Serena Williams cruised past Vera Zvonareva to retain the women's title.

Following such a surfeit of bombshells in the preceding fortnight perhaps we were due for a breather. Nadal, after all those first-week problems including two five-setters, ran into his best form at precisely the right time to deal first with Andy Murray in the semi-finals and then Berdych yesterday.

The first Czech to reach the final since Ivan Lendl in 1987 played sound tennis, matching the Spanish maestro shot for shot much of the time, be it raking forehands or sliced backhands, and his penetrative serve yielded 13 aces. But it was Nadal who made the crucial moves.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Nadal broke serve twice in the opening set when there were early glimpses of his electrifying forehand at its scything best. The Majorcan survived three break points in the first game of an even second set – but it was Berdych who cracked in the twelfth game with a series of mistakes which presented Nadal with the set.

Two sets down. Could Berdych find the inspiration which saw him eliminate Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic? Well, there was no shortage of effort but it was Nadal who was controlling the rallies, waiting for the moment when he could go for the kill with that lethal forehand.

In an eventful last game Nadal thought two balls were out but still managed a withering drive to win the point. Berdych served on grimly, the game went to deuce and then on his first match point the world No 1 produced one of those cross court blows which are his trademark. Job done.

Berdych thought that the biggest difference between them on the day was that when Nadal had a chance he took it. "He gave me one in the second set and one in the third and I didn't use either of them," he said. "That's just how strong he is. That was the difference."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Nadal became the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon twice, and for the second time completed the French Open-Wimbledon double which used to be the speciality of Bjorn Borg.

The only blot on his horizon is the impending treatment on his battle-worn knees. The tennis world will wish him better luck this year than last when he was sidelined with the same trouble.

"Right now," he said, "I'm going to enjoy the beach, fishing, golf, friends, parties and Majorca."

The statistics were the most memorable aspect of Saturday's rather pedestrian women's final. In outplaying the Russian Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 in 66 minutes, Serena Williams won the title for the fourth time and delivered her 89th ace in a tournament where she did not concede a set and was on court for a total of eight hours 35 minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Serena has now amassed 13 grand slam titles which puts her one ahead of Billie Jean King. She trails behind Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert (18 each), Helen Wills Moody (19) Steffi Graf (22) and Margaret Court (24), but above all her achievements add lustre to the astonishing legend of the Williams sisters who have claimed nine Wimbledon titles since 2000.

The departure of Venus at the hands of Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarter-finals was a surprise which removed the possibility of a fifth Wimbledon final against Serena.

Ultimately, however, the Venus Rosewater Dish remained in the family without a serious tremor of doubt such was Serena's control of the situation.

There are those who feel that the dominance of the Williams sisters is bad for women's tennis, but really it is up to the rest of the women's game to respond in terms of fitness, strategy and technique.

Zvonareva was a big disappointment on Saturday in a match which never came to life as a contest. Serena is 28, Venus is 30. Surely it is time for their rivals to move up a gear.