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Saturday 2 July 2011

A Spot of Wimbledon

Last year my excuse for not getting a summer job was the World Cup. In hindsight, a summer job would have been preferable. This year, I have acquired a job, and thankfully it doesn’t start for a week or two, meaning that Wimbledon has been an ever present on the television. As far as enjoyment goes, it’s easily eclipsed the anti-climatic World Cup. The men’s final tomorrow is a fitting way to conclude it as well.

The British Andy Murray was looking exceptional all tournament, until he met Rafael Nadal yesterday. He is now out the tournament, and he is now Scottish again. Without doing any sort of official research, I’d say that 75% of the UK wanted the Scot to win. To keep up with the numbers game, I’d guess that 17% wanted Rafa to win due to their dislike of Murray, who, lets face it, comes across as quite grumpy. The other 8%, which I put myself in, would be the ‘I’d like to see a Brit in the final, but I much prefer Rafa, so whatever happens, I’m happy’.

So did Murray bottle it? In the past he has got to great positions in Grand Slams and not won any. Three Wimbledon finals in a row, three Grand Slam finals; you’d expect him to have converted at least one of them. Yesterday though I don’t think it’s fair to say Murray bottled it. Instead, it was more about Rafa showing why he is a great champion, a great person, and one of the greatest players of all time. In the first set Murray was unstoppable, playing like he was finally going to get to the final. The problem was that he was playing 100% and Rafa was at 80% (you’ll have to excuse my use of percentages in this article; it’s based on my opinion, not on pure maths). Then after the first set, Murray dropped to 85%, and Rafa started working his way up to 100%, or 5th gear for all you car enthusiasts.

I unofficially rank myself at #1 in the world when it comes to table football; I can win matches at ease despite never hitting full throttle (or even using the goalkeeper), and Rafa is the same in tennis. The fact is that if Nadal plays at 80% (fourth gear) or above for 5 sets, he will beat his opponent, because his opponent would have to play at 100% the whole time, and that rarely happens. In the same way that Federer was magnanimous in defeat after the Tsonga match, Rafa was very humble, and almost apologetic in victory after the Murray match, realising that he had spoiled the party. Stupid questions are the norm after most sporting encounters (for example, today Sue Barker asked Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova if it was the best match she had ever played) but most questions aimed at Nadal last night were about Andy Murray, such is the nature of the British press. The Spaniard dealt with them very well, apart from the “What can Andy Murray do differently? How can he win a Grand Slam” question. The correct answer was “Myself, Roger and Novak must all retire or get injured for that to happen”, but instead Rafa continued to say how good Murray is and that he should hope for a bit of luck. Fair play Rafa, but Murray wasn’t unlucky; he was just outclassed.

Rafa’s opponent tomorrow, Novak Djokovic, is the man in form, with only one loss this year (against Federer in the French Open). There was some outstanding tennis on show between him and Tsonga in the semi’s, and the big Serb showed he has the complete game, along with a very decent range of flexibility and speed. Nole (pronounced No-lay) as his fans call him, has a very good record against Nadal recently, having beat him 4 times already this year. He’s progressed to the final after some tricky matches, yet the crowds seemed to be firmly supporting whoever he is opponents were. He doesn’t appear to have the same popularity as Rafa or Roger, but this year he has been better than the two of them. This doesn’t explain the rankings system however. Nadal went into Wimbledon as World Number 1, but as Djokovic has made the final he will top the rankings come Monday, even though Rafa has also made the final. Rocket science makes more sense than that.

So who is going to win tomorrow? Can Djokovic break the Roger and Rafa stranglehold on Wimbledon? Or will Rafa affirm his status as one of the all time greats? Have you got a spare £1? Would you like one of my infamous betting tips? Rafa to win 3-1. At odds of 3/1 that means it will return you just enough money to buy a small block of cheese, such is the extortionate price of what is essentially clotted milk.