WHO WILL WIN?
by Ron Atkin
In Spain they call it revancha. In English it is "revenge". Whatever the language, this is what will be driving Rafael Nadal forward when he faces Novak Djokovic in the men's singles final, the culmination of a memorable 125th Championships. The very fact that Novak, or Nole as he is known to his friends, is playing on Centre Court on Sunday means that he has supplanted Rafa as world No.1, whatever the result of the final.
That's one reason for a spot of revancha being in Nadal's mind. Another is that Nole has given Rafa an embarrassing run-around this year as part of his amazing streak of 47 singles wins and just the one defeat (to Roger Federer in the Roland Garros semi-finals). Four times in 2011 they have met in finals and Djokovic swept the lot, twice on the hard courts of North America in successive tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami, and then twice on clay (Madrid and Rome), the surface where Nadal has ruled supreme for the past six years. In the American finals Rafa at least rescued a set on each occasion, but on the red clay it was straight sets both times.
So, no argument, Nole is the form horse as he bids to become the first Serb to win Wimbledon. But when it comes to the Slams, where they play best of five sets, it is Nadal who has the statistics in his kitbag. These two have met five times previously at Grand Slam level, three at the French Open, once in Australia and once here, and Rafa has won them all. At the 2007 Championships Djokovic retired when he had won the first set, lost the second and was trailing 1-4 in the third. In only one of the other four did he rescue a set, at the 2010 US Open final.
Like most tennis people, both have their little habits and superstitions. For instance, you never see Rafa treading on a line when he is not actually playing. Similarly, Djokovic will certainly have noted that the second seed has become Wimbledon champion for the past three years (Nadal 2008, Federer 2009, Nadal 2010). And as No.2 seed, as well as newly-minted No.1 in the world come Monday, Nole will be hoping to extend that sequence to four.
Talking of winning streaks, Nadal is deep into one of his own - and it could not be more relevant. Victory in the semi-finals over Andy Murray on Friday evening extended his winning sequence at The Championships to 20. His last defeat here came in the 2007 final against Federer, then he won in 2008, did not compete in 2009 because of injury and won again last year.
The fact that this final bears out the rankings by pairing the top two is good news for all those fans who want to see the very best on Centre Court, despite Andy Murray's failure to be at the feast. This is the first time numbers one and two have meet in a Grand Slam final since the Australian Open of 2009, though at Wimbledon it happened every year between 2004 and 2008.
For both men, Wimbledon represents the peak of achievement, the difference being that the Spaniard has already mounted that summit twice and this is Djokovic's first tilt at what he referred to as the greatest occasion in their sport. Nadal's record here, and anywhere for that matter, is fantastic. If he wins, it will be the third time he has won the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back in the space of little over a month. Only Bjorn Borg has ever managed this previously, and look what it did to him - burned out at 26.
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link to www.wimbledon.com]
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