TENNIS:FOR MORE than an hour in this tense, fractured semi-final, Andy Murray was better than Rafa Nadal – sufficiently so to encourage growing hopes that he deserved at least a chance to reach for the ultimate prize. That he fell short for the third year in a row at this stage of the tournament had as much to do with his continued struggle for consistency when in such a position as the irresistible Spanish force in front of him.
After taking the first set with a serve that hummed and a mind fixed to the task, Murray was 2-1 up when he lined up a gimme forehand winner that would have given him two break points. He over-hit and Nadal held.
Tennis is full of opportunities to live and die but, for long stretches thereafter, Murray was not so much an opponent as a victim of circumstance. Nadal, who said beforehand he would like his “nice friend” to win a major – “but not this one” – beat him up with power and cunning.
The defending champion, who has not lost here in four years and 20 matches, won 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 for a place in tomorrow’s final against Novak Djokovic, whose win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was a contest of higher all-round skills and thrills.
After the quickest cool-down of his career, probably, Murray faced the media and said of his second-set gaffe: “It was a big point I was playing very high-risk tennis for most of the match. I started making a few mistakes, but a match that lasted nearly three hours (to turn) on one point . . . I slightly over-hit that one. A year ago they were saying I was playing too defensively, today I was going for all my shots.”
A gracious winner said: “I said, ‘Sorry for that,’ to him. I had to play my best tennis to have any chance. He’s a great champion. He was playing fantastic at the beginning, he made an important mistake at 15-30 and 2-1 up at the start of the second. That was a turning point in the match.”
Nadal thinks Murray’s tennis is sound. “I don’t think he needs more,” he said. “He is playing well enough, a little bit more lucky, maybe. Five-set matches are tough, over two weeks.”
He was being kind. That mistake did more than cost Murray a break, it broke his concentration and, to an extent, the rhythm that is essential. He either flies or falls. Yesterday, he fell. As Murray gradually folded, Nadal raised his game to a level beyond anything he had played in this 125th Wimbledon, and some way out of reach of the world number four.
Before a ball was struck, they slipped into type – as the little-bull Spaniard sprinted to the back of the court, legs pumping in anticipation of a fight, the diffident Scot was doing up his shoelaces at the net. Then he got down to business: in the 55 minutes of the first set, Murray battered Nadal’s backhand until his shoulder ached. A 109-mile-an-hour service wide to Nadal’s backhand opened proceedings, followed by a backhand smash, a 130mph ace down the middle and another of 129mph , all inside a minute.
“I love you Andy,” cried a plaintive male voice, but the love game was Nadal’s, behind a precise, clean serve. Murray’s was clicking lethally, and a couple of aces got him to 4-3 after half an hour.
Serving to stay in the set, Nadal struggled against Murray’s pressure tennis. Murray earned three set points by working Nadal’s backhand. When Nadal’s sliced backhand struck the net, a roar filled the court and Murray was 7-5 up.
The sun was shining on Murray until the fifth game, when his concentration collapsed. He double faulted, then murdered a smash and Nadal was in front, 3-2, after an hour and a quarter. A string popped at 0-40 and 2-3 but the problems were more than mechanical for Murray. When he limply pushed a drop shot into the net to give Nadal a break point, he followed it with a sliced backhand into the net and was 2-5 down and staring at a dilemma.
To allow the Spaniard back into the match in just half an hour was bone-headed. And when he pushed a backhand return, his trademark shot, well over the line to gift Nadal the second set 6-2, he was clearly floundering.
The start of the third underlined what a maddening player Murray can be. He followed a 129mph ace with a double-fault and two sloppy forehands and the champion went 2-0 up – only for Murray to hold to love. Then the unforced errors dribbled from his trembling racket until Nadal served out without hindrance at 6-2 for a second time.
The good chances stayed achingly out of reach for Murray now and those that presented themselves he wasted, in between Nadal scorching the grass with an array of stunning ground strokes, along the line, in the corners, most of them glossed in top-spin that made them unreturnable.
Murray needed a bit of time to settle, a break, of any sort, a kind bounce or an implosion by Nadal. None came and the champion served out coolly for a place in the final and finished with the most withering forehand to end it after just under three hours.
DJOKOVIC REACHES FINAL AND BECOMES WORLD NUMBER ONE
NOVAK DJOKOVIC is enjoying such a magical year that even patchy form and the acrobatic brilliance of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could not stop him reaching his first Wimbledon final and becoming world number one yesterday.
The Serbian’s 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 semi-final triumph over the Frenchman included a bout of early nerves, three great diving exchanges at the net, a topsy-turvy tiebreak and an explosion of jubilant emotion he will struggle to repeat if he wins tomorrow’s final.
The second seed will take the top ranking when the new ATP list is issued on Monday whatever happens in tomorrow’s final.
The 24-year-old, who won 41 matches in a row from the start of the year before losing to Roger Federer in the French Open, will become the first Serb to be men’s world number one.
“It’s definitely one of the most important achievements and days in my life, in my career. When you know you’re going to be the best in the world and you’re reaching the final of your favourite tournament, it’s something special,” he told reporters.
“(Rafa and Roger) are incredibly consistent with their success and so dominant the last couple years. They don’t give you a lot of chances to become number one. So I guess you need to lose only one match in seven months to get there. If you can do that, then well done.”
Men's final: The match-up
How they match up
(1) Rafael Nadal (Spain)
v
(2) Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
The pair have faced each other 27 times, with Nadal winning 16 and Djokovic 11. But 10 of Nadal's wins have come on clay.
This year Djokovic's long unbeaten streak say him narrow the gap. Djokovic beat Nadal in title matches in Indian Wells and Miami earlier this year, then also won in Madrid in May, his first victory over the Spaniard on clay.
They have met only once at Wimbledon – in the semi-final of 2007 – when Djokovic had to retire injured midway through the third set, with the players having shared the opening two.
Yesterday's semi-finals results
(2) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt (12) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 6-7 (9-11) 6-3.
(1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt (4) Andy Murray (Brit) 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-4.
