Nadal Seals Victory over Berdych to Claim Second Wimbledon Title
In a match that was relatively without drama, Rafael Nadal beat Berdych in three straight sets to lift the Wimbledon trophy and prove that he deserves his place as world number one.
World number one Rafael Nadal once again proved his dominance as he demolished 12th seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets to claim the Wimbledon crown and his eighth Grand Slam title. He won the match 6 – 3 7 – 5 6 – 4 in just two hours and 13 minutes. Last year Nadal was unable to defend his title due to injuries which means he has now won 14 matches in a row at Wimbledon.
Nadal now has two Wimbledon titles, five French Opens and one Australian Open to his name, after the match he said,"It's more than a dream for me. After a difficult year for me, missing the tournament last year, this year I came back and to have this trophy in my hands is more than a dream."
The conditions on the court and nerves will not have helped Berdych who has had an excellent tournament but Nadal just looked unstoppable. Nadal showed excellent form on Friday in his semi final against Murray and having won seven of his ten matches against Berdych he was the strong favourite going into this final.
Nadal’s first chance came in game seven, Berdych made errors with both his forehand and backhand which saw him fall 0 – 30 behind, Nadal then produced an amazing forehand pass down the line to make it 0 – 40 and give him his first break point and then went on to convert his second break point
Berdych looked distressed and his first serve percentage slipped down to 50%, Nadal was going from strength to strength and was able to break again to win the set in only 34 minutes.
Berdych had a chance at the start of the second set, Nadal played a loose game and gave him three break points, however, the combination of a great forehand, a fantastic second serve and a mistake from Berdych kept Nadal in charge of the match.
The windy weather was knocking both men out of rhythm and they were both making unforced errors. The second set progressed without incident and it looked as if it was going to go to a tie break, however, Berdych then made some nervous errors and Nadal found himself with a two set lead without really making an effort.
Berdych would have had to produce a miracle at this point, but a few vicious forehands from Nadal put him two points away from victory at 5 – 4. Berdych knocked a forehand over the baseline at deuce which gave Nadal championship point which he then took in true style to claim his second crown.
