Nadal ascends in historic fashion
LONDON - A kingdom was at stake, and Roger I must have felt like Shakespeare's Richard III with darkness and the world closing in on him last night. King Richard was bemoaning his lack of a horse. King Roger may have been thinking desperately: "A forehand, a forehand - my kingdom for a forehand," as the concluding shot of his lengthy reign plunked into the net.
A majestic encounter, maybe the greatest to grace the grassy stage of 86-year-old Centre Court - certainly the foremost of my 41 - had to end somewhere or spill into today, undecided, because light had just about run out at 9:15. Roger I of the House of Federer, whose forehand is one of the mightiest in history, lined up a routine shot off the backhand of the usurper, Rafa I of the House of Nadal.
"I was thinking first should I go up the line, then I chose crosscourt - and I missed it," Federer said glumly, his crown on the way to Spain, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7.
That's what Nadal does to you - makes you hit one more shot than you wanted to.
"Maybe I shouldn't have missed it," Federer said. "Maybe I wouldn't on another occasion. Who knows?"
All anybody knew, among the 15,214 congregants on hand, and millions across the planet Federer had ruled, was that amid 4 hours 48 minutes of glorious shotmaking it was settled on an insignificant looking forehand mistake.
They also knew that a world was changing hands, and that a busted reign would not become a dynasty. That was Federer's hope, to continue as ruler of Wimbledon with a sixth straight championship, to command indefinitely as Bjorn I of the Swedish House of Borg had sought to do in 1981, until deposed by John McEnroe.
Constantly they flew about the court, Roger so smooth and effortless, Rafa muscling and wailing, each going for the jugular with every shot imaginable. Time after time they stole winning shots from each other to keep the rallies going amazingly, the angles out of a geometry text. Their theme was, "Anything you can hit, I can hit better." Federer tried to free himself for those blistering inside-out forehands, and did it often, but Nadal succeeded in concentrating on his foe's backhand. His wizardry with spin is unprecedented.
Clinging to one another like leeches, Federer and the puissant lefty, 22-year-old Nadal, traveled the longest of Wimbledon finals over so many bumps that the audience was limp with suspense. Shakespeare would have relished the three-act drama in a theatre much like his own Globe. Buffeted by rain, gusting winds and chilliness, it could have been entitled, "King Roger Dislodged."
Act I concluded in a downpour with Federer ahead, 5-4, but having lost the first two sets. Federer appeared to have saved his crown by squirming out of three break points (0-40) to 4-3. He was the master of the first tiebreaker with four of his 25 aces.
Although he was within two points of losing all in Act II at 4-5, 15-30, and 30-all, Federer, the rabid crowd chanting his name, forced his way into another breaker, and somehow got through it despite Nadal's 5-2 lead with serve, then two match points. There the usurper showed signs of nerves, double-faulting and blowing a backhand.
"I played terrible then," Nadal said. "But I tried to focus on myself, play well . . . But if Roger beat me in the final, congratulate him, and go home, no? That's it."
A very cool customer. But Federer is, too, and he thought at that point, "Rafa was getting very nervous . . . that he was feeling it a lot, maybe for the first time in his life. But he played well and deserved to win at the end."
But Nadal didn't crack, never has yet. The curtain fell on Act III in the form of rain, Federer serving at 2-2, deuce. They had played five sets in the 2007 final, too, Nadal missing four break points in the fifth.
"I was very disappointed after that," he said, "so I am sorry for Roger. I think I almost lost it when he had a break point [3-4], but I hit a very good forehand and smash. At the same time I am very happy for me, but sorry for him, no, because he deserve his title too, no?"
No tiebreaker in the fifth, so they crept up the ladder with the congregation intoning, "Roger!" and "Rafa!" Federer slipped out of two break points to 6-5, but couldn't hold Nadal off in the 15th game, even though he saved three breakers.
"In the last game, I'm serving, but I wasn't see nothing. So dark. I thought we have to stop," said Nadal. "If I didn't win the last game, we have to stop for sure."
Borg's winning the Trans-Channel double - French clay, Wimbledon grass - in 1978-79-80 has seemed impossible since. Yet Nadal did it. He crushed Federer at the French, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, and played the important points better here, dodging 12 of 13 breakers, and making four of 13, to raise his rivalry edge to 12-6 with his first win on grass.
The Federer era ended with Nadal rolling on the court, then climbing into the Royal Box to greet Spanish Crown Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia.
Even losing the French and Wimbledon finals, Federer remains No. 1, Nadal No. 2 on the ATP computer. Silly, isn't it. "Roger is the best, he is still No. 1," is Nadal's view.
But his crown is gone. Even with a horse, he probably couldn't have saved his kingdom.
