Wimbledon 2010 Day 11: Murray v Nadal

Oooh oooh – with added David Beckham, and pretty much all the Murray Clan + spares!





I was sat next to one of those “I can’t stand Murray after his comment about the England football team” types.... really?? REALLY??? After that performance? Mmmkay then! Actually to be fair to her – she also did not hesitate to applaud some great shotmaking from Andy... and this annoying little kid sat in front of us was most perturbed when she was cheering on Rafa!







The start was pretty promising – it was clear that Andy was mixing up a lot in his game – some serve/volleying – going for his shots – decent holds at the start but no matter what he did, Andy just wasn’t getting a look in to the Nadal serve.





He seemed to lapse a bit of concentration in the 9th and got broken, and Nadal was able to keep the single break and take the first set comfortably 64.





Andy started the 2nd with comfortable holds to love but again – just couldn’t find a way in to threaten Nadal’s serve
His best chances to break came in the 4th game and he just couldn’t take them – Rafa was playing as though every point was match point. I’d seen him against Petzschner and this was truly a different guy – he was totally energised.
Andy was solid in his serve again and again squandered some chances to break in the 8th game – which was a long game on Rafa’s serve





Into the TB – there were just stunning rallies. If the quality of tennis had been good between Berdych and Djoko in the first semi – it was sublime at times in this TB. The moves at the net – Andy’s touch at the net was amazing – but again – missed his chances and the TB went to Rafa.





This was going to be a long haul back and Andy started great with breaking Nadal in the first game of the third set... he kept it to a single break until the 8th – and throughout the whole match this was the first time we saw some of that more passive pushing with dropshots going awry – Rafa broke back in the 8th game and then just stepped up a notch to break Andy to take the match in straights!





Rafa’s intensity in this match was unreal. It really was. And lest we forget – he is the world #1. And it showed! He never got the chance to defend his title last year and I feel the tournament was poorer for that. He comes into the Final now having played himself into form.



Andy came into Wimbledon off unsettled preparation in terms of match play and just performed brilliantly during the early rounds. He dug in and outclassed a very good player in Jo-Wilfred Tsonga – and the fact there was only smattering of points in it between him and Rafa shows the quality of his play.
I was amazed to see some negativity in some quarters in his forum. But largely people in there have taken comfort from the fact that the more respected commentators like Tim and Jonny Mac have stated that his time WILL come, and that he lost to a player that was simply on fire.
My personal opinion is... his first slam will come on the hard courts. He is way more comfortable at the USO... and I think he’ll come back much more energised for the final slam of the year.