By Charles Bricker
One more balloon return of serve. That’s all Rafa Nadal needed to see at the turning point of this semifinal at Wimbledon Friday, and he put away the tiebreak that effectively signaled Andy Murray’s demise in this 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4 bravura performance.
Air under the ball is a good idea on high-bouncing clay. Not such a great concept, however, on grass, and perhaps one day, when Murray fully understands that, he can reach the final two rounds of this most prestigious of Grand Slams.
Meanwhile, he’s going home and Rafa is moving to the edge of another historic moment in his young life — the opportunity to become only the second man in the Open Era to twice win that toughest of major combos, the French Open and Wimbledon, in the same season.
He’ll have to defeat Tomas Berdych, who took down Novak Djokovic with surprising ease by 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3, but he’s done that seven times previously, in 10 attempts, including a straight-set win in the quarters of the 2007 Wimbledon, in which he limited the Czech’s heavy serving to 11 aces.
Nadal has lost five sets in six matches at Wimbledon, twice going five with players he should have more easily beaten. But he appears to be peaking at precisely the right time and, given his opponents of the last two rounds, he’s looked prodigious.
Robin Soderling had Nadal down 0-5 in the opening set, but since that moment Rafa has been indomitable. Soderling and Murray presented different challenges, but Nadal neutralized both. He took Soderling’s heavy serving away and he forced Murray out of his usual win-by-attrition game.
It’s not too much to conclude that these last two matches have been a tribute to Nadal’s ability to deal with different opponents.
Murray’s biggest weapons are his first serve, his retrieving ability and his knack for taking balls in difficult defensive positions and hammering back deep shots that allow him to get back into the point.
Nadal dealt with that with patience and constant aggression. He wasn’t going to get into a grinding match with Murray and, after winning the opening set, he forced Murray to get more aggressive and play with a little more risk.
But as the match wore on, it became evident that the salient difference between the two men, who both have great speed, was the amount of air under the ball. When Nadal gets the high-percentage ball he wants, he drives it flat with low net clearance. Murray, meanwhile, hits more of a deep floater. The upshot is that Nadal consistently had more time to get into position to shoot while Murray was more often off-balance having to deal with Rafa’s driving power.
Andy had one minor hurrah in the third set, when he broke to go up 1-0, but Nadal soon broke back and, by the end of this match, Murray looked tired and very frustrated while Nadal looked as if he was going to top off this victory with five-mile up Church Road.
This match could not have ended with Murray looking much more incompetent. On match point, he had a hanging curve ball inside the service line and his swinging volley went wide of the right sideline.
It didn’t much matter. He wasn’t going to win this. As Murray’s final shot slid wide, Nadal dropped on his back in celebration, pulled off his headband, embraced Murray at the net and gave him some real sympathy. It was great to see that kind of sportsmanship after Roger Federer’s whining about injury after losing to Berdych on Thursday.
This has been a tough year for Murray, who reached the final at the Australian Open but hasn’t been a runner-up since, and hasn’t won a tournament since Valencia last year. He went out in the round of 16 at Roland Garros to Berdych and now the semis at Wimbledon to Rafa.
He’ll look back on this match and his focus will be on the tiebreak, where he was serving for the set at 6-5. His first serve went low into the net — not even close. His second was another balloon. Nadal had an easy backhand return to take control of the point right away, then knocked off Murray’s attempt at a pass with a backhand volley into the open court.
Nadal surged home at 7-6 in the breaker and, with a two-set lead, there was no doubt about who was going to reach the semis opposite Berdych.
Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com