By Randy Walker
It will be Tomas Berdych and Rafael Nadal squaring off for the Wimbledon title on Sunday.
Berdych followed up his quarterfinal upset of top-seed and six-time champion Roger Federer by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3 to advance into his first major tournament final.
Nadal, the 2008 Wimbledon champion, ended British hopes of a homegrown champion by defeating Andy Murray 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the semifinals.
Nadal and Berdych have met 10 times previously, Nadal leading the series 7-3 and having won the last six matches. Their most famous match prior to the upcoming Wimbledon final came on Nadal’s home turf of Madrid in 2006, when Berdych beat Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (6) in a controversial quarterfinal, where Berdych gestured to “shush” the pro-Nadal Spanish crowd following his victory. The match is outlined below in my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com).
2006 – Czech Tomas Berdych illicts jeers from an angry Spanish crowd after putting his finger to his lips in a silencing motion after defeating Spanish favorite son Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters. Nadal calls Berdych a “bad person” because of the gesture. Berdych responds that is done in response to the Spanish crowd cheering his mistakes. “I can understand they want him to win the match and the tournament, but this is not a Davis Cup where you can expect this — not in this tournament,” Berdych says. Counters Nadal, “When I played him in the Czech Republic, the crowd was the same and I didn’t say anything. If you play against a local player, that’s normal. That’s good for tennis because the public supports you.”
Video highlights of the above match can also be seen here: