Nadal reclaims Wimbledon crown in style

Rafael Nadal reclaimed the Wimbledon men’s singles title on Sunday, putting in a dominating performance to beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the final. The Spanish world number one was too good for the Czech 12th seed on Centre Court and was rarely troubled as he won his second championship at the All England Club.

In securing his eighth Grand Slam, Nadal went level with Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewall.

And with Switzerland’s Roger Federer showing signs of weakness, Nadal could easily go on to eclipse their efforts.

Furthermore, the “King of Clay” underlined his mastery on all surfaces by completing his second French Open-Wimbledon back-to-back double, winning both finals in three sets.

Former Wimbledon champions Bjorn Borg, Ashley Cooper, Neale Fraser, Jan Kodes - the only Czech man to win the title - and Budge Patty were in the Royal Box on Centre Court to see Nadal reclaim his crown.

Nadal went into the match with a 7-3 head-to-head lead, having won their last six clashes, all in straight sets. Undefeated at Wimbledon since the 2007 final, Nadal won the 2008 title by beating Federer in an epic five-set tussle, but could not defend it last year, due to the chronic knee problems that he is still not rid of. But this was a much more straightforward victory than his extraordinary battle with Federer here two years ago.

Nadal was tested in the early rounds of the tournament, but upped his game from the fourth round onwards, always having too much for every opponent thrown his way.

The Spaniard came back from two sets to one down in the second and third rounds, but despite losing the first set to Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals, looked unshakeable since then, especially in downing Andy Murray in straight sets in the semis.

Berdych, though, had pulled off the shock of the tournament in beating six-time Wimbledon champion Federer in the quarters, then defeated third seed Novak Djokovic in straight sets to earn his first Grand Slam final appearance.

But he could not reproduce those performances this time, being defeated in two hours and 13 minutes.

Nadal walked away with one million pounds (1.5 million dollars, 1.2 million euros), while Berdych collected 500,000 pounds.

Berdych laid down a statement of intent by serving the first game to love, but his service percentages soon waned, allowing Nadal to get into the points and eventually forge an opportunity to break.

In the seventh game, with the fluffy balls taking the edge off the Czech’s serve, Nadal earned himself three break points with a superb passing shot, and won the game when Berdych shot wide.

Nadal took the next game to love, piling the pressure on the Czech as he served for the set.

The Spaniard had two set points, and though Berdych boomed down an ace, he hit a return into the net to give Nadal the set.

Berdych tried to hit straight back in the first game of the second set, and earned himself a break point.

It took Nadal 10 minutes, four deuces and another two break points to see off the challenge and the Spaniard never looked back from there.

AFP