WBlog: Time For My Holidays

7/07/2010Rafaholics

Rafa posted up his last Wimbly Blog...

Time for my holidays
Rafael Nadal

Hello everyone and BIG THANKS to you all.

You can imagine two things of me today: 1) I am over the moon and 2) I am very tired and need holidays!

The first one is difficult to explain further. The sensation to win the tournament of my dreams for the second consecutive time (I didn't play here last year) and doing it after winning Roland Garros too is something it was difficult to imagine just one year ago. I was suffering, watching the final on TV at home on my sofa, and wondering how things were going to unfold in my career. But today I am again with this special feeling of winning the biggest and most important tennis tournament in the world.

The second one is long to explain. I am not that tired from the match itself. To be honest all the media work I did after the match was longer than the match itself. I got to the house at 9.30pm and only had 5 minutes to get changed. I was then back in the car talking to Spanish radio stations and only finished when I got to the hotel for the Ball. But also tired for these past 16 weeks where I only had a few days at home.

Now it is time to get treatment and rest for 2 weeks, a full 2 weeks of not playing tennis and simply enjoying my holidays!

To end this blog and to end this 2 weeks of being with you, I want to really thank you for your support. I truly mean when I say that I feel at home here in Wimbledon. I feel the warmth of the fans here like at home and I feel the respect for the game, for our sport. For me it is really an honor to play here and a dream to have done what I managed to do on Sunday.

Many thanks also to The Times for giving me this opportunity and I hope we continue with this tradition now that is also lucky for me!

Your Rafa

Times Online Questions..

Questions for Rafa: were you nervous during the Wimbledon final?
Rafael Nadal
42 minutes ago
How does this victory compare to beating Roger in 2008? Mal, Sheffield

RN: It is different since the one in 08 was my first win. But let me say that a win is a win and I am very happy, very proud, very excited about the win.
Who was your most difficult opponent at Wimbledon this year? Helios, San Francisco

RN: Maybe the answer should be obvious because of the five-set matches. However, mentally it is also tough before the match and the semis against Andy as well as the final were both tough.

You seemed quite nervous at the start of the final which is not like you. Did the crowd and the occasion affect you? Joanne

RN: No, I wasn't too nervous. Tomas played very well, especially with his serve, and there was not much I could do then. I was pretty much calmed during the whole match.

Now that you have won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year twice - which is amazing - what will be your next ambition? Rob, Tottenham

RN: I really want to be ready and fit for the US Open.

I loved your match with Andy (I thought you brought out the best in each other). Do you enjoy all of your matches or are there some players whose style makes them more enjoyable to play against? Sian Morris Ross

RN: Enjoyable is to play and most of the times to win. With Andy we always play good matches. He is very talented and it is really difficult to play against him.

How did you adjust from playing from clay to grass? Was it hard? Shirlee, New York

RN: It is hard, but this is what also motivates me. I won a few matches at Queens and then practiced, practiced and practiced more. That is also why the first matches at Wimbledon are tougher.

After you won in 2008 you gave a lot of your kit to the Wimbledon museum. Did you keep anything for yourself to remember it by? Katharine

RN: I gave a whole kit on Sunday too. But I also keep a whole kit for me, the last racquet i played (the one I converted the match point)

& his last Elmundo Blog

'I think I'm serving well, especially when I need'

Do you think that both Roland Garros and Wimbledon are showing
best service of your career? How much room for improvement you think you have
still in that section of the game? Carlos Vales.

I think I'm serving well , especially when I want. I'm getting good service without a big punch. I do not know that I have room for improvement but I feel I'm serving well .

As you go through the tournament in the second week in the ski Wimbledon shows that part of the track is running out
grass. " This helps your game that make the boat moreball? Igor Zulaika .

Yes, back where we run from side to side . This helps to avoid slipping but neither affects the bounce of the ball. Yes it is somewhat harder on the issue of not rained in two weeks.
Congratulations on your match against Murray, and everyone else. Can you sleep well before a Wimbledon final or as important as any other Grand Slam ? You do not invade the emotions making you hard to relax ? How are you doing? Miguel Covian .

Thank you very much . Sometimes I slept well and others not. Depends. I hope I can sleep well today. For this I see a movie or something.

Hey man, you're not doing bad at all , hehe. Hey, technical issue : it is said there that the kick you hard because 1) you were born right-handed and 2) your ' grip ' is so extreme that you do not get hit plane. For me they are nonsense, because I see your ' smash 'so devastating , and although the movement differ slightly from your serve , I think that supersedes these theories solvency. Believe it! By the way, remove your statistics against Murray was very good. The average of his first serve and second only were two miles (or less) faster than yours. Cheer from Dubai! Julian CG.

I do not think so but do not call it nonsense. I see that it was not a question but rather a technical contribution jejejeje yours .

Congratulations champ. His performance in "big bigger , " Roland Garros and Wimbledon, is indisputable. His career in these tournaments will partner to Borj , and That is too big . However it has been able to win Australia . It is the U.S. Open to complete the Grand Slam. Always we arrive just in physical form to that part of the season : Is posed change the way they deal with next season in years looking for more options out there ? . Thank you. Pedro Jose Ruiz Ramirez

No, no. My season is well structured and depended only on the past if I was with some unwanted circumstances such as injury .

Congratulations Rafa ! I have no words to express my admiration to you. My question is, can not denounce the behavior of an arbitrator when the other day , the French, so clearly contradicts rules of the game ? If possible , have you done? It's a shame what he did. Rafa Thanks for giving us so many good times . Forward and to you for your F. Charo second trophy .
I do not like beating a dead horse . I said what I had to say and so he also conveyed the tournament supervisor . Also make mistakes like us and that is understandable. What is not acceptable behavior is wrong.

Good Rafa , I need your help. I come from playing tennis. The point is that would win and my opponent has started to tell me that I was going to throw a good beating, I finally got deconcentrated and me . Are you in the circuit with rivals talk to you and trying to destabilize ? How do you not lose your temper , stay focused and not answer ? With Crack ! Pablo Garcia.

Jajajajaja . No man, that's not right to do it and not let him referee . But you yourself have said, we must stay focused and paying attention to only what is yours and not think about what is on the rival.

The first thing I want is to thank you so much I do ...¡¡ enjoy watching you play you're amazing !!... and now my question ... Do you think that with the level currently in the ATP and WTA is possible that a @ @ to get the tennis grand slam in the same year? Get wet ! Thank you for being like that! Ana Ferrer

I think so. But do not ask me who ...

Hello Rafael. My congratulations on your successes , especially to get the very difficult ' Clay Slam '. My question is: Will you return to someday lead -shirts and pants fish? Apart from befriend more for your physique , I think a lot more to intimidate rival. You could bring them back to at least land in the season ... Thanks and greetings ! Jorge Garcia.

We do not think so. We must look ahead.

Hola Rafa ! First I want to tell you 're one of the people I most admire , and I am proud to be Spanish especially by people like you. As your home games because we are a family of tennis players, and know how your game and we all agree that you are a machine, so my other question is : What music do you have in your ipod ? o What is your favorite movie ? Thanks champ! and good luck at Wimbledon. Mercedes Sáiz .

Thank you very much . I have a lot of Spanish music or Spanish. A bit of everything. I have no choice.

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W: Championship Dinner

7/04/2010Rafaholics

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In Broad Daylight

7/04/2010Rafaholics

In Broad Daylight
by Pete Bodo

This time, it required no passing shots fired like small cannon into the deepening gloaming. No desperate second serves that traveled the razor's edge separating those two celebrated Wimbletwins, Triumph and Disaster. No brooding confrontations between fear and courage, both marinated in sweet perspiration that kept them slippery, grasped one moment, gone the next. No flashhbulbs bursting like newborn planets in the twilight, and no scaling of the dusty green wall above which the stunned interested parties sat, awaiting the moment. The embrace.

If Rafael Nadal's first singles victory at Wimbledon, in 2008, remains an epic engraved forever on the soul of Wimbledon and those who love it, his second one today was a clinical, almost anti-septic act of re-affirmation. Why go through all that again? Today, Nadal demolished Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, a lanky and late-blooming threat, unstable as acetone peroxide, who was unable to rally the kind of commanding, power-based tennis that had carried him to the final over the fortnight.

Nadal won it, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, as Berdych's nerves, game, or both failed him at inconvenient times. Thus Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg to complete the Channel Slam (back-to-back wins at Roland Garros and Wimbledon) more than once in the Open era. It wasn't very long ago that Borg's accomplishment seemed untouchable, not just because of Borg's game but - in theory - because of essential transformations in the game itself. Now, Nadal and Roger Federer have each done it. As Nadal said in his presser, "It didn't happen since Borg (1980), and now it happened for the past three years. How crazy is life?"

But let's get back to those critical moments in the match. With his punishing serve and quick-strike groundstrokes, Berdych is capable of holding serve until the cows, or Isner and Mahut, come home. But Nadal broke Berdych in the seventh game of the first set, and we all know how serving with a 4-3 lead can pump up a fellow. In the second set, Nadal broke Berdych in what, arguably, was the most critical game of the match: the 13th. Had Berdych held there, the set would have gone to the tiebreaker and, against a guy like Berdych, that's always a crapshoot. Nadal duplicated the feat, but two games earlier, to break Berdych and close it out 6-4.

You could argue that Berdych's greatest miscalculation was his stubborn refusal to go to a Plan B when Plan A (engaging Nadal in stock baseline-based play) clearly failed. But in each of the last two sets, Berdych matched Nadal, hold for hold, until deep into the set. So in the end, you can just as easily put down his loss to a failure of nerve. He failed to play the big points well. Berdych was 0-5 in break points, compared to Nadal's 4-6. If someone had told you before the match that there would be no tiebreakers, you would have known it would hardly be worth watching. Going into the match, Berdych had lost just seven service games; today he lost three, over 30 per cent of his tournament total.

But Nadal was broken just eight times in this tournament, a statistic that that testifies to his serving efficiency as well as his generally high level of execution. After all, Nadal's 54 aces is barely half the number served up at Wimbledon by his final opponent (111). Berdych finished no. 2 on the acemaker list (behind John Isner, who served up all of his in one match), and Nadal finished tied for 22nd.

Still, as Nadal's uncle and coach told us, referring to his nephew's general level of play: "It was as good as 2008. Maybe better, because he improve some things, like his serve."

Nadal's well-placed lefty slice, less effective for its ka-boom than for its shrewd placement, has made his life easier on grass. But he wins on the surface for the same reason as the former player he most resembles, Borg. It's all about the legs. As he said, "I think I have very good thing for player here on grass - movement. I move well on the court, and that's a very important part of the game."

No secrets there. Berdych begged to differ and put it simply: "His biggest weapon is his left hand. It's not many players like that. It's really tough, you know, to find the right rhythm."

And it's that much tougher when the most basic strength of your opponent exposes your most basic weakness. In this case, the quickness of Nadal matched with the relatively poor movement of Berdych. As the match wore on, Berdych's defense looked weaker and weaker; by the late stages, he was pushing feeble sliced backhands which, when they did make it over the net, were easy pickings for the swift Nadal.

How did he get so fast? "I think all my life I practiced with my high hundred percent of intensity in every ball in the practice. That's why today I am faster, no? Probably now I'm not practicing with the same intensity like when I was a kid. When I was a kid, I practiced - believe me - like crazy."

This appetite, even a cradle-to-grave tennis pro, is slightly unusual, and it points to a more fundamental attribute that may be the wellspring of Nadal's style as well as his degree of success. That's his passion for the game, which is manifest in subtle as well as obvious ways.

We all know that tennis players are coy, proud individuals. They claim never to read anything written about them, but you can catch them at the newsstand, with an armload of papers. Once they're out of a tournament, they profess no interest in watching the grand finale. But I'll bet they sit there, doing sit-ups, tuned in to the broadcast, growling: That coulda been me.

When Nadal was asked the other day if he had watched last year's final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, he said, "I watched at home, on the sofa. Just enjoying the beautiful match. Was a very emotional match. I liked the tennis, so I enjoyed the match."

How often have you heard players, instead of transported fans, call tennis "beautiful?"

Of course, you don't get to be Rafael Nadal by enjoying the moment when you're actually playing out there; you get to be Nadal by living in it and most of all surviving it - even if you get the job done while the sun is still high and the shadows short, while spectators are appreciating every point instead of living - or dying - a little bit with each one.

Today was easy, although Nadal would be the last to tell you so. Don't you think he earned it?

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W: Various Videos

7/04/2010Rafaholics

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W: Final Headlines

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W: Final Press Conference Transcript w/video

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Wimbledon Press Conference Slideshow

English Presser

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Spanish Press Conference

Watch live streaming video from wimbledon at livestream.com

Rafael Nadal Interview - Wimbledon Champion, July 4

R. Nadal - 4 July 2010
Sunday, 4 July 2010Q. Pau Gasol wanted me to say hola to you. Congratulations. Can you compare this to what he did, back‑to‑back Lakers championships and your own as well, two straight here at Wimbledon for you?

RAFAEL NADAL: Thanks a lot. Everything is difficult, and very difficult compare, two different sports, no? But I am in contact with him all the time. For sure to have unbelievable sportsman like Pau inside the court, inside the court and outside the court is very, very good for our country.

Q. Is it even more special for you to come back and win it a second time?

RAFAEL NADAL: Every one is really special, no? Is difficult to say this one is more special. The other one was more dramatic, the way to win. So first title is always very, very special.

And for sure after not easy year for me. Be back on my favorite tournament of the world here and play well another time, and not only play well, so finish with the trophy is amazing for me.

Just can say thank you very much all the organization, all the crowd, because when I am on the court what they make me feel is unbelievable.

Q. How does it feel to be so popular with the crowd here at Wimbledon?

RAFAEL NADAL: You know, probably is the best crowd of the world, no? More respect. They have a lot of respect for every player, I think.

If I speak about myself, was always amazing with me, the crowd, especially yesterday or two days ago when I played against Andy Murray, a British player. For sure the crowd support him, but the same time was supporting me a lot, no? That's unbelievable. Just can say thank you very much.

Q. Did you expect a different or tougher match from him?

RAFAEL NADAL: I cannot say the same because I don't expect nothing before the match. I expect play my best in every point and try to fight every point like the last. I don't think if I gonna have a very difficult match, I gonna lose, I gonna win. I don't think about this.

I just think about try to go on court and try to fight every point and play point by point. Not thinking any more of the next point.

Q. You had a lot of support from home, your girlfriend, parents, people from your club. Is that important to you?

RAFAEL NADAL: I have all the family, my team here, so, sure, is nice to have the friends here. Is always nice have your people around you.

Q. How have you changed your game to become so comfortable on grass where you now have two Wimbledon championships?

RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. The main thing I think is if you want to play well, you gonna find a way. So if you really want to play well in one surface and you are a good player, I think in the end you gonna find a way.

And play for me on grass always was my dream, and play here for me was all my life a big goal for me. So I think I have very good thing to play here on grass is the movement. I move well on this court, and that's very important part of the game.

Sure, later my serve always was improving a little bit. Is important play more aggressive than the rest of the surfaces, no?

But, sure, I tell you, the main thing is really want to improve in every surface. On grass is the main thing.

Q. How hungry are you regarding winning the US Open? How important is it for you to win the US Open, as well?

RAFAEL NADAL: Right now I'm very happy to win Wimbledon. Yeah (smiling). We gonna think about US Open in one month. Right now we just relax and enjoy for me this amazing season.

Was very difficult for me to be back at my best. I did, so is very important and emotional moment for me. I want to enjoy that. For sure, keep working to try to be in the US Open finally ready to try to win. But for sure US Open gonna be one of my goals for rest of my career.

But right now is enjoy the beach, fishing, golf, friends, party, and Mallorca.

Q. You're known for playing all the points with great intensity and focus. It seems on the critical points, like today at the breakpoints, you really focused, you lift your game. Can you talk about what you do on the big points.

RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, today I was a little bit more nervous than usual. I was a little bit lucky on few moments with the breakpoints. I had two good forehands, and later I have a rally with the slice backhand. So he finish missing the backhand to the net.

So I don't know. I just try my best in every moment, every practice, every point. Important thing is be there all the time. If you are there all the time, you are have more chances to save the breakpoints.

Q. You talked before about the importance of the movement. Even if you don't like to speak normally about injuries, you still run like a rabbit or a jaguar, it depends what kind of animal you think. How do you explain it? You talk about knees, this and that. Nobody is capable to run like you.

RAFAEL NADAL: No, I don't have any problem today. I didn't have any problem today, and for the last four matches I didn't have any problem. So that's all. Without healthy is impossible to be where I am today.

Q. Is there a special practice you do to be quicker than somebody else, to react?

RAFAEL NADAL: No. I think all my life I practiced with my high hundred percent of intensity in every ball in the practice.

So when I have only controls ‑‑ normally I never have controls, normal controls. I play every control like a point.

That's why I think today I am faster, no? Probably now I'm not practicing with the same intensity like when I was a kid. When I was a kid, I practiced, believe me, like crazy.

Q. Did you expect this kind of return?

RAFAEL NADAL: No. For sure, no. I gonna say another time the same. I go day by day, and I wake up every morning with the illusion to practice and to improve, with the allusion to play well another time.

So last seven months or six months of 2009 season I wasn't ready to play at this level. I was ready to fight, but not to play like I am doing now.

The positive thing in that seven months is I didn't lose in first round, second round, no? I wasn't ready to win, but I was there all the time, semifinals, quarterfinals, one time one final in Shanghai. So without playing well, I had not bad results. So that's very important for the confidence.

And when I finish the season 2009 and I went to Mallorca and I start to practice, well, you see the difference. If you play semifinals and quarterfinals, you see everything a little bit more easier, because without play well I was there.

So just keep working, be ready to work hard to be ready for 2010, and if I improve, I gonna have the chance another time to win.

Q. Today Lorenzo won in motorcycle. Spain is in the semifinal of the World Cup. You won here. What is so special in Spanish athletes? If Spain reaches the final, will you go there to see it?

RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I don't know. For the last two years we had amazing success on very important sports. So maybe is a little bit lucky, because is impossible to have one No. 1 like Pau Gasol, all the unbelievable players of the basketball in Spain.

Q. And Lorenzo?

RAFAEL NADAL: Sure, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Contador. For sure, we won the Europa Cup with the football, and right now we are in semifinals in the World Cup. So we are in probably the best moment of our history in sport.

That's very difficult to do. We have to know how difficult is be there and enjoy these moments, because gonna be very difficult to repeat another generation like we have now.

Q. Will you go to the final, Cape Town?

RAFAEL NADAL: I have to do treatment right now on the knees. I have to have serious work, the same time to try to ready for the American season. So I don't think so. I gonna see.

But for me would be a pleasure to be there. I am a crazy fan of football, and for sure a big supporter of our team. I am in contact with the players. You know, I just wish the team all the best.

But if the World Cup can be a little bit closer, gonna be easier for me to be there.

Q. You surprised some people with your summersault at the end. Is that something you thought through or did spontaneously?

RAFAEL NADAL: I didn't thought nothing about that. That was my reaction that moment, no?

Q. Winning the French and Wimbledon back to back, it's been said, is the hardest thing in tennis. You've now done it twice. How special do you think that is as an achievement?

RAFAEL NADAL: It didn't happen since Borg, so now last three years it happen twice. So how crazy is the life.

Q. The way you played in the clay court season, to be able to transfer that to grass, how tough is that?

RAFAEL NADAL: Is difficult. For sure is difficult. But important thing is I repeat the same than before: have enough illusion to play after winning in Roland Garros, to play well on grass.

So after a few years for me, I know how important is the grass court season. And after winning in Roland Garros Sunday, I am practicing on Monday in Queen's because I know how difficult is to change and to adapt the surface. Every day is goal to be ready to play here in Wimbledon.

So is difficult, yes. But if you have experience in the past and you have lot of matches on grass in the past, that's gonna help you a lot.

Q. You mentioned you were a bit nervous. Was it different playing here? You played three finals against Roger. Was it different today playing as the favorite?

RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. If you are not nervous in the final of Wimbledon, you are not human, so...

Q. This year tennis fans remember this championship for your win, but also Isner and Mahut. What message do you have for them?

RAFAEL NADAL: I saw the match. Was unbelievable. Just can congratulate both players because what they did. They show amazing good spirit for the crowd, for the young people, because the attitude was very positive and fighting a lot every point, like for 10 hours or 11 hours, I don't know.

So was just amazing. Both players need to acknowledge, the rest of the people, especially the tennis people.

Thank you very much.

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W: 8 Grand Slams For Rafa!

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WBlog: Dream Come True

7/04/2010Rafaholics

It would be a dream come true to win again today
Rafael Nadal

Hi everyone,

I am going soon to sleep. Tomorrow it is a big day and I want to be ready for that.

This is my 4th consecutive final in Wimbledon and after losing the first two I managed to achieve my biggest win: to win at Wimbledon. That was one of the best feelings in my career and I would love to repeat that again tomorrow. Something amazing. I know it will be very, very difficult since Berdych is playing great, but it would be unbelievable to lift that trophy again.

The first time you do it, the first time I did it, I think I was not realizing everything. So I think that if I have the chance to lift it tomorrow it will also be a different sensation, maybe even bigger! Amazing for me, amazing.

I am not sure that I will have time tomorrow to write this blog. I can promise you that if I don't I will send one on Monday.

Thanks for all your support these 2 weeks!

-Rafa

Thank you to all my fans, you have been amazing ...again
Rafael Nadal

Rafa it's great to have you back in a Wimbledon final! This year I camped to get tickets to see you play and it made me wonder if you've ever had to queue for tickets? Buena suerte for the final! Katharine

RN: No, I never had to queue. I know it is also a tradition here and that you fans really spend all those hours to get a ticket to go in. It is great and I thank you all for that!

Rafa a massive congratulations for getting into your fourth Wimbledon final, you really deserve it. A lot of people have asked about you coaching when you retire but what about you becoming a tennis commentator? A lot of ex-pros like John McEnroe and Boris Becker have went down this route. I think you would be brilliant because you've such a good memory about matches and scores. Good luck for Sunday Rafa. Debs Ireland

RN: I don't think I will be coaching but I am sure I will be doing something related to sports. I love the sport.

Enhorabuena Rafa! You played an amazing match against the British No 1 and in front of a home crowd who were just longing to see one of their own reach a Wimbledon final. Have you ever watched a replay of the 1966 Manuel Santana vs Dennis Ralston match? I was wondering how you would feel playing the best of five sets without having the chance to sit down at changeover? Unbelievable to think about isn't it? Bona sort in the final Rafa. Bring that trophy back to the island too if you can! Bee from Calvìa

RN: No, I have never had the chance to se the whole match. Sometimes in previous years with rain delays we would see some random matches and some rushes. Regarding the change over, it would be difficult nowadays

I queued since midday on Tuesday to watch you play Soderling - it was a privilege to see you, you were truly phenomenal. And thanks for signing my hat! I was wondering, though: some of your fans are really noisy. Do you find it helpful to have such enthusiastic support, or does it ever distract or annoy you? Or do you just not notice? All the luck in the world for Sunday - eight is a lucky number in China Emma

RN: Many thanks. Glad to see you enjoyed it. It is great to have fans and screaming, no worries.

Hola Rafa! I wish you the best of luck tomorrow for your final. I know you can do it!!! I know you won't be playing against France in the Davis Cup (my team, though I would have rooted for you! haha) because of the treatment you'll be having for your knees at the same time. What do you think about this upcoming game? Will you be watching it? I'll be cheering for you in front of my TV tomorrow! Eres el mejor!!! (y vamos España esta tarde contra Paraguay!). Abrazos. Sandie.

RN: I am sure it is a very close tie and it won't be easy for neither teams. I will closely be watching every match from home for sure!

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"If I win, it will be emotional"

7/03/2010Rafaholics

Nadal still wary two years after Federer epic

Spanish star faces Berdych in Wimbledon championship match Sunday

By Pritha Sarkar
July 3, 2010

LONDON - The last time Rafael Nadal appeared in a Wimbledon final, he spent the night before tossing and turning in bed in nervous anticipation of the clash against the game's greatest player Roger Federer.

Two years after beating the Swiss in the match considered the sport's most memorable and with Federer absent from the showpiece final for the first time since 2002, the Spaniard is no less wary about the man standing between him and an eighth grand slam title, Czech Tomas Berdych.

While the rest of the tennis world is still trying to come to terms with the fact the Swiss maestro will not emerge from the players' entrance on Center Court Sunday, Nadal does not find Federer's absence and Berdych's emergence that strange.

"It shows just how tough the tour is," the 2008 champion told Reuters in an interview on the eve of the final.

"What Roger did was amazing and unbelievable. It's impossible to be there all the time. What he did, six titles and one final in seven years, is impossible to repeat."

Since Nadal lost his first two Wimbledon finals to Federer, it was not surprising that he was looking forward to trading blows with a new Czech face across the net.

"Two years ago when I played against Roger, the night before I didn't sleep a lot," he said as he slouched back on a chair after emptying his pockets of two mobile phones and a bulging black wallet.

"(Out of all my nine grand slam finals) I was the most nervous going into the 2008 final here.

"But right now I'm not thinking about the victory. I'm thinking about having a good night, having a good warm-up tomorrow morning and then go on court and try my best every point.
"Tomas is a great player, very good player from the baseline, very good shots, very good serve, so that why he is the best player from his (side of the) draw.

Popular champion

"For that reason he's in the final and it's going to be a very difficult match."

To prepare for that match he took part in a short, but intense, training session Saturday on a roasting outside court at the All England Club before sauntering on to the players' terrace looking refreshed in a green and white striped polo shirt loosely hanging over khaki pirate pants.

As he traded high-fives with another popular former champion, Goran Ivanisevic, he barely resembled a man who could in just over 24 hours become the first Spanish man to own two Challenge Cups.

"I would love to have another title here but even playing four finals here is more than I ever thought (was possible) and I want to enjoy tomorrow," said Nadal, who enjoys a 7-3 head-to-head record against 12th seed Berdych.

Wanting to savour the moment can hardly be surprising for a man who just 12 months ago was denied a chance to defend his title when his creaking knees told him enough was enough.

If knee transplants had been available, Nadal would probably have been the first one in the queue to sign up.

But since ditching the troublesome knees was not an option, he took the slow road back to fitness and has now learned how to deal with the niggles as and when they crop up.

"I've worked very hard to be back here and I did. For that reason it is very important," said Nadal, who uncontrollably sobbed into his towel just four weeks ago at the sheer relief of reclaiming his French Open crown, his fifth at Roland Garros.

"If I win it will be very emotional for me but if I lose, I will accept with the same calm.

"I know how difficult it is to win another time here. I know how good my claycourt season was and how good this tournament was for me," added the 24-year-old, who became the first man to make a clean sweep of the big four clay titles in one season.

"It's a dream for me to be back here and winning important titles like Rome, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Roland Garros. Being back in the final of Wimbledon is amazing for me."

In case Berdych gets carried away hoping that his sledgehammer forehand can also destroy Nadal's hopes, the second seed said: "For me the final it's not a big pressure because I did very well the last six, seven months."

PreTournament Video of Berdych is up on the site but not Rafa's (dont know why)

another article here..

Why Nadal and Berdych want to win