TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN:RAFAEL NADAL is scowling again. That is great news for fans who might have thought their hero's passion and zest had dimmed a little in a relatively downbeat stretch over the past few months. And it is possibly not the best news for Roger Federer.
Their first semi-final in a slam for seven years tomorrow will be the most significant collision of this Australian Open to this point, and the Spaniard has rediscovered his tigerish championship game at just the right time. The Swiss, who has been majestic all the way, never more so than in dismissing Juan Martin del Potro in the earlier quarter-final in the crushing afternoon heat, will probably start favourite. But there will not be much in it. The last time they met here was in final of 2009, Rafa’s year of magic.
“That is one of the finals that will always be in my mind,” Nadal said after a draining 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Tomas Berdych in four and a quarter hours. Nadal got to the heart of his rivalry with Federer – one that was briefly mired in acrimony at the start of this tournament, because of their differing views of industrial action to press the case for reforms on the Tour, but swayed back towards respect over subsequent days.
“The ranking is important but we are talking about a player who won 16 Grand Slams and I won 10. We played a lot of matches, in very important moments for our careers, and very high moments. So the match is special. But for everything, for what represents the match, all the matches against him are special and will be special even if we are 20 against 25.”
The Swiss’s win – in his 1,000th Tour match – was too one-sided to enthral and it was unfortunate Del Potro could not find the game that so dazzled his peers in 2009 when, before a wrist injury cut him down, he was good enough to beat Federer in the final of the US Open as well as in the World Tour Finals. Here, he could only keep the world number three on court for a minute under two hours.
A smattering of boos sliced through the warm night air for Berdych when he entered Rod Laver Arena; the ugly memory of his refusal to shake hands with Nicolas Almagro this week – after the Spaniard had slammed a volley at him – has not faded for many people. Perhaps Nadal was among their number. Not that he ever struggles for friends, but the crowd were with him from the start, especially so when he gave the toss coin to the little boy chosen to spin it for serve, which went to the Czech.
Apart from his mystery tendon-pinch injury while sitting on a chair in his hotel room last week (his right knee has been heavily strapped since), he was in good shape. He had had a smooth run to the quarters, spending a mere eight hours and 35 minutes over his four easy wins. Nobody got closer than four games to him in any of the 12 sets.
There would be no such failure of purpose on Berdych’s part. With three grams extra weight near the top of his racket when he arrived in Australia, Nadal was looking for more raw power on the slowest of the hard courts.
It was Berdych who did the early bullying. At 5-5 in the tie-break, he hit long but there was no call by line judge or umpire. Nadal baulked after hitting the return and challenged a split second late while moving across the baseline – but the moment had gone, and the Spaniard had made a proper mess of it. When Berdych aced to take the set, Nadal was rattled – but fired up also. Uncharacteristically, he had an angry exchange with the chair umpire Carlos Bernardez, one of the best officials in the business.
“You’re not a spectator,” Nadal told him at the changeover, suggesting Bernardez should have been more pro-active; it paid a dividend of sorts, as Bernardez subsequently corrected at least half a dozen poor line calls.
In a highly-charged atmosphere, Berdych grabbed a break point at the start of the second, but could not capitalise. This was a knife-edge match now, with tempers and judgment near fraying point. The challenge jitters hit Berdych and, as he had used all three for the set and was trailing 30-40 on serve and 2-1, he was left without the option on a close call. Nadal rubbed it in with a volley to break and the momentum swung his way at last. He drew further away on his serve, and Berdych needed to settle and start again.
Nadal gave him the opening with some underpowered serving at 5-3 up before faltering then fighting back to secure another tie-break. It was Berdych’s fifth in a row, his seventh of the tournament and he had yet to be bettered. Not this time. He hit long on the 14th point and Nadal’s joy mingled with relief as he wrapped up a set that was there on a plate for him half an hour earlier.
Nadal did not win 10 slam titles by failing to smell apprehension. And that was what he sensed when he broke Berdych to go 3-2 up. After playing some great points and hitting some wonderful shots behind a big first serve, Berdych’s level dropped in keeping with his growing frustration.
When the Mallorcan smashed a back-leaning winner to take the third, his box took on the look of a travelling disco – even his rarely seen football-famous uncle Miguel Angel “The Beast” Nadal was hopping about like a teenager. When he hit an outrageous running forehand to break at the start of the fourth, well, they might as well have stayed on their feet, because the celebrations remained in full swing all the way to the end.
Just about on the stroke of midnight, Nadal broke Berdych to love to win the match, finishing the job with a forehand, and any bad blood that had flowed between them was forgotten. Berdych wiped the slate clean with his courage and Nadal found again the unique spirit that makes him so special. “I try my best in every moment,” he said. It is his mantra. Now it has substance again.
Guardian Service
