Credit: David Quick/Flickr/CC
Rafael Nadal takes on Novak Djokovic for the 2011 Title
Yesterday saw a surprise result when Petra Kvitova beat Maria Sharapova to the Wimbledon Championship in two sets. Sharapova didn't seem on form, and although there were breaks of serve all over the place, Kvitova kept returning the ball and overpowering her opponent.
Today, it's time to crown the Men's Champion, as current World Number 1 Rafael Nadal takes on the soon-to-be Number 1 Novak Djokovic. It's hard to know which way this match will go - both players have stormed their way through the field so far, but both have little niggles they'll have to deal with too.
| Round | Player | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Russell | 6-4 6-2 6-2 |
| 2 | Ryan Sweeting | 6-3 6-2 6-4 |
| 3 | Gilles Muller | 7-6 7-6 6-0 |
| 4 | Juan Martin Del Potro | 7-6 3-6 7-6 6-4 |
| QF | Mardy Fish | 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-4 |
| SF | Andy Murray | 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-4 |
An easy few rounds to start with, Nadal found himself dropping sets as the competition got harder, and he's called the trainer out a few times for foot problems. Can his body hold out for what could be a five-setter?
| Round | Player | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Chardy | 6-4 6-1 6-1 |
| 2 | Kevin Anderson | 6-3 6-4 6-2 |
| 3 | Marcos Baghdatis | 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-4 |
| 4 | Michael Llodra | 6-3 6-3 6-3 |
| QF | Bernard Tomic | 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5 |
| SF | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | 7-6 6-2 7-6 6-3 |
Novak has come through all his matches on good form, but has, at times, seemed tired and a little lacking in momentum. However, the Centre Court battle, and the potential for a Wimbledon Title might spur him on to fight even harder.
As well as the men's match, we've also got the Mixed Doubles Final following on Centre, as well as the Invitation Doubles on Court 1, featuring Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde. The Ladies' Invitation Doubles also takes place on Court 18, with favourites Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis all in action. What a blast from the past!
Thanks to everyone who's commented and enjoyed this excellent fortnight with me here in the comments. Here's to a good last day of tennis!
I think this match is going to make me angry.
Not sure what to bet on today. How many times the trainer comes out?
I'm gonna go with Nadal just because. I think his demolition of Andy Murray has convinced me he'll retain his championship.
I'm going to go with Nadal because he's a stupidhead.
That old reason, eh :)
:D
I am very much hoping that I am not going to suddenly have to rush away half way through today's match!
ooh good crowd on court 1 for the girls final
So do the rankings only get updated after each event?
every Monday :)
Are they playing new york new york?
Ah
I don't really understand it either
This is like Jake with the engines being turned on behind them
But instead of engines, a completely unrelated didgeridoo orchestra
When does the match start?
I'm going to see if I can get this RSS stuff sorted out for Nina's website before it starts...
2pm
the heat is on
go giggles go!
I was wondering what subtitle they were going to give Greg Rusedski after it says 'Tim Henman - Played in 6 Grand Slam semi finals'
Was hoping they would go for 'Greg Rusedki - Man who played tennis too'
Hehehe.
henin is looking very well
Ooooh thank you Wimbledon coverage
*notes down that rory mcilroy is the golfer*
After seeing xmen this week I keep confusing his name with james mcevoy. Explaining to people a film where a golfer is the starring role is a bit confusing
I guess thinking of him as 'rory the racing car' wouldnt relly help?
xisca v jelena. battle of the wags!
jenson!
with jessica, i think?
yeah
I think I just heard a loud eeking from the kent area
so jb and mark get to go into the royal box but lewis doesn't :D
and it's Lewis who's the MBE!
Aww yay Rafa and Novak
I wonder if Giggles has sorted the RSS feed yet in time
*cue Countdown clock*
"The world No. 1 against tomorrow's World No. 1"
I like that :)
jenson has one too. And Yaay for them being there.
I'm running a bit late :)
I had to make Katherine lunch
Must have done something to offend the stewards*
:)
Well if I ever go on Countdown I know my excuse now for when the timer runs up :)
I think we're done: http://andronovjr.com/
Lets me subscribe so it's looking good, yay!
Now you can enjoy the tennis, phew :)
Alan Rickman!!!
Why a spoon brother?
BECAUSE IT WILL HURT MORE!
Tim: I watched Andy Murray's semi final in 3D
Yes that's because you were there Tim
Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape!
#MixedMemes
He was wearing the glasses the whole time, nobody had the heart to tell him :)
They do work in real life as well!
even i could see that was out. silly nadal.
australians win the boys and the girls titles, commentators go wild
How's the match going?
Pretty even so far.
What do you mean?
Neither player seems to be standing out between the two at the moment, currently 5-4 to Djokovic though in the first set. Djokovic looking slightly stronger at the moment if I had to say who has started the match better.
Ok, thanks :)
gooo nole!
Ooooh, set point.
set point!
Wooo!
woooo! now, two more please.
And he's got it
That came out of nowhere. Wow.
Mr C watched all the build up to that, and then missed the break. D'oh.
what'd i miss?
Nole won the first set.
What has Nadal done to all of you :(?
Although I must say that he is not the smartes guy in the world, and probably I wouldn't be his hugest fan if I followed tennis like I do with F1.
yay.
now nadal will wake up and it'll be all over
i've only seen two matches, but he's far too vettel and not enough maldonado.
:D
I see... Talking 'bout Maldonado, I remember one sentence Christine said in a podcast, like 'poor guy, leave him alone' or something like this hehe.
18 bounces of the ball?
yay!!
an even number, HE'LL DIE!
huh?
You're getting quite into this.
he always bounces it a lot and it's always an odd number
weirdo.
in the list of weird habits nadal still has him beat :D
do tell.
oooh oooh I know one... He always carries a single racket onto the court outside his bag
theres the weird lining up of the water bottles, his inability to step on the lines on court in between points, the picking of his shorts and hair tuck before every serve, they're the big three :D
yes!
...but he's a tennis player?!
He steps over them
yeah when hes playing he does it fine but when hes just walking on the court he always steps over them. OTHERWISE HE'LL DIE.
strange people.
OMG! he does!
Trouble is, you can't unsee it.
ajdeeeee
Novak's got some momentum now
Woo, a break already!
next time they show him at his chair, look at his water. he always have two bottles, they always have to be in a perfect line in front of his chair and the labels always have to face the same way. then he drinks one mouthful from one and then one from the other.
Does Djokovic still do impressions? I'd like to see him do an impression of Nadal
he doesn't so much these days but I'm sure he's done Rafa in one of his old displays :)
amazed he has time to concentrate on playing.
Now I am counting the ball bounces. I hate the comments.
two volleys!
thats why he should get many more time violations :D
I am Nole, hear me roar.
his mouth is not as terrifying as Andys
He's won 5 games in a row now.
we should be honoured Rafa even turned up, what with the two broken feet and all.
he he :)
Lucky he's not a boxer otherwise he'd be totally put off.
In the world of F1 doesn't Schumacher always race with a toy hairbrush in his pocket that his daughter gave him? And DC for many years always raced in the same lucky set of underpants.
I think a couple of drivers always get in on the same side? Webber and Nico? Left Side?
I think Seb has a lucky coin in his shoe?
fail smash
And I seem to remember that Jean Todt always had a lucky bit of wood that hey had sewn into his jumpsuit trousers pocket so he wouldn't loose it. And he would rub it when he wanted extra luck.
swing and a misssss
I hope they're ready to experiment growing their grass back quickly, last chance to practice!
Umbrella boys?
I have an ad break for kids tennis.
"kids are ready for tennis as soon as they can hold a racquet"
Don't forget that Alex.
hahah gimelstob burrrrrn
Ok Nina's Tennis Mom ;)
Wimbledon winner gets 1.1 million pound. 10% will do nicely thanks.
are you listening to our commentary then?
yeah, they do with tennis much as they do with f1, we only get the aussie chaps before the play actually starts
Why would you need money? You'd already be travelling around the world to every tennis match you'd ever want to see?
Oh yes... to pay for the F1 season :)
plus Nina is a girl and the WTA and ATP tours don't overlap much and I'd rather watch the boys :D
Another break point for Novak
heh... I liked the burn... but the boy's from New Jersey so #conflicted
wooooooo
I assumed that with your training she'd be the first girl to compete with the men
blimey
Might as well give him the second set now :)
Wowsers. This I had not imagined.
as i learned from that one roger match and not the 178 other ones, a two set lead means NOTHING.
:)
You can say that again.
Kait and I spent 3 hours in a cafe this afternoon complaining about how much it'll suck to see Rafa win. Oops.
When are we going to get the time out?
I assume his foot has fallen off by now, no?
:D
Hehehehe.
3 set points
I'm confused. I thought Nadal was, like, good at tennis.
its OK, he only ever loses when his legs are broken.
He's just lost 8 of the last 9 games.
I wonder if he's nursing some sort of injury... or make that excuse, anyway.
He had an uncle who was a professional footballer and very good at it too. Nadal clearly is terrible at tennis now so he should go see him ;)
#overdramatic
if he doesn't his hysterical fan base will for him :D
I think the crowd have turned. At first they wanted Djonkovitch as the underdog, now they want more tennis.
Ice cream van has just come past... But I can't go because I'll miss something important!
oooooooooooh.
A break back
get it together nole!
Still a lot of those flies around.. I wonder if Nadal has a routine of eating an even number of them per game?
Say whaaaat
So where was THIS Nadal awhile ago?
I'm sorry but Tim henman really does sound like christian horner.
I think he sounds like Jack Dee
ahh see I think he sounds like jack dee.
#affinity
Oooh that's a fair shout too
Ah I'm pleased Alex agrees with me.:)
tweener fail :D
great point
Awww, he gave it a go, thats what matters :)
exactly
Is it just me or is it weird that they camouflage the cameras... We still know the cameras are under there...
Or are they shiny and would be distracting?
They stole the cameras from ITV, that's why they're camouflagued. ITV have no idea
he he :)
I think this is an important game. The winner of this game will win I say
grrrrr I KNEW THIS MATCH WOULD MAKE ME ANGRY
Go to your happy place Amy... Go to your happy place... Breakfast with Heikki
heikki wants rafa to win, Grrrrrr
uh oh
@daniel_mayhew: Pretend you're a GIANT tennis player by putting your baby in it's high chair and then shaking it's hand.
:D
*wonders if an exploding Amy will affect me here on the other side of the world*
Hahahahah!
if we had a high chair I would do this for you
I think you'll be safe, and my parents are on their way to Brighton so theres not even any Fultons in London to pass on the explosion :D
we could all follow his earlier tweet:
Pretend you're a tennis professional by going to the greengrocers, picking up 3 apples in one hand and then arbitrarily throwing one away.
I will be careful though as I'm on the right side of London as them
What a great double fault that was
Well, obviously not great but great how ungreat it was
Well I think that's that then... I am casting my prediction... Nadal for the win.
good idea, better to be safe than sorry.
I bet Rafa was thinking at one point whether to press the Start button and choose Restart Match
His mental strength is that he does that in his head every set.
he's the anti-murray. none of this 'oh that shot was terrible, now i'll think about it for 3 months' rubbish
Exciting guests at the final, Jenson Button! Jessica Mitchibata! rory Mcilroy! And! uhh... John Major!
There's also Alex Salmond who's surname is like Mardy Fish's...
How close was that!
I want Djockovic to go and just slightly rotate one of Nadal's water bottles
just a little kick as he walks past would be good
oooh has a tide turned? Was Nadal spooked by that call?
a little kick over the roof
go go gooo!
ooooooooh
consolidaaaaaaaaaate!
Oooooohhhh!
No!
break point!
booo netcord. novak, that is not how you consolidate
Hahahaha. Brilliant!!
ouch
This is a very close match innit?
the way all good finals should be :D
I like when other players turn up to watch :)
Interesting return to the umpire there.
a break, a hold, i get to go to sleep. perfect.
go go goooo!
You've got to hand it to him and Nadal kinda is.
now serve it out! serve it ouuuuut!
big point that... BIG
Aaaaaahhh!
Lou are you watching in HD?
not like that.
no, I don't have hd :( my aunt does hence why I get to watch it sometimes. You?
I love Jessica :P
You just seemed to be a few seconds behind... I wondered if that was it...
THIS IS TOO TENSE!
you'll have to get used to that once Nina starts making finals :D
*holds breath*
Match Point :D
champinship point..
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
WOW1
Novak wiiiiiiiiiiiiiins
or rather wow!
YESSSS
NO ELEVEN FOR YOU MR NADAL
that was awesome.
aaaaaahhhhhh! Yaaaaaayyy!
GRASS IS FOR COWS
he ate the grass!
Will he pass a drugs test now ;)
If Djoko is a Cow, what about the loser Nadal :P ?
Yes! :D
he's Nadal's Nadal. If Nadal was Federer
Eleven is too close to 16 for me to feel good shhhhh
theres non Wimbledon hair man again.
Did Nadal have a tear on his cheek then?
Yaaaaaaaaayyyyy! Poor rafa tho.
you're too nice for sport Lou :D
Federer will win one more, IMO. Nadal will wind up with something like 15. It'll be very close.
Well the dude can barely even announce the winner!
The last time he had to announce someone other than Federer or Nadal as champ was 2002! Cut him some slack. :D
:)
:)
:)
Hehe.
he's nicked the mic.
no slam and #2 in the world. he might as well retire.
Whats with the crowd?
ohhh dodgy mics
and is doing is own soundcheck?
I think the mic isn't working in the stadium
What happened there? I don't really understand...
and now its not working on tv :D
But now we cant hear him properly
oooooh dalek rafa.
:D
he's the defending champ at Flushing Meadows, though?
he's like the singer from free, he needs two mics taped together.
hahaha
people said that about Roger when he was still defending a few.
Man this is too confusing
this is awkward
hahaha
oh my....
This is like I'm watching source code again and I'm not quite sure what's happening at the end anymore
All we need is Feder's team to start up his racket engine or something and then the similarities to F1 will be complete.
So, Djokovic - 2, Murray - nil. And they're the same age.
he has three.
Oh yeah, Melbourne! 3-0, then.
a good couple of days at the office
and that was wimbledon. thank you to everyone for the comments and especially the posts. same time next year then :)
mixed doubles, yaaaaaaaaaaay!
eh? surely this must be the last match?
So Nadal carried his bag... That seems very nice... Is that tradition?
nope
oh. carry on commenting then :)
when does it finish?
the mixed doubles is the last match :D
I'm going to watch it solely because WOO TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP
Just realised Amy I should lock you in at 1.1 Million... It's like the Royal Academy on the Strand... Due to a deal struck many years ago they pay £1 a year in rent. They signed a contract for 1,000 years... The building in the center of london looks like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Burlington_House.jpg
It's all three buildings middle, left and right.
no deal!
bargain!
Here's Djokovic's impression of Nadal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb1IM4ttDug
right, excitement has worn off and mixed doubles is not doing it for me, bed time :)