Men’s Quarterfinal day at Wimbledon and most of the usual suspects were present. The No.1 and champion of the last five years, Roger Federer; the No.2 and French Open champion, Rafa – or, if you’re John McEnroe, Raaafa – Nadal; the token British hope, Andy Murray; and a charismatic hero from days of yore, Marat Safin. Oh, and a German, a Frenchman, a Croat, and (another) Spaniard, but they were merely the supporting cast.
At the time of writing, a Frenchman and a German are still slogging it out on Court No.1. First up on Centre Court, when the rain had subsided, were Federer and Ancic. They weren’t there for very long. Federer glided regally around the court, exuding composure and self-confidence. He has something of the gentleman swordsman: slightly effete, sartorially immaculate, ruthless and deadly. Fleet-footed, he played with a rapier-like precision that made Ancic, so redoubtable against Verdasco, look cumbersome.
Federer was always in control, and his victory was swift and decisive: 6-1, 7-5, 6-4. Meanwhile, on Court No.1, it was Mad Murat Safin versus Flaky feliciano Lopez. Safin, somewhat flaky himself, for a while threatened to out-flake his opponent. In the opening exchanges he looked rather lost, but the rain provided a welcome respite. Although he lost the first, the break seemed to have calmed Safin’s nerves, and he played with renewed vigour. Having taken control of the set, however, Safin inexplicably began haemorrhaging points.
Then, just as suddenly and equally inexplicably, Lopez started to do the same. In the end, Lopez – marginally the flakier of the two – found himself two sets down, and Safin found some consistency. Still, having dominated the fourth set, there was still time for Safin to stutter. Happily, the line judge decided to intervene. With Lopez serving at 4-5, he made ‘a noise’, disrupting Safin’s concentration, and inducing a mistake.
Fortunately for Safin, the Umpire heard ‘the noise’ too, and ordered the point replayed. This was simply too much for Lopez, who spent the rest of the match – about two minutes – looking mightily peeved. It ended 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3. Next up on Centre Court, Murray and Nadal. After his dramatic fight-back against Gasquet, this match was always likely to be an anti-climax for Murray, and so it proved. Looking somewhat depleted,
Murray was simply no match for Nadal, who, after sounding him out in the early stages, proceeded to pound him into dust. Such is the Spaniard’s persistence and intensity that he forces his opponents to expend every ounce of strength, to strain every last sinew. Not what you want the day after a gruelling five set comeback.
Nadal orchestrated the rallies, bombarding his adversary with a series of bone-crunching groundstrokes. Murray crumbled to a conclusive three set defeat, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. From the very start of the tournament Nadal has played with a sense of destiny; whether that destiny takes the shape of Roger Federer remains to be seen, but it is looking increasingly likely.