Wimbledon 2008 (June 23 - July 6)

A Clash of Titans

Rafael Nadal is only the second Spaniard, after Manolo Santana in 1966, to become Wimbledon's champion. Also, he is the first male since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to have achieved winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back. But five straight titles in London, record made by Bjorn Borg between 1976-80, still remains intact


By MARKO ANDREJIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


King of clay - Rafael Nadal is finally first in Wimbledon! With this success he joined the very exclusive club of only few people winning Grand Slam titles on the both sides of La Manche in the same season. Less than one month after winning Roland Garros in his favorite surface - clay, he was the best on the courts of London's grass. After almost 8 hours of playing the final match against Roger Federer (including two rain delays), Spaniard has also stopped Swiss player in his try to reach Bjorn Borg's record in number of winning Wimbledon titles and broke his winning row on the grass (65 matches). Matches between today world No.1 and No.2 are already proclaimed as "classics" in men's tennis and this one proved its name - 5 sets played, Nadal won 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7!

Women's tournament was much more interesting and unpredictable. Since the very beginning of play there was not favorite, actually there were too many candidates for the title - Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina... Williams sisters reached the final and although Serena were given more chances to win, Venus showed who is older and succeeded defending last year's title.

Tennis season on the grass is the shortest part of the year, it lasts only about one month with tournaments mostly in Great Britain. Tradition 122 years long, brought to Wimbledon all the best players in the last week of June. The only one withdrawal was by Gael Monfils, young French who did a great success in Roland Garros. Unfortunately, the injury stopped him continue with good results this time.

First days of the tournament passed without big surprises. Urszula Radwanska, younger sister of Polish newcoming star Agnieszka, won in the first round against Klara Zakopalova quite easy in straight sets. She faced Serena Williams in the second round and played very good but still not enough to beat the later finalist. Virginie Razzano lost against Evgeniya Rodina, Cornet was defeated by Pavlyuchenkova, Cibulkova by Zheng - later semifinalist, and Maria Kirilenko by Vera Dushevina. Australian new star Casey Dellacqua won in three sets against Patty Schnyder and Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who was considered as one of the favorites, lost in the first round, as well as David Nalbandian against Canadian Frenk Dancevic in straight sets! Nikolay Davydenko, the world No.4, was kicked too early also.

Real sensations came with Novak Djokovic loss against Marat Safin - later semifinalist, in straight sets. One of the favorites for winning title, with predictions that he could reach the final, passed only one round. Russian player destroyed the winner of Australian Open which probably was a huge motivation for him, as he continued winning till the semifinal. Ana Ivanovic was too lucky for Natalie Dechy and she won 6-7 7-6 10-8 but she saved two match points - the second one will probably get into history of Wimbledon. Anyway, lucky stars were not enough against Jie Zheng, young Chinese, one of the biggest suprises of the tournament. She reached the semifinal but was also remembered by the decision to donate her prize money to the Chinese earthquake relief fund. Maria Sharapova was just promoted into the new fashion icon of Wimbledon and stories about her new style and white shorts became more interesting than her play, but she had no chance to show her style for a long time, as she was beaten by Alla Kudryavtseva, quite easy in straight sets.

Weather was really great, first five days completely sunny and much easier for organizers then last summer. Till the end of the tournament there were only three rainy days but that made just short breaks and really not worth mentioning (except final match). Anyway, how could you feel London if you don't experience any rain in two weeks?

Rainer Schuettler and Arnaud Clement were the oldest players reached men's quarter final. These two "veterans" showed some magic to younger playes and German was quite good against Nadal in semifinal. Tamarine Tanasugarn and Jie Zheng brought the spirit of the East in the top of women's tennis. Serbia, as new rising tennis nation, is definitely the loser of Wimbledon. Two favorites, Ivanovic and Djokovic, kicked out in second round, Jelena Jankovic few steps later, Janko Tipsarevic did well but could make it much better at the end...

Anyway, Serbia won one more Grand Slam title - in men's doubles this time. Nenad Zimonjic together with Daniel Nestor, Serbian-born Canadian, defeated Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyet in the final. Women's doubles title is won by Williams sisters by defeating Samantha Stosur and Lisa Raymond. But Samantha Stosur won in the mixed doubles with Bob Bryan.

Rafael Nadal is only the second Spaniard, after Manolo Santana in 1966, to become Wimbledon's champion in men's singles. Also, as mentioned above, he is the first male since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to have achieved winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back. But five straight titles in London, record made by Bjorn Borg between 1976-80, still remains intact.


(Published: 10.07.2008.)