Rafael Nadal v Novak Djokovic – Wimbledon 2011 men’s final live | Jacob Steinberg

• Hammer F5 or turn on our auto-refresh tool for updates • Email jacob.steinberg.casual@guardian.co.uk for a chat • Follow Jacob on Twitter if that’s your thing The toss. Djokovic calls heads. And it’s tails. An early psychological blow for Nadal, but he chooses to receive. Djokovic will serve first then. The players are led through the corridors and out on to Centre Court. Djokovic, walking a few paces ahead of Nadal, is in his regulation cap, although there’s not much sun today. Then again, my brother wears sunglasses inside. We all have our little quirks. Nadal is wearing his trademark headband. He’s jumping up and down, a nervous ball of energy. He’s got his game face on. This is going to be good. Sue Barker asks what Tim Henman’s handicap is. A useless second serve, I’d say. It’s 10 years since this marvellous game, by the way. I love John McEnroe. He exudes cool. And he was in Curb Your Enthusiasm . Anyway, turns out he’s going for Nadal in five as well. Maybe he never backed Djokovic then. Or maybe he’s changed his mind. It’s not a crime. Boris Becker is talking about the boxing farce last night. “At least David Haye went 12 rounds,” says the German. There was more diving in that travesty of a match than in the Djokovic v Tsonga tussle on Friday. Borg tips Nadal to win – in five sets. There, Borg agrees with me. Borg. Bjorn Borg is on the BBC. A man who knows a thing or two about retirement, he expects Roger Federer to quit if he doesn’t win a major next year. Ah, yes, Federer. How strange not to have him here on the final Sunday. Borg didn’t say whether the Swiss great would win another major – but I think we know. Imagine playing tennis against a brick wall that can predict what you’re going to do in three shots’ time. A brick wall that never misses. A brick wall with plenty of tricks of its own, one that can mix power and subtlety, slice and spin. A brick wall with formidable levels of self-belief. A sentient brick wall. I’m terrifying myself already, and having read this, you’re probably sitting in a corner of your room, hunched over, rocking back and forth, furiously weeping. It’s the Mitch Hedberg principle taken to the Nth degree – and this is what it is like to play against Rafael Nadal. How do you beat this? Well, you can make like Andy Bernard , but that only leads to a disciplinary hearing, anger management and a broken fist. For a set and three-and-a-half games on Friday, Nadal was outplayed by Andy Murray, who produced some of his finest tennis ever. We can all pinpoint the moment the match changed though: that missed forehand at 15-30 on Nadal’s serve. It wasn’t Gascoigne against Germany at Euro 96 territory, but it was close. Reprieved, Nadal was never going to lose. Drop your level for a millisecond, and you’ve got more chance of finding your way out of the Bermuda Triangle than locating a route back against him. Which is precisely what happened to Murray. It’s debatable whether Murray actually did anything wrong. Plenty of his shots were hard, accurate and in the corner; it’s just that they kept on coming back over the net, and when that happens, it can drive a player to the edge of insanity. Watch Nadal when he loses a point. The camera pans to him and he’s livid with himself, frowning, grunting and thoroughly resolved to bludgeon a path to the next 20. How intimidating is that? Perhaps not so much for Novak Djokovic. There was a time when this match would have been a foregone conclusion – in fact, probably only a year ago. For a while, it seemed like Djokovic, if not wasting his talent, was certainly not making the most of it. Too often, he would crumble on court, always ready to find a reason to lose. That Djokovic is history. He’s already the world No1, and a 43-match unbeaten run was only ended by a superhuman effort from Roger Federer in the French Open semi-final. His backhand is glorious, his forehand has improved immeasurably and his movement rivals Nadal’s. He’s won the Australian Open and he’s won his last last four matches against Nadal (although he still has an 11-6 losing record overall). But he’s never beaten Nadal in a grand slam match, and even though he was outstanding when the pair met in the US Open final last year, he was defeated. If this match is half as good as that one, we could be in for a treat. And it still might not be enough for Djokovic. Over five sets against Nadal, it’s not enough to be excellent; you have to be perfect. My prediction A stick to beat me with once Djokovic wins 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 : Now then, I don’t like disagreeing with John McEnroe – not that he’ll be bothered – but I fancy Nadal to edge it in four sets (or, if we’re being greedy, five). Although it’s surely not going to be straight sets, I can’t go against Nadal. This is Djokovic’s first Wimbledon final though. It could spur him on. If Nadal wins, The Leftorium will be the place to be tonight. Following on from Petra Kvitova’s win yesterday, it could be a famous weekend for lefties. The action starts at: 2pm. The action ends at: An unspecified time. Wimbledon 2011 Rafael Nadal Novak Djokovic Wimbledon Tennis Jacob Steinberg guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 3, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.