Rafael Nadal v Juan Martín del Potro – live!

• Set your page to update automatically using the button below • Send your emails over to paolo.bandini@guardian.co.uk • Get the latest from elsewhere at Wimbledon with our live blog • You can even follow Paolo on Twitter, if that’s your thing Second set: Rafael Nadal* leads Juan Martín del Potro 7-6, 0-1 Nadal, who has had his ankle taped up, seems to be moving a little more freely now, though he makes another uncharacteristic error on the opening game of the new set, clipping a half-court backhand into the tramlines. Del Potro holds to 30, though he is no longer getting his first serve in with the consistency he had earlier in the match. Injured opponent or otherwise, he will need that to be firing. Nadal has disappeared for more treatment Del Potro, meanwhile, is furious. He thrashes his racket against the ground in frustration, before reopening his dialogue with the chair umpire. Rafael Nadal wins the first set 7-6 (8-6) Unbelievable. On set point, Del Potro double faults. Nadal takes the set, but can he survive another two? Or even more? First set tie-break: Nadal 7-6 Del Potro* Nadal successfully defends Del Potro’s first set point, before bringing up one of his own with an inch-perfect passing forehand that catches the back edge of the baseline. Del Potro challenges, but in vain. First set tie-break: Nadal* 5-6 Del Potro Nadal just keeps hanging on in there, bringing himself level at 5-5 after another lengthy rally, but on the next point he again slaps a forehand wide when under no apparent pressure. First set tie-break: Nadal 4-5 Del Potro* Nadal gives the points straight back, thrusting consecutive shots into the left-hand tramlines. Big chance now for Del Potro to take the set. First set tie-break: Nadal* 4-3 Del Potro Injured he may be, but Nadal still finds a way to take both points off Del Potro’s serve, standing and watching as the Argentinian’s lob drifts past the baseline. First set tie-break: Nadal 2-3 Del Potro* Nadal soldiers on, taking both points on serve as Del Potro slices backhands into the net on both occasions. But in-between the points Nadal looks far from happy. First set tie-break: Nadal* 0-3 Del Potro A big serve brings Del Potro the first point on serve, and then Nadal crashes a forehand into the bottom of the net cord – before limping away in disgust. First set tie-break: Nadal 0-1 Del Potro* An inauspicious start for Rafa as he clumps a forehand long. I have to say … It doesn’t look great. I’m no expert, but Nadal’s body language and tone of voice hardly speak to a man full of optimism. Del Potro remains livid, complaining to another official about the delay. The crowd have settled for a Mexican wave to keep themselves entertained. So … Del Potro is less than happy about the time-out, presumably frustrated at being denied the opportunity to close out the set while his opponent is struggling, but this looks as though it may be serious. The medics quickly establish that the injury is to the back of Nadal’s foot/ankle, and “on the bone”. Nadal confirms that this is a new injury – though he was taking anti-inflammatories for other injuries beforehand – which he first felt at the beginning of the set, but which seems to have been exacerbated as he won that point to bring up a set point at 30-40. First set: Nadal* 6-6 Del Potro A first cry of “¡Vamos!” from Rafa as he clubs his way to 15-30, but two points later he is grimacing despite earning another set point at 30-40, and it appears he is in some discomfort, though it’s not easy to tell what the problem is. Del Potro seizes on this moment of weakness, following a big serve with a huge forehand right to the baseline to force deuce, and continuing to ride the serve over the next two points to seal the game. Tie-break coming up, but first we have a medical time-out. First set: Nadal 6-5 Del Potro* Nadal curses out the officials again, this time under his breath, after successfully challenging a call that his forehand had travelled long on 15-0. But while Hawkeye saves him on that occasion, there is no such respite after he places a dropshot attempt into the net to bring up 30-30. Del Potro promptly summons his best tennis of the match, reversing the tide of a rally with an enormous forehand that allows him to rush the net and deliver a backhand volley that Nadal can’t quite return. That brings up Del Potro’s first break point of the match, but he is unable to capitalise, Nadal dictating proceedings again before this time getting his dropshot just right. He holds at the first attempt on deuce, and Del Potro must serve to stay in the set again. First set: Nadal* 5-5 Del Potro Nadal continues muttering at the umpire throughout the break as a trainer rushes on to seemingly have a quick check on his footwear. Del Potro stays quiet, but when the tennis resumes he quickly finds himself in trouble, whipping one forehand into the net and then another long as he slips from 30-0 up to facing a set point at 30-40. He rescues it with a huge serve out wide to the advantage court, and then repeats the feat after giving up another break point on deuce. Finally he is able to see the game through, finishing things off with a rather delicate backhand volley. First set: Nadal 5-4 Del Potro* Oooh, a time violation warning against Nadal at 15-15, and it’s fair to say the Spaniard isn’t happy. Didn’t catch all of it, but it sounded like his response was along the lines of ‘I always do this’. Is that an excuse? Del Potro actually seems to offer his support, but in any case it doesn’t seem to have done Nadal any harm. He races through the rest of the game in a fury, driving Del Potro off the court and only dropping one further point after misjudging the flight of a desperation lob that he had assumed was sailing long. First set: Nadal* 4-4 Del Potro Nadal overturns an ace at 15-15 with a challenge that shows the ball had travelled into the tramlines by quite some distance, but it does him no good, as Del Potro takes the point anyway after a short rally. at 40-30, the BBC commentators note that in the first week of Wimbledon, Del Potro serve-and-volleyed 19 times, winning 16 of those points. The Argentinian promptly does exactly that to seal the game. Isn’t in-game coaching supposed to be banned? First set: Nadal 4-3 Del Potro* Nadal gives his opponent an opening at 0-15, making a mess of his backhand volley but then seizing his second opportunity with relish after Del Potro does a similarly poor job with his attempted lob. The Spaniard, we know, is not one to give you two chances. An ace is followed by another booming first serve that Del Potro can only clang away off his frame. First set: Nadal* 3-3 Del Potro Whilst it is commonly agreed these days that the grass at Wimbledon plays slower than it once did, few would dispute that the ball still bounces much lower here than on other surfaces, and when these two get into rallies you can see how far down Del Potro is having to reach. Playing forehands at shin height cannot be easy. Nadal races into a 0-30 lead after two brief rallies, but the Argentinian recovers to make it 30-30. An incredible point ensues, as Del Potro somehow contrives to block a string of vicious groundstrokes at the net before finally deflecting one long. Break point Nadal, but once again Del Potro’s serve comes to the rescue, and he takes the next three points to hold. First set: Nadal 3-2 Del Potro* Much as in his encounter with Muller in the previous round, Nadal looks utterly untouchable on his own serve. Another hold to love. First set: Nadal* 2-2 Del Potro From the vantage point of the BBC’s camera behind the court, Del Potro looks almost absurd, towering over the court in such a way that it seems remarkable that he can even get the ball down fast enough for it to come down to earth inside the service box. When he opts for a touch of topspin on second serve, the ensuing double fault seems as though it was the only possible conclusion. But when the first serves go in, there is little Nadal is able to do about them, and Del Potro drops only one further point. First set: Nadal 2-1 Del Potro* A rally, at last, as Nadal chases Del Potro around the baseline, whipping his racket up behind his head like a tomahawk with every forehand. Del Potro races this way and that, digging out returns, but there was only ever going to be one winner. Nadal thrashes a backhand winner to bring up 40-15, before seeing out the hold. First set: Nadal* 1-1 Del Potro A scruffy first service game for Del Potro, mixing up unreturnable serves with others that plough into the net at knee-height (well, shin height for him). Nadal, though, is also feeling his way into this game, clumping a forehand long here and shanking another there. Del Potro holds to 15. First set: Nadal 1-0 Del Potro* He might have a wingspan that would make a pterodactyl weep with envy, but Del Potro is still left lurching at thin air as Nadal fizzes down his first ace, the ball hopping away from the Argentinian off the inside tramline on the deuce court. Nadal holds to love. Here we go Nadal to serve first. Checking the forecast We may see the roof closed on Centre Court before this match is out – there are whispers of rain in the vicinity, but the match officials have chosen to start the match with it open and see how we go. Form is not the only issue, of course … Even before his injury woes, Del Potro was known for being as useful on grass as a talking towel . This is the first time he’s gone beyond the third round at Wimbledon – and at one point it didn’t look like he would go this far, becoming so frustrated during his match against the 5ft 5ins Belgian Olivier Rochus that he wound up throwing a shoe out of the arena in frustration. But he seems to be finding his stride on the surface now, and on paper it should suit him well. Players may complain about the grass not being as fast as it used to be, but here is no doubting the fact that a big serve is still a huge asset on this surface, and Del Potro certainly has one of those. Preamble Afternoon folks, and welcome to the biggest match of the men’s singles so far at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. No disrespect intended to Messrs Murray and Gasquet , Federer and Youzhny, nor Djokovic and Llodra, but this is without a shadow of a doubt the match-up that has sparked the greatest excitement SW19. Little wonder. Twenty-one months have passed since Juan Martín Del Potro stunned New York, powering his way to US Open victory but few who watched him then can have forgotten the devastating elegance of his 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Rafael Nadal, nor indeed his five-set victory over Roger Federer in the final. He remains the only player ever to have beaten both of those players in a single grand slam, and while a wrist injury, then a hip complaint, have derailed his career in the interim, there is no question that his talent remains. Nadal was within his rights to grumble when surveying last week that his opponent today is not your typical 24th seed. That said, he is not at the levels of 2009 either, while Nadal has looked typically imperious thus far. He will expect to win this. But then, he probably did at Flushing Meadows too. Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Tennis Rafael Nadal Juan Martín del Potro Paolo Bandini guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 27, 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.