Nadal cruises to eighth Slam

WIMBLEDON, England – Rafael Nadal looked like a guy who absolutely couldn’t wait to get out there, clutching his racket and hopping in place near the entrance to Centre Court before the Wimbledon final.

He jiggled his left leg, unable to sit still on the sideline. He even bopped around during the prematch coin toss. When it was finally time to start warming up, he zigzagged to the baseline in a full sprint.

And when it ended, Nadal marked his victory with a celebratory somersault. That endless energy, and so many superb strokes, allowed the No. 2-seeded Nadal to outclass No. 12 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 Sunday for his second Wimbledon trophy and eighth Grand Slam title overall.

A year ago, sidelined by painful knees, 2008 Wimbledon champion Nadal was planted on his couch at home in Spain and watched the final on television, only the fifth man in the history of a tournament that dates to 1877 who couldn’t defend his championship because of injury.

“Now last year is past,” Nadal said in a courtesy car ferrying him away from the All England Club on Sunday night. “I know what happened one year ago, and how difficult it was for me, how much I had to work to be back at my best level.”

He paused, tapping his chest with his left hand, and added, “That’s something special for me.”

In 2009, his 31-match French Open winning streak ended, he missed Wimbledon, went more than eight months without a title anywhere, lost the No. 1 ranking, and, hardest of all, dealt with his parents’ separation.

This year, he is 47-5 with five titles, both tour highs. He won 24 matches in a row in one stretch, regained his Roland Garros title and the No. 1 ranking last month, and managed the tricky transition from clay to grass by winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year for the second time.

There is no doubt he’s the best player in tennis today.

“He’s showing in the last few months,” Berdych said, “that he’s really the champion.”

Nadal won his 14th match in a row at Wimbledon, essentially, because he saved all four break points he faced and broke the big-serving Berdych four times.

“The biggest difference between us,” Berdych explained, “was that when he (got) a chance, he just took it.”

Give Nadal the tiniest opening, and the left-hander barges through. It’s no accident he has a silhouette of a bull’s horns stamped on the back of his left sneaker’s heel (the right one reads “Rafa”).

This was the first men’s final since 2002 at the All England Club that did not involve Roger Federer, the six-time champion upset by Berdych in the quarterfinals. The past three title matches went five sets: Federer beat Nadal in 2007, Nadal edged Federer 9-7 in 2008 in fading light, and Federer got past Andy Roddick 16-14 last year.

Unlike those, Sunday’s contest was hardly a classic. More like a coronation – or, at the very least, confirmation that Nadal is elbowing his way into any conversation about the best players in tennis history. His eight titles at major tournaments pushes him past John McEnroe and ties Nadal with quite a heady group that includes Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

“I’m very proud to be alongside those great players,” Nadal said. “My career is much better than I could have imagined when I began playing.”

That wasn’t very long ago: Nadal is only 24.

“He was really strong today,” said Berdych, who never got past the Wimbledon quarterfinals before and played his first Grand Slam final against a man who was in his 10th, winning the last five.

This one lasted barely more than two hours. Imagine how short the proceedings might have been if Nadal had brought his “A” game, because he was not at his very best Sunday. Perhaps affected by the constant breeze or those jitters he mentioned, Nadal finished with more unforced errors than Berdych, 21-17, and only two more winners, 29-27.

“His game was not unbelievable,” said Nadal’s uncle and coach, Toni, “but it was enough.”