Ah... Another serendipitous and delicious day of sports. While Wimbledon held it's men's semifinal matches, the World Cup determined two of its semifinal participants, with high quality and high drama on display.
Things certainly did not go according to form this week. At the All England Club, champions where kicked to the curb, one after another. Venus Williams got trounced by Bulgarian cutie Tsvetana Pironkova in the women's quarters. The 12th-seeded Czech, Tomas Berdych, slayed all-time great, Roger Federer. Even the Williams Sisters, a seemingly invincible doubles team, lost in the quarterfinals to a pair of Russians. Unthinkable. And then today, in South Africa, another dynastic force was ousted... Brazil! The Netherlands, or Holland, or the Dutch, whatever you want to call them, vanquished the greatest soccer nation in the world, 2-1. What a week! Shockers everywhere. Kings and queens dethroned. Brackets busted. Doors thrown wide open for new champions to emerge.
Berdych, who beat Federer earlier this year in Miami, won their quarterfinal match convincingly enough that no one thought it to be a fluke. In the post-match press conference, Federer said he was ailing with leg and back ailments. Some criticized his unusual lack of class in claiming injury had something to do with his defeat. But slack should be cut for a player as dominant as Federer who hadn't lost before the finals of Wimbledon since 2002. Eternally elegant and smooth and dominant for so long, he finally found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why he wasn't at his best. Maybe it was because of the injury, maybe it due to age. Whatever the case may be, Roger Federer, now ranked number 3 in the world, will not be playing in the Wimbledon final on Sunday. The young Czech who beat him will be. Berdych has been touted for years as a great talent, but never seemed to be as strong mentally as he is physically. His time has come. Today, he dispatched Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Though Berdych is seeded 12th and Djokovic 3rd, this did not feel like an upset. Berdych outhit and outran The Djoker, who appeared to be breathing heavily from the first set on. And though it may seem hard to believe, Tomas Berdych was the more confident man in the this match. This win validated his upset of Federer and confirmed his arrival amongst the best in the game.
Rafael Nadal may already be a champion, but with Federer fading, he now has the opportunity to place a stranglehold on the men's game. There are plenty of sharks circling in the water, but Rafa may be the only Great White. Already holding 7 major titles, and currently ranked number 1 in the world, Nadal is poised to make his run at immortality. Both Federer and Nadal looked vulnerable in the first week of this tournament. It turned out, Roger was and Rafa wasn't. In the quarterfinal, Nadal continued to take his revenge on Robin Soderling. You may remember Soderling was the one who snapped Nadal's unbeaten streak at Roland Garros last year. Rafa got him back in the finals of the French last month, and eliminated the big-swinging Swede in 4 sets on Wednesday. Today, he broke the heart of a nation by outslugging the Scotsman, Andy Murray, in their semifinal clash. Murray was seeking to end the 74-year drought of British men winning the Wimbledon title. The quality of tennis was superb. Murray served brilliantly and made very few mistakes. But Nadal was even better, looking virtually unbeatable. Though there is much less animosity between Rafa and Andy than there is between Rafa and Robin, Nadal exacted a small measure of revenge on Murray, too. The Scot pounded the injured Spaniard in this year's Australian Open quarterfinal, eventually forcing Nadal to retire from the match. Murray ended up losing to Roger Federer in the final of that tournament. One wonders if that may be the last Grand Slam the Mighty Fed ever wins. Truthfully, I doubt it. But at this moment, it at least seems possible. At the other end of the spectrum, this Sunday, Rafael Nadal will be looking to notch his 8th Grand Slam title. That would break a tie with the likes of Rene Lacoste, Mats Wilander, John Newcombe, and John McEnroe, and vault him into the stratosphere of Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ken Rosewall, Ivan Lendl, and Fred Perry. Ironically, Perry was the last Brit to win Wimbledon, all the way back in 1936.
Funny enough, both the Berdych-Djokovic match and the Nadal-Murray match hinged on second set tiebreakers. After winning the first set, Berdych broke Djokovic to take a 6-5 lead in the second. Berdych got a bit tight and the Serb broke back to force a tiebreaker. Berdych raced to a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker and held four set points after a terribly-timed Djokovic double fault. But the pattern repeated itself, with Tomas pulling back a bit and Novak raising his level of play. Djokovic even took a 7-6 lead and held a couple of set points during the breaker. But with Berdych leading 10-9, the Djoker turned choker, double faulting yet again to lose the set. That knocked the wind out of his Serbian sails. To his credit, Djokovic didn't lay down in the third and continued to slug it out, but Berdych got the best of him and closed it out in straight sets. The pivot of the Nadal-Murray match can be narrowed down even further, to one particular point. After Nadal took the first set, the two men stood even at 6-6 in the second set tiebreaker. Murray took control of the point and charged the net. With Murray in a dominant position, Nadal attempted a backhand passing shot... which clipped the tape and bounced in for a winner. Murray whacked the net with his racket, at the precise spot where luck turned against him. Nadal won the next point and took a commanding two sets to none lead. Though Murray was able to break Nadal in the first game of the third set, Rafa inevitably turned the tide, winning the set 6-4 and booking his spot in the men's final against Tomas Berdych. It feels like a new era. Roger Federer raised the bar of all-time greatness during his reign. If Rafael Nadal is ever going to vault himself into that rarified air, the time is now.
With all the breathtaking action taking place on the grass courts of Wimbledon and the grass pitch in Port Elizabeth, the most dramatic contest of the day was reserved for Soccer City in Johannesburg. With Uruguay and Ghana level at 1 apeice in the 120th minute of the game (the final minute of extra time), the thrills began. Ghana had one final free kick to make something happen before the referee blew the whistle and sent the game to penalty kicks to decide the second semifinalist. A dangerous ball was sent into the box and the goalkeeper came out to knock it away. But he failed to clear the ball, which gave Ghana a golden chance at a game-winning goal. Luis Suarez and another defender covered the goal mouth for Uruguay. The first shot deflected off Suarez's leg, but the second one was going in... until Suarez knocked it out using his arm. A hand ball was called, a red card given to Suarez, and a penalty kick awarded. With no time remaining on the clock, Ghana's deadly striker, Asamoah Gyan had a chance to eliminate Uruguay, just as he sent the USA packing earlier this week. With the crowd in a frenzy thinking Africa would be sending one its own to the Final Four, Gyan lined up the penalty kick. But just as Lady Luck intervened in the Nadal-Murray match, and to some degree the Netherlands-Brazil match, she paid a visit to Soccer City as well. Gyan's rocket shot hit the crossbar and sailed over the goal. Uruguay was brought back from the dead. The game moved to the actual round of penalty kicks to decide the winner. Uruguay's phenomenal finisher, Diego Forlan calmly stepped up and knocked in the first shot. Minutes after blowing the game for Ghana, Asamoah Gyan composed himself and buried a fierce shot in the corner of the net, tying it up. A few penalty kicks later, with Uruguay up 3-2, Ghanian shooter John Mensah was denied by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. African hearts sank. But Uruguay immediately let them back in when Pereira sailed his attempt way over the net. However, on the next kick, the Uruguayan goalie guessed right again and prevented Ghana from leveling the score. After one last successful Uruguay penalty kick by Sebastian Abreu, the game and Ghana's dream run was suddenly over. Veteran soccer analysts claimed this was the worst way any team has ever gone out of the World Cup. My heart goes out to Ghana, but my hope is that their exit signals the silencing of the vuvuzelas.
It's hard to imagine a day of sports to top this one -- two outstanding Men's Semifinals at Wimbledon and two unbelievable matches at the World Cup. However, tomorrow marks a perfect storm of sorts -- the Ladies' Final at Wimbledon, two more World Cup quarters, and the first day of the Tour de France. Better make sure I have a poncho and some galoshes.
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