Inside this week
Nadal’s snail pace sees off exuberance of Australian teenager Alex De Minaur R Nadal (Sp) (2) bt A De Minaur (Aus) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Young pretenders on the run as legends fire
BY THE time the digital clock inside Centre Court turned to 3.00, Bobby Charlton was still sitting patiently in his wicker seat at the front of the Royal Box.
Once again, Rafael Nadal was taking his time.
The Spaniard made easy work of Alex de Minaur but, not for the first time this week, the spectators were urging him to get a move on.
It was 3.26 by the time Nadal rounded off his straight-sets victory haven eaten up time between his booming shots by picking at his shorts and obsessively laying out his water bottles.
The win ensured he will remain world No1 at the end of the tournament but also forced 1966 World Cup hero Charlton to miss the start of England’s triumph over Sweden yesterday.
‘I saw him on TV before I went on court,’ said Nadal. ‘I just want to say thanks to him for respecting our sport.’
The only football on show on Centre Court was the grainy black and white video of Charlton lifting the Jules Rimet trophy 52 years ago.
Introduced to the crowd by Sue Barker, Charlton sat to the right of Jessica Ennis-Hill and in front of Andrew Strauss. And he watched Nadal give his 19-year-old challenger the run around, despatching him 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 to remain on course for a potential final against Roger Federer.
‘If I’m in the final, I prefer to face an easier opponent,’ joked Nadal. ‘I’m not stupid.
‘I just came here to try to do the best tournament possible. Of course, I prefer to be No1 than No2 but I really didn’t come here to just hold No1.’
When Federer played in a similar match at the start of the week, it was all over about 30 minutes faster.
Perhaps Nadal’s slow movement between shots was a technique to catch breath against his energiser bunny of an opponent. This match against De Minaur, the Australian wildcard, was identified as a banana skin after he had won 13 out of 15 on grass in the last five weeks.
He scuttled around the court, wooing the celebrity studded crowd as he valiantly chased shots, before eventually falling victim to Nadal’s strength.
De Minaur said: ‘It’s just incredible, his physicality. That’s probably what shocked me the most. First time I have been on a court with him and just his presence, as well.
‘Obviously you watch him on TV and you can’t really appreciate how hard he hits every single ball and how much intensity and just brute force goes into every one of his ground strokes.’ It was like watching a man against a boy, as Nadal continued his charge for an 18th Grand Slam title. Wearing a back-to-front baseball cap and a baggy T-shirt, which his torso barely filled, De Minaur waited eagerly at the net as Nadal went through his routines. He is tipped as a star of the future, showing signs here of his potential but was guilty of nervy double faults as Nadal broke in the fourth game of the first set. De Minaur saved five break points in a 10-minute game but Nadal eventually asserted his dominance and the youngster’s next serve crumbled. Centre Court had baked under the 30C morning sun, leaving the playing surface more like Nadal’s preferred hard courts. One Wimbledon official was even overheard warning a colleague that the ballboys and ballgirls were at risk of fainting as they awaited morning orders. The ball fizzed off the surface and De Minaur ultimately had no answer to the clinical man strength of Nadal, who hit powerful winners to claim the second set inside 29 minutes. ‘I prefer these kind of conditions because life is happier with the sun there than when is raining all the day,’ said Nadal. ‘But my tennis is not affected much. Alex is young. There is always positive feelings that you go on court with not much to lose. ‘I can compare it to when I was 16 or 17. You have a lot of energy, nothing to lose. If you win two matches, great; if you win three, unbelievable; if you lose, it’s OK, you have another week coming. It’s a different way to see the sport when you are that young.
‘He’s very energetic player, very quick. He likes to play on this surface. His style works well for this surface in the future’
That much was true as De Minaur’s powerful serve helped him to a love game but Nadal remained unbroken as he edged towards a fourth-round tie against Jiri Vesely.
Cries of ‘Come on England’ were heard as the clock struck 3.00.
‘I knew England were playing but I didn’t see any distractions and it doesn’t bother me,’ said Nadal.
The umpire silenced any chants as De Minaur threatened but, slow and steady, Nadal won the race.
67 Nadal has won 67 per cent of points on his second serve at this tournament — more than any other player left in the draw