At the end of the French Open, Rafael Nadal burst into tears when he won the title. At Wimbledon, it was his girlfriend, Francisca Perello, who was dabbing her eyes as her beau won his second Wimbledon crown. Her Rafa, meanwhile, was just head over heels.

Showing off a hitherto unknown talent for gymnastic floor exercises, after Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, he did a perfect forward roll (the degree of technical difficulty might not have been a medal winner but the execution and timing was spot on). As he bounced back to his feet and punched the air, Nadal was in seventh heaven. This is what he had dreamt of in all those dark months last year when his knees were hurting and his doctors told him he could not defend his Wimbledon title. Missing last year's Championships had been the most difficult moment of his career - this is the tournament that he fantasised about winning as a boy and this is the trophy he would give his all to protect. But, last summer, it was not to be.

Even this year, there have scares and concerns. A slight hamstring problem at Queen's Club was a worry; a nasty ache in his knee in the early rounds of The Championships was a problem - Nadal had no idea when and where the pain would strike or, indeed, if he could cope with it. But as he moved through the rounds, so he moved through the gears. Andy Murray felt the full force of his determination to reclaim his beloved trophy in the semi-finals and Berdych was crushed by it in the final.

There were times when Nadal treated Berdych like a hitting partner in a training drill. As he controlled the baseline and pounded the corners, he sent the big man scuttling from side to side until eventually, Berdych ran out of puff. Or legs. Or hope.

The only way out of this situation was to try and come up with an alternative plan. Perhaps, Berdych thought, a little net play might help? But it is a brave man who dares to come forward and take on Nadal's forehand passing shot. It is not so much that he might lose the point but more that he might lose a limb if he gets in the way of that heavy, crunching shot. And, anyway, serve-and-volley is not what had earned the Czech the right to play in the final - changing his game plan at this late stage was a dangerous tactic.

As Boris Becker pointed out, getting to the final on a wave of confidence, big serves and huge hitting and then discovering that it was not good enough to hurt the former champion was a difficult pill to swallow.

It became ever-more bitter at the sharp end of each set. The Czech could keep pace with the world No.1 during the early exchanges in all three sets but, when it came to the crunch, he was left standing as Nadal closed in on the title.

Like a man clinging on to a cliff face, Berdych was perfectly safe as long as he kept holding on. But, after while, the muscles start to sting and quiver and the palms start to sweat. And Berdych lasted just 26 minutes before his grasp was loosened with the first break of serve.

The pressure from Nadal was relentless and it was brutal. For such a polite, courteous and humble man, Nadal is a monster with a racket in his hand. He took one look at Berdych's walloping forehand and cracked it back with interest; he sized up the Czech's serve and returned it into areas of the court where Berdych feared to tread. Sometimes Nadal lured his foe into errors, sometimes he just pummelled him into submission. And with every winner, Nadal moved ever closer to hugging that golden trophy once again.

Back home in Manacor, Nadal's replica trophy from 2008 takes pride of place on top of the TV (so allowing him to watch the football and ogle the cup at the same time). But when BBC presenter Sue Barker asked him where he would put this second trophy, a voice from the crowd "My house!" and another joined in "and you can come with it".

Nadal, though, is still not sure quite where it will go but it will probably "go very close to the other one".

If the past couple of weeks are anything to go by, Nadal had better spend some of his £1m prize money on a bigger television - there will be plenty more replica trophies to stack there before he calls an end to his playing days.
 

Wimbledon.org
 

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