good luck rafa! that's right, nevermind the seeding; worry about your first round opponent and your grass court prep!!

What? Like he's got a choice or anything to say about it?

shiameng,
speaking of choices, he can protest against it or atleast express his unhappiness..
if he makes a protest, certainly next time around wimbledon may reconsider the formula they use, because this time while using formula for seedings they included points from last year's grass events..
now it is obvious that rafa had zero points last year due to injury..
so, if rafa, in his capacity as a member of atp player council, registers a complaint/protest that 0 points caused by absence from circuit due to injury should not count against the player, then next time around maybe the rules change slightly??
maybe an absence from previous year won't count against your seeding??
maybe a new rule for protected seedings for grass come out??
so, rafa definitely has a CHOICE to make a complaint and maybe bring changes, because at the end of the day, grand slams are under atp tour amd rafa is a member of the council..
but as a gentleman, rafa CHOSE not to make a fuss, so, no problems..
and anyway, as a matter of fact he did not need make any complaint as seeding 1 & 2 does not make a difference..

Rafa has no choice, however, since the referee said something about it, I guess it is only polite of Rafa to just respond by voicing his consent or agreement with him.

Rafa apparently also said that if he had been seeded third he would have said something.

I imagine the Wimbledon officials were in a bit of a dilemma. Acknowledge Roger's Wimbledon achievements and the fact he was No.1 until two weeks ago and hope Rafa does not take offence. Or pay Rafa the compliment of being World No.1 and therefore the top seed and humiliate Roger by demoting him to No.2 seed. On balance I reckon they got it right.

its a simple formula they have devised :the ranking pnts+ pnts from all grass events in the last 12 months +0.75( pnts from the best grass court event 2 yrs back).

off topic ,,just for the sake of interest : THOMAS MUSTER IS MAKING A COMEBACK!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/17/2929044.htm?site=sport&s ection=tennis

wow!!
the terminator s coming back!!
i hope he is match fit and plays one more FO!!

there is literally no definable difference between being the No. 1 and No. 2 seed

you could have the EXACT same draw at No. 1 as you could at No. 2. EXACT.

If you are capable............your seeding has nothing to do with whether or not you can win the title!!!!

This is just capitalism at its worst!!!!

I am surprised to see that there is any concern or surprise at Fed being seeded #1 and Rafa #2. Wimbledon doesn't use the ATP rankings system to determine its seedings. There is a more complicated formula in which they factor in each player's results on grass for last year and use a percentage system to come up with total points. This information was posted on a Rafa forum about a week ago. It's not anything unusual or different and certainly not any sign of disrespect to Rafa.

Ricky is right that there is absolutely no difference between the #1 and #2 seeding at Wimbledon. I don't Rafa cares one bit about it. He will be focused on playing his best tennis, taking it one match at a time, like he always does.

Rafa has the #1 ranking and cannot lose it no matter what happens at Wimbledon. That's what people should keep in mind.

The four slams are not members of the ATP so they are free to arrange their seedings as they like, and if those are the Wimbledon rules they should stick to them, but what I don't understand is that last year when Rafa was seeded 1 before he pulled out, instead of moving the other top seeds one up, they replaced Rafa at the top of the draw with Delpo who was §5 in the ATP rankings, and had never done anything on grass, I can't see the logic in that.

Wimbledon use their own system because in the past there were players who were purely claycourters and never did much on grass, so if they were at the top of the ATP rankings, and they all went out early, which they did, then the tournament would look a mess. It is unusual to have a player like Rafa who is competent on both surfaces, so was Borg of course. But I think the ATP rankings have to stand for something.

I'm sure that Rafa did not volunteer his comment, they must have asked him what he thought, and he answered. However, it wouldn't make any difference to his chances to win the title.

I don't know what happened last year when Rafa withdrew. Maybe it created an unusual situation. All I know is that Rafa will be fine with the #2 seed at Wimbledon. He is the legitimate #1 player in the world. Nothing can take that away from him. Wimbledon's complicated system of seeding the players has created some controversy in the past. Rafa won't waste valuable time or energy being annoyed at his seeding. He will be focused on winning Wimbledon. Maybe he will use this as more motivation to win and consolidate his chance at being the #1 player at year end.

Too bad RG doesn't seed players according to their clay court points prior to the tournament.

2 g.sl wins, 6 g.sl wins and 8g.sl wins will appear in the Wimbledon10 champion Sunday July 04th, or rather the 28th week/53 of 2010 year........Congratulation !!!!!!!!

Congratulations the 2nd !!

Even though he is technically not the defending champion (or seeded no. 1), I would still like for Rafa to open the Championships. Perhaps Roger will give him the honour seeing as Roger did it last year when Rafa couldn't defend his title.

@cal23...would be an incredible gesture......but very unlikely!!

Even though he is technically not the defending champion (or seeded no. 1), I would still like for Rafa to open the Championships. Perhaps Roger will give him the honour seeing as Roger did it last year when Rafa couldn't defend his title.

cal23 , 6/18/10 5:37 AM
************************

We are talking about Federer here, hell will freeze over before he steps aside for anyone else to grab the limelight; Not even in defeat..........remember OZ 09?

Maybe I'm wrong about this but being seeded nr 1 allows you to play first and this usually benefits as compared with the bottom draw which is often hindered by more rain delays.. so there is a bit of difference...

shireling,
well if rain delays happen on the day the 1st seed is supposed to play, then what??
his match will be postponed to next day and to keep up with schedule even he will have to play the very next day.. so,, not much of a difference.
playing catchup is a matter of luck, but in an ideal draw it does not matter..

There is nothing new about the Wimbledon seeding procedures:



32 SEEDS EASE THREAT of WIMBLEDON BOYCOTT


By John Parsons
Published: 9:30PM BST 11 Jun 2001

THE threat of a Wimbledon boycott by several of the game's leading clay-court players seemed to have receded last night after The All England Club's compromise decision to place 32 seeds instead of 16, while still re-arranging the order according to past grass-court form.

"We've been speaking to a lot of our players and although many of them want to see how the new system will work out before coming to any conclusion, in general they think it is a positive step," said Larry Scott, chief operating officer of the ATP.


Even so, Alex Corretja and Juan Carlos Ferrero, two of the most vociferous critics of Wimbledon's tradition in giving seeding priority to players with the most impressive grass-court records, are still refusing to commit themselves to The Championships.

The two Spaniards, fifth and ninth respectively in the entry system ranking which they have insisted should be respected, both say they will wait to see what seedings they are given before making any decision.

"I'd like to play Wimbledon but I first want to see where I'm going to be seeded," Corretja said. He could probably tolerate being listed below last year's runner-up, Pat Rafter, and Britain's Tim Henman, whose grass-court form has been so superior, but not much lower.

Corretja reiterated that his argument is not solely with Wimbledon but with the ATP for changing the ranking system in such a way that clay-courters are penalised if they do not play at Wimbledon.

Ferrero's coach, Antonio Martinez, said his player was afraid that he would be penalised for having no previous grass-court form.

Fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya, still unhappy that the order can be changed, said: "I'll always play Wimbledon because I want to improve," but welcomed 32 seeds, as did Britain's Greg Rusedski.

Wimbledon's decision to seed 32 in both the men's and women's singles on a surface-based system was announced in Paris and the three other Slams will follow suit. Indeed, while some might baulk at the prospect of 32 seeds, limiting the likelihood of early shocks, the fact that the French will also seed next year according to the surface is a long overdue bonus.

At Wimbledon, where a seeding committee will still decide the women's list for this year, the top 32 players in the men's entry rankings will all be guaranteed a seeding but it will be re-arranged using a system originally suggested by the ATP to reflect grass-court achievements.

So although Pete Sampras, who has won the title a record seven times in the last eight years, is fourth in the year-round list, at Wimbledon he will again be No 1.

Tim Phillips, chairman of The All England Club, said the Slams "all feel this is a sensible solution". He again pointed out the absurdity of Wimbledon sticking to the ranking list. In 1996 that would have made Thomas Muster eligible to be top seed even though he had never won a match in four attempts.

"Last year Pat Rafter (who beat Andre Agassi before losing to Sampras in the final) was ranked 23 and had we not seeded him could have played either Agassi or Sampras in the first round."

He said Wimbledon seeding was all about getting the balance right between the needs of the players and the fans. "The two extreme surfaces in the game are clay and grass. While Wimbledon had the best seeding success record (in terms of the top four reaching the semi-finals) in the last 10 years, the French, without that protection, had the worst."

Phillips, whose next battle will be establishing a third week between the French Open and Wimbledon, said he could understand the feelings of a clay-court player who in the past had been dropped out of the list in favour of a lower ranked player with a better grass-court record.

"There's a strong body of opinion that you must respect the entry system list and some players feel passionately that they've earned the right to be seeded according to that list through their performances during the year. But no serious contenders are going to be left out if you seed 32."

Embarrassed French government officials retracted a statement by the Minister for Sport, Marie-George Buffet, that one player at the French Open, which ended on Sunday, had tested positive for drugs. "She was referring to a case in a previous year," said a spokesman.

no even the no.2 seed can start, no fixed thing....

draws are coming out , rafa to face nishikori ...federer to face falla.... nole to face rochus (olivier)

and ATR, tomic faces fish so bye bye tomic..lol

Rafael Nadal has been drawn in the same half of the draw as Andy Murray, while Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are the other half of the draw.

Rafael Nadal?s first match of Wimbledon will be against Arnaud Clement of France. He could play Lleyton Hewitt in the second round.

tricky draw for Rafa
Possibly Blake in the second round. Murray in semis and Soderling in quarters.

LoL. All of us are telling different matchups.
my updates are from wimbledon official site's live blog for the draw ceremony.

haaaaa....my updates are from nadalnews.com

lets see who's correct!!

nadal's forst round opponent is nishikori , i followed the draws live ! LOL.... yes nadal-soderling qtr

ok...then my source must be wrong...MY APOLOGIES

nishikori as first round opponent...hmmmmm

soda can at the quarters is too far atm...i feel he wont make it that far

verdasco too in rafa's quarter.....roddick and davydenko and nole in federer's half

I think what shireling wants to say is... Wimby is a rain plague tournament, whatever rain delay that may occur during the tournmaent, the "bottom half", (Rafa's draw being seeded no. 2) is always the absorbing end to catch up with the schedule.

"Top half" is least affected to any rain delay because when game resumes they are given the prioritty to finish their matches (all of them not only the top seed) even if it is already on the supposed allotted day for the "bottom half" to play. Consequently the "bottom half" may even ordered to play on their supposed rest day or worst, further delay may require the "bottom half" to play 2 matches in a day just to catch up with the schedule.

I guess that's the difference to be the top seed who occupies the top half of the draw.

Can we have the analysis of the draw ???

I read hewitt , rod and nole are in the same half as fed

Ahem....Gulbis- Nadal in third round !!

gulbis - nadal in the third????

rafa has some real scares in his draw...lol

Yep there are some big hitters as well as home boy in Nadal's draw.
Guess what Nadal has to say now of being seeded 2nd at wimby....must be rethinking.........Haahaa just joking :D

oooopssss gulbis is TROUBLE and hewitt shud be given to federer to restore balance.

wats with this falla....he is dialing federer's no. again n again....lol

vamosrafa,

do u belive gulbis is a scare to RAFA on grass ????

Oh well to the morons who complained about rafa's cupcake draw, here is your answer..
this time fed has cupcake draw..
there is no decent grass courter in his quarter..
his first real challenge maybe semi, where he may face roddick(his eternal bridesmaid) or hewitt(his second bridesmaid before resigning the post last week)...
but, it is so sad that gulbis has to go home in 3rd round.. :(
can someone tell me, where is dolgopolgo??

champ,
you may not know but gulbis has recently said he enjoys playing on grass, even though the atp website has said his fav surface is hardcourt.....

those morons will complain again clayking.......some of those idiots might say federer has it tough again...lol

watever the draw might be...i expect rafa to reach the semis atleast.....anything lesser than that will be a dissapointment!!

gulbis is great on grass.....he troubled rafa at 07 wimby...took off a set....and this gulbis is a much better player at the moment....so sure he is a THREAT!!!

I am waiting for the draw.. and still expect a Fed-Nadal Final :)

Cheers

hewitt cant face federer not before the semis??? thats a shame... very imbalanced draw imo

@champ, gulbis took a set off nadal in 08 and rafa was finding it tough to handle the gulbis serve , even the 2nd serve and those powerful forehands. gulbis has good control on his bakhand too so he is a scare for rafa...but i DONT THINK he can knock out rafa ...rafa is the heavy favorite.

and yes gulbis does enjoy playing on grass.

Does anyone have the link from where I can see the whole draw ?

well, vrael,
if rafa reaches semi, he will beat the living daylights out of both his semi final opponent, which should be murray ortsonga (or maybe my juanqui!! :P)..
at wimby if rafa does not go out in 2nd or 3rd round, he will be there in final, and if it is fed in final, the trophy will be rafa's in all probability..

BTW, can you tell me where is dolgopolov?
he is a pretty promising grass courter..

# 08 wimby

Here is a summary of the draw:

Federer - Falla
Bozoljac - Massu
Tipsarevic - Clement
Luczak - Robredo

Lopez - Levine
Berankis - Ball
Kunitsyn - Troicki
Brown - Melzer

Berdych - Golubev
Sweeting - Becker
Tursunov - Schuettler
Istomin - Wawrinka

Hanescu - Kusnetsov
Ilhan - Daniel
Andreev - Brands
Anderson - Davydenko

Djokovic - Rochus
Chela - Dent
Evans - Huta Galong
Lorenzi - Montanes

Monfils - Mayer
Beck - Petzschner
Schwank - Korolev
Gonzalez - Hewitt

Cilic - Mayer
Fish - Tomic
Zeballos - Lu
Pryziezny - Ljubicic

Kohlschreiber - Starace
Delgado - Gabashvili
Llodra - Witten
Ram - Roddick

........................

Verdasco - Fognini
Russell - Riba
A Beck - Baker
Vliegen - Benneteau

Almagro - Seppi
Kamke - Garcia-Lopez
Chuidinelli - Dolgopolov
Kendrick - Tsonga

Ferrero - Malisse
Reister - De Voest
Hernandez - Dodig
Stakhovsky - Querrey

Simon - Alcaide
Marchenko - Berrer
Nieminen - Koubek
Hajek - Murray

Soderling - Ginepri
Gil - Granollers
Soeda - Fischer
Mello - Bellucci

Baghdatis - Lacko
Chardy - Gimeno-Traver
Greul - Serra
Kiefer - Ferrer

Youzhny - Sela
Gicquel - Mathieu
De Bakker - Giraldo
Mahut - Isner

Gulbis - Robert
Kavcic - Kubot
Haase - Blake
Nishikori - Nadal

@clayking.......the printable draw is not out yet...all these things we are speculating are from wimbledon radio......let the entire draw come out!!

Rafa has Gulbis in the 2nd round again. Apart from Gulbis, Rafa seems to have a reasonable draw, if the above is accurate.

Ok dolgopolgo is supposed to face tsonga..
well, if tsonga is fit dolgopolgo can pack for home..
otherwise he can make a fine run..

thanks nadline

:-) so there's no official draw yet.
Whatever the draw is, Rafa is ready to play.
Stay fit and healthy Rafa time to get the W back.

In fed's quarter lopez, becker and kuznetsov are the only men whose fav surface is grass, while istomin and anderson are the two men who can potentially do well on grass, and berdych is the only top 20 guy with something notable to show at wimbledon..
otherwise fed's quarter is so damn easy, it would make him say halle was tougher...

Rafa deserves the no.1 seeding not because he has a better record than Federer on grass but because he is rank no.1, has the best form (even if all of his wins came on clay) and he won the last time he played at Wimby, not to mention 3 consecutive finals appearance. In short, I think he has earned his stripes.

Rafa vs Murray would be interesting given the result at AO2010.

May be it is time for nadal to square it off with murray . LOL

Karlovic doesn't appear to be in the draw, or is it me.

The official draw is on the ATP website.

cable,
how many times has this been said here that wimbledon has not decided the seedings according to their whim and fancies, but by a certain mathematical formula..
the formula considered fed, the defending champ as no.1 seed..
by the formula i think fed has over 11,000 points, while nadal has around 1000 points..

nadline,
that's because he is out due to an injury..
that is why benneteau is seeded 32 now..

The only thing wrong with the Wimbledon formula is that it is not followed by the other slam venues like RG, OZ and the USO, though I think RG would be the only one that Roger wasn't seeded 1, although he may have been this year.

Let's just accept that this is how it is, it really doesn't matter at all, who is seeded 1 or 2, you still have to beat a spread of the players 6 times to get to the final, and it's all swings and roundabouts. I'm sure the players are aware of the procedures, and I don't think that's the thing uppermost on Rafa's mind at the moment, winning his matches will be his only concern right now.

VAMOS!

djokovic has a brutal draw. Lleyton hewitt in the 4th,and Roddick in the 1/4s. No chance for DJokovic to progress at current form imo. But it all evens out,Djokovic had two cupcake draws at the AO and FO,but failed to capitalise.

Law of Averages tj, Law of Averages..
nothing escapes Law of Averages..

Murray has Verdasco or Tsonga in the 1/4s. Not sure who would win if that match were to occur,but would give slight edge to Tsogna on grass. On current form,I cant see Murray beating either one,altho it could improve. Soderlings is in Nadals quarter(for once) but he sucks on grass so it doesnt matter. Gulbis is quite good ,and might trouble Nadal but I doubt he will pull of the win. Federer has Berdych or Davy in 1/4s,but its more likely to be Berdych who gets to 1/4s ofc. We are in for an interesting Wimbldeon.

wow,wtf,serbias owning germany.

its not quite an owning..
then idiot of a referee(surprisingly spanish) gave an unnecessary red card to klose..
and as soon as germany were reduced to 10 men due to the red card, the serbians (who were wearing red incidentally), smelled blood, went berserk and scored a goal..

@clayking
it was similar in the nigeria vs greece match,where that guy did that stupid thing and got sent off,and the greeks got more confident bcoz of it.

that was sad for nigeria..
ut it was the player's fault there..
here the referee was at fault..
but anyway, germany should atleast equalise and probably win..

Raindrops,
Thx for imprinting my hints about the second half of the draw. This is exactly what I had in mind - from experience we see that the bottom draw players are always most affected by rain delays.
Clayking
Why is it surprising that the referee is Spanish? or are you implying that spanish referees are shit (which is mostly true btw :)

Don't mean "green" but since the court is lushy green, the tighter the better according to Nadal, I mean tighter draw. :-]]

Vamos !!!

My congratulations on the 2nd seed !!

shireling,
i was just saying spanish referees are generally level headed referees..

Rafa and Gulbis can only meet in the third round. Rafa may meet Blake in the second round if both win their first round matches. Whatever the draw, if Rafa is good enough to win Wimbledon, he should not have any problem whoever he is facing.

It seems to me that the seeded teams in this word cup concentrate so much on their attacking that the forget the importance of defense too. Sad about Spain's loss in their first match, which means more difficult tasks at hand for the Spanish. What happened to France? Ended up losing two goals to Mexico! It looks like Germany is going to lose this match too!

i'm surprised by france's loss too. looks like serbia will win.

@homos
ever since switzerland upset spain,we have now seen 2 upsets. Hope the other contenders dont choke,and follow in argentinas footsteps.

tj600, 6/18/10 2:07 PM Wherever did you get the idea that Soderling 'sucks' on grass?

The reason he has not been deeper than R4 at Wimbledon is he has had Federer or Nadal in his section of the draw. 2009 he lost to Federer in three, but two of those were tie-breaks. 2008 also lost to Roger in three but 3rd set was a TB. In 2007 he took Rafa to five sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(7), 4-6, 7-5. And before that he made Henman play 5 sets in R1.

It strikes me he his game suits grass pretty well!!!!

@ed
yes,he did. But I just cant see him winning the title,or even causing a major upset. The reason being that he struggles with the low bounce of Wimbledon. Also,if he gets into the second week and the bounce becomes inconsistent,I cant see him doing well as you need to be well balanced to do well on it-and if you watch Soderling play,you would know that he always seems to be in a clumsy position when he hits his shots. The moment he comes up against someone with a good sliced backhand(like Federer or murray) he will struggle. But you are right,he is OK on grass.

ed, I think you are right about Sod. Its his luck that he bump into either Fed or Rafa during his Wimby run. This year its Rafa again, so two years against Fed and two years against Rafa. I think if Rafa plays well, he can beat Sod on grass.

tg: I agree with you about his movement being ungainly and often it's sheer brute strength that allows him to pull off the shots he does. Still he has now had the experience of reaching two GS finals and a clutch of Masters' SFs and is a changed player so he might well pull off an upset.

luckystar: there is now quite a bit of history between our man and the Sod. Rafa will need to be playing his very, very best if they meet. I think he should be able to handle all the others in his path and we know he positively thrives on having some tough matches on the way to a final - just so long as this doesn't lead to any injuries.

I'm glad that Rafa had to beat Sod to win RG, if he had won the title without playing Sod, then everyone would still be thinking Sod is a big threat to Rafa, and he would beat Rafa any day. I'm not saying he can't beat Rafa, but I think that Rafa will always have the upper hand against him.

VAMOS!

I don't think that Gulbis, Blake and Isner will be rubbing their hands that they will be running into Rafa so early on in the tournament.


VAMOS!

now that the draw was revealed this combinatorics becomes more understandable: officials tried to help their home favorite boy andy murray to avoid federer and roddick as much as possible. nice job once again!

this is confusing :S muzza deliberately placed in the bottom half so as to meet the date set for the queen to visit?? but the draws are random but we knew murray wud play on 24th and he is doing it...interesting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/18/rafael-nadal-wimbledon


Nice article .. illustring that as a 5 time RG chanpion still how much he loves to wimby :) :)

I am definite that the Wimbledon 2010 champion won't be the top seed.

"...but the draws are random but we knew murray wud play on 24th and he is doing it...interesting."

Yes, it's extremely interesting how the Wimbles draw can even coincide with Her Majesty's social calendar . I've somewhat lost respect for the tourney officials due to the manner by which they manipulate the seedings, which in turn affects the draw.

Last year they gave special seeding to Sharapova which enabled her to play on Centre court while they had the defending champion, Venus Williams playing on the graveyard court. Why? because the shrieka is a cash cow and has other attributes to attract the genteel crowd over there. It's all a lot of hog-wash, which they try to pass of to the public under the guise and justification of using their *special formula*. The end result, the officials are destroying the beauty and historical significance of this great tournament with their discriminatory practises of manipulation personified, to suit their corruptness. Wrong, wrong and shame on them!!! OY

Von, I agree that Murray being in the bottom half of the draw, therefore his match coinciding with Her Majesty's visit on Thursday is more than a coincidence. I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I'm very suspicious now. But, all the best made plans.............................

Murray always ends up in Rafa's half, they must be joined at the hip.

VAMOS!

Rafael 'the champ' Nadal is in town to win back his crown (watch out Roger Federer)

By Mike Dickson
Last updated at 11:19 PM on 18th June 2010



The last time Rafael Nadal struck a ball on the Centre Court it was so dark the scoreboard had taken on the look of Blackpool?s Illuminations, glowingly recording a historic five-set victory over Roger Federer that finished at 9.16pm.

The 24-year-old Spaniard can claim never to have been beaten at Wimbledon since, so in a way it might be said that there are two defending champions back at the All England Club next week.

Federer is here and so is Nadal, who could be found practising yesterday with Andy Roddick after the long weekend he spent back home in Majorca, following his quarter-final defeat at Queen?s Club.
The ascension of King Rafa: Nadal's climb into the family box two years ago is one of the most memorable images in Wimbledon history

The ascension of King Rafa: Nadal's climb into the family box two years ago is one of the most memorable images in Wimbledon history

Happily, there are no signs of the knee problems that caused the 2008 champion to stay away a year ago, and it is far from guaranteed that any Spain versus Switzerland clash that takes place two weeks on Saturday will end in the same way as the one in the World Cup last week.

Snatching a few precious days on the island that boasts him as its most famous son has refreshed Nadal for the task ahead.

?I had a very good time there,? he said. ?I played golf a couple of days, went to a party with my friends on Saturday night, stayed with my family, went to the beach. Only problem, my golf was terrible, always is this time of the season as there is no chance to play.

?I practised tennis for two-and-a-half hours Monday and Tuesday, but when I am there I can have a completely normal life. I never want to go anywhere else in the summer.?

It is easy to tell how much his achievement of 2008 means to him when he describes the trophy as having pride of place among the many others he has collected, including five from Roland Garros.
Changing of the guard: Roger Federer had won the previous five Wimbledon titles before his defeat in 2008

Changing of the guard: Roger Federer had won the previous five Wimbledon titles before his defeat in 2008

?We?ve got a room with a sofa in it and a big TV. I?ve got the Wimbledon trophy on top of the TV. It?s in perfect condition. The French Open trophies, after a year or two they go dark and you have to polish them.

'I?ve got my five Roland Garros trophies in there, and my five Romes, six Monte Carlos and five Barcelonas, but Wimbledon is in the middle of all of them.?

It was not something he ever thought he would have in his collection.

?This was more than a dream. Spanish players in the past thought it was impossible to win here, almost like a different sport, but when I reached my first final in 2006, I thought, ?Actually I can do really well here?,? he added.

?Last time I was here it was dramatic: no sun, just dark, and if I hadn?t won that last game we would have had to stop because you couldn?t see. It was the most emotional moment of my career.?

Nadal could hardly bring himself to watch Wimbledon last year back home in the Balearics.
Slow start: Nadal underachieved at Queens club, where he traditionally he has done well

Slow start: Nadal underachieved at Queens club, where he traditionally he has done well

?I saw the whole of the final and a bit of Djokovic?s quarter-final, but not much. This wasn?t an easy time for me and there were a few problems at home, too,? he said, referring to the split of his parents, something which hit him hard.

Despite the difficulties with his knee, which last flared during his Australian Open quarter-final against Andy Murray, he has rebounded beyond all expectations and looked simply unbeatable throughout the clay-court season.

He admits that the effort required to show everyone that he was the same old Rafa has taken it out of him.

?I?m not tired physically but for me the clay-court season had a lot of emotions. There were some very happy moments and a lot of intensity,? he said. ?You go down a bit afterwards but I will be ready for here. I?ve lost a bit of tension.?
Sign of the future: Nadal heads into this year's tournament as world No 1

Sign of the future: Nadal heads into this year's tournament as world No 1

His defeat in the quarters at Queen?s has been largely dismissed, but it is notable that in 2008 he won that title despite having come straight from a triumph in Paris. It was the same scenario this year, but he could not replicate it.

Few, however, would have believed Nadal would be entering this Wimbledon in such good shape when they saw him retire from the match against Murray in Melbourne.

He believes that the outcome of the final there may be connected to the subsequent slump of the Scot, whom he could meet in the semi-finals here.

?It?s not easy to accept losing a Grand Slam final sometimes. Even me,? says Nadal. ?I thought Andy was going to win, but Roger played very well. Mentally that could have been difficult, but Andy is an amazing talent and is a great competitor.

'He can play on all surfaces and he is one of the favourites here.?

Nadal, it must be said, looks very comfortable ahead of the big fortnight and loves the fact that he stays in a house just a few minutes from the All England Club.

?I walk to the courts every day, it feels more like I am at home. I cook every day, although I can only do pasta, and I think it?s better in the players? lounge. Toni (his uncle and coach), he never cooks, but sometimes does the washing up.?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-1287783/WIMBLEDON-2010 -Rafael-champ-Nadal-town-win-crown-watch-Roger-Federer.html#ixzz0rIcDK nxQ