Tennis: Nadal Waits in the Rain

Rain clouds that squatted over here challenged the good humor of the many thousands who had been looking forward to their 'Big Day Out' on the middle Saturday, which for those with Center Court tickets meant a chance to assess the driven young maestro Rafael Nadal.

Nadal's determination to keep big appointments with Roger Federer makes you wonder whether he might shin up Everest without oxygen if this was what it took to confront the world number one. For the 21-year-old Spaniard, having Wimbledon grass under his feet and a grey English sky over his head is almost as big an obstacle as scaling the world's highest mountain. However, his determination to set up a fifth grand-slam meeting with Federer in the men's final next Sunday sweeps him onward.

He muscled his way to two straight-set victories before yesterday lining up against Sweden's Robin Soderling on an afternoon as depressingly drab as anything deepest February could offer. Federer, who booked his place in the fourth round on Friday, had probably turned up the heating as he relaxed at his rented mansion, almost certainly not bothering to follow the Nadal match on television (he rarely watches matches other than finals). If he had turned on after the weather delayed play for more than two hours, he would have seen Nadal's first attempt to start against Soderling brought to an end when the rain returned during the knock-up.

A Nadal-Federer final would be a repeat of last year's title match, which Federer won in four sets - the only success the great man has achieved so far in grand slams against Nadal, who has won their three meetings on clay at the French Open.

Many regard Nadal's achievement in reaching the 2006 Wimbledon final against Federer as even more impressive than his three successive French titles given that neither by upbringing nor inclination is he a grass-courter. However, he has refused to make token appearances at Wimbledon, or avoid playing on grass altogether, as so many of his compatriots have, and has doggedly applied himself to being competitive on the alien surface.

This has meant subtle adjustments to how he strikes the lower-bouncing ball, how he moves without being able to perform the clay-court slide and how he approaches the shorter, sharper rallies that are a feature of grass. Then there is developing a mindset that says 'I can do this' rather than 'I might be able to do this but I can't be bothered to find out'.

Nadal is renowned as one of the most diligent workers on the tour with an almost obsessive commitment to practicing. He has always been this way - and has also managed to combine being meanly competitive with a disarmingly friendly disposition. 'Growing up he often had to play with people who were very bad but he knew he had to train,' said his uncle Toni, who is also his coach. 'This is good manners. Things don't always go the way you want but you have to keep on working. So he's used to that and I think it helps him.'

Almost certainly the hardest battle awaiting Nadal before his probable assignation with Federer is a semi-final against Novak Djokovic, the fourth-seeded Serb. Djokovic was outgunned by Nadal in a slugging match at the French Open last month but his athleticism and shot-making turn him into a much tougher proposition on grass. Djokovic also possesses confidence that is almost as boundless as Nadal's. 'I was always trying to compare myself to the best players in the world, because that's what I want to be,' he said after entering the world's top 10 earlier this year. 'Right now I feel like probably for the first time in my career I'm on that level, that I deserve to be one of the three best players in the world.'

Federer's serene progress, yet again, through the top half of the draw has recalled the early days of the championships when the men's title-holder played only one match in defense of his title, awaiting the winner of the All Comers' Singles whom he played in the Challenge Round. In a sense the tournament has reverted to this format over the past three summers with Federer advancing so effortlessly that he arrives in the final in the same mint condition as when he turned up for his first-round match. In his three defenses from 2004-06 after he first won the title in 2003, Federer has dropped just four sets while winning 63.

This year he has begun with three straight-set wins, the most impressive of which was his summary dismissal of Marat Safin on Friday evening. 'For me it's definitely good to keep on winning, keep on winning in straight sets,' he said. 'Maybe the intimidating factor is there, but I don't really care too much about that, I just want to play good tennis.'

Federer also reflected on the fact that, unlike Safin, he no longer allowed emotion to affect his game. 'I changed that,' he said, in a reference to the days when he had a reputation for petulant behavior. 'That's why I look maybe much, much more professional now. I don't know if I am, but I'm trying my best and work extremely hard off the court, and I would expect Marat to do the same thing.'

Worryingly for his rivals, Federer sees no end to the scope for improving his game. 'That's the nice thing about tennis,' he said. 'You can always improve your backhand, your forehand, your serves, your volleys, your movement. It never gets monotone. You can always change it up in some way. If your forehand top spin is great then you can work on your slice. It never stops and that's what I like about tennis.'

It will take a seismic upset for Federer to fail to make Sunday's final, with Andy Roddick, the player slated to be his semi-final opponent, having been routinely humiliated by the world number one. One win for Roddick in 14 matches is a fair measure of the discrepancy between the smooth Swiss and the heavy-footed American.