Nadal faces Berdych in men’s final

Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England

While Roger Federer is at the start of a two-week vacation he wasn’t eager to begin, Rafael Nadal will be hard at work, facing a new sort of challenge in the Wimbledon final.

For the first time since 2002, the last round at the All England Club won’t include six-time champion Federer. Instead, Nadal will take on the player who eliminated Federer in the quarterfinals, first-time Grand Slam finalist Tomas Berdych.

They’ll be hard-pressed to equal the drama of the past three Wimbledon finals. Federer beat Nadal in 2007, Nadal beat Federer in 2008, and Federer beat Andy Roddick last year. All three matches were decided in the fifth set, including last year’s 16-14 thriller.

But Nadal’s Wimbledon comeback and Berdych’s Grand Slam breakthrough offer compelling story lines.

Nadal missed last year’s tournament with tendinitis in both knees, then endured a prolonged slump. The Rafa of old resurfaced this spring, and he capped an undefeated clay-court season with his fifth French Open title.

Since mid-April, Nadal has gone 30-1 and regained the No. 1 ranking. He’s one victory from his eighth major title.

“I didn’t win a tournament for 11 months,” the Spaniard said. “When you have tough moments and you are another time in the top, it’s more special.”

The 6-foot-5 Berdych’s fortunes are on the rise, too. He has displayed flashes of brilliance since the age of 18, when he upset Federer in the 2004 Olympics.

Now 24, he has achieved milestones twice in the past month, reaching a major semifinal for the first time at the French Open and advancing even further at Wimbledon. He’s 4-1 this year against top-five players.

Seeded 12th, Berdych will climb to a career-best eighth in next week’s rankings. He’s the first Czech to reach the Wimbledon men’s final since Lendl in 1987.

“I’m still not done yet here,” Berdych said. “One more to go.”

The only Czech to win the men’s title was Jan Kodes in 1973.

Berdych’s major-final debut comes in his 28th Grand Slam tournament, the second-longest wait for a Grand Slam men’s finalist in the Open era. Perhaps he’s a late bloomer like Lendl, who won the first of his eight major titles at age 24.

“He achieved much, much more than me,” Berdych said, “but things need to start somewhere. Hopefully, it’s a really good time to start building similar results.”