Tomas Berdych came to play. It took the 12th ranked Czech just 2 hours and 28 minutes to dismantle Novak Djokovic in straight sets. And to me, this was the least surprising of the two matches. Immediately following the Berdych-Djokovic match, Andy Murray got his clock cleaned by Rafael Nadal in what was the biggest match of Murray's career.
So why did it surprise me so much that Nadal took it to Murray? He's the higher seed, the much more accomplished player and has fared much better at Wimbledon over the last couple years, including his championship win over Federer just two years ago. But it was the way it all unraveled.
Murray had a set point on his serve in the second set tie break that, if he had won, would have altered the match completely. Instead of dictating the point, Murray waited for Nadal to make a mistake. This is the most under appreciated part of Nadal's game - he doesn't make mistakes when it matters. Murray had to impose the pressure on to him, but instead Nadal got to net. Once he took that point, the set was over.
In the third set, Murray broke quickly - maybe even too soon. Of course you should take a break whenever you can, but breaking in the first game of the set gave Nadal way too much time to recover. At 4-3 with Murray serving, you could feel Nadal was going to make his move. Instead of cracking a few first serves, Murray lobbed up a few 80 mph seconds. Nadal ate these up and broke. From there, it happened so quickly. Nadal secured the break, then sat back and let the pressure get to young Andy.
Like I said before, this was the most important match of Murray's life. He needed to beat Nadal or lose a heartbreaker in 4 or 5 sets. Instead, he got trounced. He showed little confidence and let Nadal dictate nearly everything. Despite having no strong allegiance to either player, I was kind of rooting for Murray. Wimbledon is his stage and he needed the victory more. I expected more from Murray...
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