Nadal vs Berdych: Power vs persistence

While Roger Federer is at the start of a two-week vacation he wasnt eager to begin,Rafael Nadal will be hard at work on Sunday...

While Roger Federer is at the start of a two-week vacation he wasnt eager to begin,Rafael Nadal will be hard at work on Sunday,facing a new sort of challenge in the Wimbledon final. For the first time since 2002,the last round at the All England Club wont 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.

Theyll 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 years 16-14 thriller.

But Nadals Wimbledon comeback and Berdychs Grand Slam breakthrough also offer compelling story lines. Nadal missed last years 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. Hes one victory away from his eighth major title. I didnt win a tournament for 11 months, Nadal said. When you have tough moments and you are another time in the top,its more special.

The 6-foot-5 Berdychs 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.

Seeded 12th,Berdych will climb to a career-best ranking of at least eighth next week. Hes the first Czech to reach the mens final since Ivan Lendl in 1987. The only Czech to win the mens title was Jan Kodes in 1973.

Berdychs major final debut comes in his 28th try,the second-most major tournaments anyone has played before reaching a title match. Perhaps hes a late bloomer like Lendl,who won the first of his eight major titles at age 24.