July 05, 2010

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Rafael Nadal has officially demonstrated that he is not just the king of clay. After his performance at the All England Club this past fortnight, it is evident that he is truly the king of any court. With his straight sets win over Tomas Berdych in Sunday's Wimbledon final, Nadal has now won back-to-back Grand Slams for the first time since accomplishing the same feat in 2008.

Nadal defeated the Czech player 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 and captured his second Wimbledon title. Even though Berdych finished as the runner-up, he made huge strides this tournament pushing his ranking to No. 8 in the world. This is a career-high for Berdych, who has been a fixture in the Top 25 since late 2005 but hasn't been inside the Top 10 since early 2008.

Nadal remains No. 1 in the world as Roger Federer drops further down the rankings to the No. 3 spot. Novak Djokovic matches his career-high ranking as he advances to the No. 2 spot as a result of his semifinal appearance.

Nadal's performance awarded him his 41st singles title and eighth Grand Slam victory. He is still 21 titles behind Federer, but at the age of 24, he is slightly ahead of what Federer had accomplished at the same stage in his career. By the time he turned 24, Federer had 33 singles titles to Nadal's 41 and only six Grand Slams compared to Nadal's eight. Nadal still only misses the US Open in his trophy case to complete a career Grand Slam while Federer accomplished that goal in 2009 by capturing that elusive French Open title. Nadal has been improving his hard court game in the hopes to take the US Open this year and the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank will be a great opportunity for him to prepare.