Reviewed by Kate Battersby
Unexpected questions of our time.... Having won a straightforward victory over Ryan Sweeting to reach the third round, Rafael Nadal was asked in his post-match press conference if he is "a man in decline". Yes, that Rafael Nadal. The No.1 player in the world, who earlier this month acquired his 10th Grand Slam title at the French Open. You could forgive the Spaniard for appearing politely startled.
"Me?" he queried, reasonably. "But I won Roland Garros two weeks ago. It's a little bit fast to say I am a man in decline. Next year maybe. But probably now it is a little bit dangerous to say that."
Apparently the question was prompted by the fact that Nadal must defend his Wimbledon crown if he is to stand any chance of retaining the No.1 spot, and will lose the top ranking in any case if Novak Djokovic makes the final. All the same, Nadal was slightly baffled.
"This is my seventh year in the top two," he pointed out. "That's a lot of years. Maybe they are right. I don't know."
His opponent Sweeting, probably would not classify Nadal as "a man in decline". The big news for the American was that he broke through the four-game barrier against the world No.1 in their second round match on the Centre Court. In their two previous career meetings, both this year, four was as many as he could amass on either occasion. By the time he equalled that mark, he was already a set and 4-1 down, but he knew its significance and whirled his arms in the direction of the crowd, to encourage them to applaud the moment all the more.
Incongruously, he seemed less excited by his ultimate acquisition of nine games in all, perhaps because he couldn't quite manage to gather enough at any one time to add up to an actual set. Instead the nine games were distributed throughout what was always going to be an entirely routine victory for the defending champion, with the scoreline eventually reading 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Ah well.
For Nadal the chief novelty of the occasion was that it was the first time he had played under the Centre Court roof. In the event protection from the elements proved superfluous, as in fact there was no rain for the duration of the match. But when the encounter began showers were still forecast. In the British summer, it pays to exercise caution.
"With or without the roof, the Centre Court is the best court in the world," enthused the Spaniard diplomatically afterwards. "It's always a pleasure to play on it - but for sure I prefer to play with the roof off."
Nadal's second round match directly followed Venus Williams' enthralling win over the veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm. It takes an exceptional occasion for spectators to vacate their seats at the start of any match involving Nadal, and this was one of the few times when the Spaniard went into battle in front of a half-empty stadium. The die-hard fans who knew where their correct priorities lay included HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in the Royal Box, who nipped out for the briefest possible break between matches before returning to see Nadal. Clearly she was keen to make the most of her visit to SW19.