WIMBLEDON, England -- On Friday, July 1, 1966, one Manuel Martinez "Manolo" Santana took the Tube -- or, subway -- to play a Wimbledon men's singles final. They didn't have courtesy cars so he rode with real people from London to Southfields station. From there, he walked.
He walked unbothered "like a normal person with my rackets" to the All England Club, hoping he'd have luck against the Californian Dennis Ralston, thinking that at 28 he'd better get this Wimbledon title because another chance might not materialize.
"In Spain, when I played tennis," Santana, 70, said by telephone, "people didn't know if the ball was round or square. I went to the French Open and people said, 'The French Open? What's that? I had no idea!' "
This coming Sunday at the same -- if gussied-up -- All England Club, the first male Spanish finalist since Santana will play his third consecutive Wimbledon final, but his first in which there's a widely held inkling that he'll win.
The 22-year-old Rafael Nadal, who seared through this year's French Open for his fourth consecutive title there, has treated this Wimbledon with similar hurry, losing one set out of 18 and finishing off mystery semifinalist Rainer Schuettler, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-4, Friday.
"And probably if I win on Sunday, my career is changing a little bit more, no?" he said.
If he wins Sunday, he would have beaten Roger Federer, a feat humanity took a long time to come by. Federer, as regal on grass as Nadal is on clay, has won five consecutive Wimbledon titles, 40 consecutive Wimbledon matches (plus a walkover), 65 consecutive grass-court matches, two consecutive Wimbledon finals over Nadal (four sets, five sets) and one pretty commanding semifinal Friday against the resurgent Marat Safin, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4, in which Federer never lost serve for the third consecutive match.
"Look, I mean, I don't think it matters really a lot if I'm the favorite or not," said Federer, whom Nadal annihilated in the French Open final. "I'm on an incredible winning streak on grass. First somebody has to be able to break that, you know, before we start talking differently."
With Federer logging 231 consecutive weeks at No. 1, and Nadal 153 consecutive weeks at No. 2 (and the same order assured for next week), and the duo becoming the first to play both French and Wimbledon finals in three consecutive years, it has been a long time since anyone talked differently.
