As for Santana, playing an Anglo-Saxon sport and known for both his cleverness and his sportsmanship, he was something of a surprise finalist on the grass. Seeded fourth, he had beaten Ken Fletcher of Australia by 7-5 in the fifth set in the quarterfinals and Owen Davidson of Australia by 7-5 in the fifth set in the semifinals.
Against sixth-seeded Ralston in the 1966 final, Santana won the first set 6-4, then wandered into a second set of thorns. They had no medical breaks then, no visits from trainers on court, not even bathroom breaks. In changeovers, he said, they didn't even stop to sit down.
"I started feeling really painful in my back," he said. "I was trying to massage myself, every point. And it was difficult to concentrate more and more and more."
Yet he'd decreed to himself that 1966 had to be the year. "I tried so hard," he said. With Ralston "making me run like crazy," he said, he weathered that second set by 11-9 in those prehistoric no-tiebreaker days, and the pain ebbed. On a final forehand volley he won, 6-4, 11-9, 6-4, and got his title to match his U.S. and French titles. He received no prize money, he said, but his under-the-table price did rise to $10,000 given his new status as Wimbledon champion.
On Sunday, 42 years on, Santana's young friend Nadal will arrive as a wealthy young man and pretty much a global rock star, even given his steadfast humility.
"I think I did a very good tournament," he said Friday.
At times, especially in a quarterfinal against the British hope Andy Murray, Nadal has looked like some otherworldly force, forging new angles and playing something that exceeds tennis.
Absolutely improved from last year, it appears he can't possibly lose, except when watching Federer, who made a taut match against Safin, a two-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments, look somehow breezy and perfunctory. Federer has won all 18 sets here and said, "You know, for me it's obviously important to sort of bounce back from that loss," meaning the 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 obliteration in Paris.
Some 42 years after Santana and with no Spanish men's titlist in between, and with Santana due in the audience, it's a testament to Nadal's blast-furnace force that a five-time-defending champion seems to be trying to hold him off just once more.
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Back and forth
How Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have fared against each other in Grand Slam finals:
*--* YEAR EVENT WINNER 2006 French Open Rafael Nadal 2006 Wimbledon Roger Federer 2007 French Open Rafael Nadal 2007 Wimbledon Roger Federer 2008 French Open Rafael Nadal *--*
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WIMBLEDON FINALS
Women: Serena Williams (6) vs. Venus Williams (7)
Today, 6 a.m., Ch. 4
Men: Roger Federer (1)
vs. Rafael Nadal (2)
Sunday, 6 a.m., Ch. 4
