CENTRE COURT IS ROGER'S HOUSE

Time for just a short post before France and Italy kick off in about 40 minutes:

Tennis at its best is a bloodsport.

Yes, you have that air of politesse, especially at Wimbledon with the strawberries-and-cream, the mandatory all-white attire and the announcer intoning, "Quiet please," in the most dulcet of tones.

However, that's just a veneer: the game is about breaking your opponent's will, point by point. You make him and her wilt under the steam bath of a British summer the glare of thousands of well-heeled martini drinkers.

That's what Roger Federer did to Rafael Nadal about an hour ago a 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 win that gave him his fourth straight Wimbledon men's single title and made up for Nadal beating him in the French Open final a few weeks ago. There's one point that sticks out in my mind. At 1-2 and 30-40 in the fourth game of the final set, Nadal had Federer dead to rights after getting him on the run and inducing a return that floated high over the net. However, Nadal smashed his return long, giving Federer a break game and a 3-1 lead.

That was it, really. They could have presented the trophy right there.

It was an unforced error, but those are brought on by being intimidated by the player on the other side of the net. In this case, it was Nadal realizing that he might beat Federer at Wimbledon some day, but just not today. Still, the Spanish lefty at times showed that he's got into Federer's head a little bit, too. There is a gap between them as the No. 1 and No. 2 players, at age 24 and 20, but it won't be as large when they're 26 and 22.

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