Nadal made the more promising start as Djokovic found himself a set down, similar to his semi-final against Murray.  But Novak Djokovic fought back to lead by two sets to one and with the fourth set poised in a close tie-break, it looked like Djokovic was about to win.  But Nadal played out of his skin.  This meant so much to Nadal, who had lost all six previous meetings between the two.

Into the fifth and final set Novak Djokovic looked mentally tired and physically drained but refused to lie down.  The set was one of the most compelling I have ever watched with several rallies of 20+ shots culminating in a 31 shot rally that was full of great shots and outrageous returns that had the crowd whooping in delight.

Before a ball was hit, I had Novak Djokovic to win, not because of any weaknesses with his opponent, Rafael Nadal doesn’t have any.  But because of the ‘never say die’ attitude Djokovic possesses.  But watching the fifth set Djokovic looked weary between shots.

Just as the match moved in Nadal’s favour, as if by magic Novak Djokovic found a last gasp of energy to force the issue and take control one more time and go on to win 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 in five hours 53 minutes to win his fifth Grand Slam.

Winning the final point Novak Djokovic dropped his racket and fell to the floor screaming like a wild coyote. Before walking to celebrate with his team his tore his t-shirt from his solid torso & screamed some more.

This was possibly the most perfect display of tennis I have ever seen; and the win meant everything to Djokovic; while Rafael Nadal must have been sitting there wondering what on Earth he has to do to beat this man.

The Shanghai Masters was Murray’s fifth title of 2011.

This is the first time since 2003 that Roger Federer has not been ranked in the top 3. Following his victory Andy Murray said,

“For a lot of years everything went very right for Federer. He’s had a few tournaments this year where maybe things could have gone his way and they didn’t but I’m sure next year he’ll be competing. He’s still playing great tennis.”

After beating the former champion, Roger Federer in the quarter-final, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga now needs to beat this year’s inform player, Novak Djokovic in the first match on Centre Court, if there is to be any chance of repeating the Queen’s Club Final last month.

If he does beat Djokovic, and I certainly wouldn’t rule out the possibility, then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will have beaten three of the world’s current top four tennis players in the past few weeks.  I tipped Tsonga to beat Federer and I think his game is more suited to grass than Djokovic.  That alone will make the match closer than if it were played on clay.

In the second semi-final Andy Murray will have to play his best tennis while Nadal plays below par for Murray to win the match; and I think more than in the past two years at this stage, Andy Murray has the best chance of beating Rafael Nadal and winning the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final on Sunday.

In yesterday’s Ladies Singles semi-finals the fifth seed, Maria Sharapova came back from a shaky start where she found herself 0-3 down in the first set against the very athletic German wildcard, Sabine Lisicki to reach her first Wimbledon final, since winning in 2004.

Sharapova eventually found her form and won 6-3, 6-4.  She will play the 21-year-old eighth seed Czech, Petra Kvitova who beat the fourth seed Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to reach her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.

I believe Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray will be crowned Wimbledon Champions on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, weather permitting.

Boris Becker helping the nation improve their tennis serve

To mark the 125th celebration of the Championships, three times Wimbledon champion Boris Becker gives his predictions on Wimbledon 2011 while helping the nation improve their serving abilities at the specially designed ‘The Ralph Lauren 125th Anniversary Serving Challenge’ virtual tennis court.

Building on Becker’s interactive tennis clinic last year, 2011 sees the Ralph Lauren tennis legend take his skills to the queuing public, challenging them on a tennis simulator (similar to that used in virtual golf), making it the first time this technology has been used in tennis.

Boris Becker became the first unseeded player, the first German, and the youngest man (17 years, 7 months) to win Wimbledon. Becker won 49 singles titles over the next 14 years – including 2 more Wimbledon Championships (1986, 1989), the Australian Open (1991, 1996) and the U.S. Open (1989) – 15 doubles titles, and 2 Davis Cups. He also won the 1992 Olympic Men’s tennis doubles title with Michael Stich. His career prize earnings are estimated to total over $21 million.

Andy Murray’s confidence has never been greater after his victory at Queen’s Club following two exceptional performances to beat Andy Roddick in the semi-final and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final.  But ahead of Murray in the current world rankings are Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and reigning Wimbledon champion and current no.1 Rafael Nadal.

Novak Djokovic has never been further than the semi-finals at Wimbledon but has only lost once in 2011.  Djokovic is the inform player but grass isn’t his favourite surface.  Rafa Nadal will need to be on his best form and free from injury if he is to beat Roger Federer, who I believe will be crowned Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion for the seventh time.

The Ladies Singles has been dominated in recent years by the Williams sisters, and both Serena and Venus Williams will be among the favourites even though they have both recently returned from injuries and failed to impress at last week’s Eastbourne Aegon International event.  A former champion that comes to this year’s Wimbledon finals in great form is Maria Sharapova though Li Na will be looking to add to her recent French Open victory when she bacame the first Chinese tennis player to win a grand slam.

Wimbledon 2011 begins today with the Men’s Singles 1st Round when Rafa Nadal takes on Michael Russell (USA) on Centre Court and Alison Riske (USA) taking on Vera Zvonareva (Russia) the number 2 seed on No. 1 Court.

Weather permitting, fourth seed Andy Murray v Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain) will be the third match on Centre Court.