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.

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.

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.

Novak Djokovic won 6-4 6-4 in a very comfortable win over Rafael Nadal in the final of the Rome Masters yesterday. Djokovic was in complete control of the match and had Rafa Nadal doing much of the running.  Nadal was completely outplayed, not an easy thing to do, in a one-sided game.

The Rome Masters is the latest championship won by Djokovic this year that already includes Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Belgrade, Madrid and the Australian Open.

If Djokovic continues this great form he has every chance to break the record of consecutive victories which is currently held by Guillermo Vilas when he won 46 consecutive matches, set in 1977.

Maria Sharapova returned to winning ways as she won her first tour title since Strasbourg in May 2010 as she beat Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the Women’s Tennis final of the Rome Masters on Saturday.

Rain delayed the start of the women’s final, and Stosur, ranked seventh in the world, was slow to start and Maria Sharapova, currently ranked eighth in the world, won the first set without much resistance.

Stosur put up competitive fight in the second set but it was not enough. The Russian 24 year-old, who has suffered with a shoulder injury and not won a grand slam since the 2008 Australian Open, went on to win 6-2 6-4.

Originally, Andy Murray had suggested he would take a break following the first grand slam of the year but instead he decided to play in the Rotterdam Open the following week.  With the rate Murray ‘changes’ his coaches and advisers I’d be surprised if anyone said ‘told you so’ when he played a poor match and he lost to the little known Marcos Baghdatis in Holland in the first round.

Whether it was just Andy Murray’s mind that needed a break after his defeat to Novac Djokovic in the Australian Open was doubtful when he announced he will be withdrawing from next week’s Dubai Duty Free Championships citing a wrist problem.  Murray’s next scheduled match is in the Masters Series in Indian Wells in March.

There’s no denying Andy Murray is a world class tennis player and the best British player (even counting Canadians that choose to be counted as British) for a very long time.  Whereas Tim Henman struggled to be a Top 10 men’s singles player, Murray has remained in the Top 5 for the past two seasons, often peaking in the top 3.  But for how much longer will people continue to show the level of faith in Murray’s ability to one day win a grand slam?

In all three grand slam finals Andy Murray has given a poor performance and it has been questioned whether he is overawed by the occasion.  Anyone who follows tennis would no doubt agree he has become a more disciplined, mature player and has worked on his physique resulting in both power and strength to his game, but at 23 (the same age as Novac Djokovic) when will Andy Murray be at his peak and win his first grand slam?

Andy Murray is currently number 5 in the Men’s ATP official tennis world rankings and is currently 3rd favourite to win this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championship with online sports betting at 5/1 behind Roger Federer (9/4) and the current favourite Rafael Nadal at 7/4.  But whatever his form leading up to the tournament, there will be enough fans willing to bet on Andy Murray being the first British tennis player to win the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final since Fred Perry in 1936.