They beat the rain in the end

And so the Wimbledon championships have come to an end, and despite the constant downpours (the worst in 25 years), the finals were all completed this weekend. Rafael Nadal's 3rd round tie with Robin Soderling took four days to complete. How that doesn't mess with a player's mind is beyond me! As the weather started to improve the end of last week, the schedule hit the players hard with matches having to be played on consecutive days. The most notable - Djokovic retiring due to injury against Nadal in the semi final.

I feel I have to mention the Oscar winning performance of Serena Williams when she screamed in apparent agony with cramp in her leg. Honestly, is it THAT painful? Mind you, the two sisters are very vocal anyway (to the point of complete annoyance) and I have no idea how their opponents manage to concentrate. I can add Maria Sharapova to that list too. Totally unnecessary noise. Yeah, so back to Serena's game where she played on with heavy bandaging. She was such a lucky girl with the rain delay saving her. However, how frustrating that her opponent didn't take the opportunity to make Serena run to get the ball. Of course, after every point one she would quickly return to limping - she may well have been genuinely in pain but she sure milked every moment of it! Fortunately, she lost to Justine Henin in the quarter final so that was one of the Williams out. There were a few surprising results in the women's draw - Amelie Mauresmo losing out to Nicole Vaidisova, Maria Sharapova losing to Venus Williams (seeded 23) in the 4th round, but most of all, top seed Justine Henin going down to little known Marion Bartoli of France. The latter was one of the best matches this fortnight - despite Henin taking the first set, Bartoli fought like a trooper to get back into it. She won the final set convincingly 6-1. And so the final was Williams v Bartoli. The underdog had moments in the match but couldn't overpower her opponent. Venus flytrap won 6-4 6-1, her 4th Wimbledon singles title (yawn).

The men's tournament went how I and many others must've predicted - Nadal v Federer, the top two players in the world at the moment. Last year it was the same match which I didn't rate much in the way of entertainment but this year was a different matter. Federer, almost predictably took the first set on a tie-break. Nadal levelled the match by taking the second 6-4. Federer then won another tie-break but something seemed to happen in the 4th and you can't say this very often, but Roger 'lost his cool'. Rafa won that set convincingly 6-1. And so a fifth set. I'd never bet against Federer in any situation, even if he was two sets down, and true to form he came through and won it. This equalled Bjorn Borg's record of five consecutive wins 1976-1980. I must say it does get a tad boring if the same player wins year after year, similarly Pete Sampras doing it seven times, but I guess it's impressive and you can only stand back and admire just how good these guys are.

However, the biggest joy of all to those of us who are British was the result in the mixed doubles. Unseeded Jamie Murray (younger brother of Andy) with his partner Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Jonas Bjorkman and Alicia Molik seeded 5 in three sets. It was lovely to see players enjoying themselves so much with smiles galore from the Murray/Jankovic side.

So the rain failed to force the championships into a third week after all. The centre court is due to have a roof fitted in 2009 and that will certainly help but Britain wouldn't be Britain if it wasn't for unpredictable weather.