THE DRAMA OF PENALTIES...IN TENNIS?

If Rafael Nadal performed incredibly last weekend then today he, somehow, managed to step up to an even higher level.

Up against the 'giant' that is Ivo Karlovic it was never going to be easy for the reigning four-time French Open champion. The Croatian is at his best on the grass, where his powerful serve is accentuated by the speed of the surface. Regularly hitting first serves at around 140mph, Karlovic smashed an unbelievable 35 aces past Nadal - that normally doesn't happen over an entire season.

Watching the coverage of the Artois Championships from the Queen's Club it became apparent to me that Karlovic's service games beared more than a passing resemblance to a penalty shootout. Karlovic the striker and Nadal the goalkeeper.

As soon as the 6'10" Croat looped the ball into the air, before spiking it - volleyball style - over the net, Nadal was on the move in an attempt to get even remotely close to the ball. Consequently the Spaniard was made to look a 'fool' for a spell but the longer the match went on the more he began to fire returns back across the net.

The first set went the way of Karlovic, after a Nadal double fault in the tie-break, but as the second set wore on the Spaniard started to predict the Karlovic serve. Nadal was battling to make every point into something resembling a tennis match - it was easier said than done.

You would think a game of tennis in which serve is never broken would be tedious and boring to watch...not this time! Nadal was under immense pressure to hold his own serve before trying everything in his armoury to give himself a chance on the Karlovic serve. On any other day, against any other player, both Karlovic and Nadal would have beaten their opponents - in straight sets to boot.

Unfortunately for the Croatian his movement is not the best and he gave Nadal opportunities to hit trademark forehand winners in the final set tie-break - when he hits these at almost 100mph, while falling backwards, it shows how special the shot is.



Ironically Nadal will now face another big server, Andy Roddick, in tomorrow's semi-final who was given a walkover after Andy Murray's withdrawal through injury.

Roll on more of the same! I for one will be glued to the screen and, in this form, my money is on Nadal, possibly even for Wimbledon too...