This was supposed to be my version of ‘it’s coming home’. Though I am a football fan, I am a Hereford FC and Liverpool fan, I want England to win but I am not fanatical about them. I have been knocked for that but it is just the way it is. Serena, Hereford and Liverpool, that is my big three. I am a sore, sore loser, it grates me, but I will take defeat on the chin and can admit defeat. I was the same when I played both football and tennis. I might need a good old sulk behind closeed doors but I will get there. I need to analyse things in my own time. This was one of those days where you have to digest it and put things into perspective.

The day had got off to an unlucky start. I was on my first day of vaping (which was going well) until I dropped it and smashed it. It came off second best against the concrete near Court One, it was just about still working but that was short lived.

It felt a bit strange seeing Djokovic v Nadal being finished off before the Ladies Final, under the roof. I’d had a few Pimms but it was difficult to get my head around. As Serena said, there wasn’t any way around it, it was a position nobody wanted to be in. With Nadal serving second in the decider, I always worried for him. Nole played a lights out point at 7/7 when break point down, ripping a winner past Nadal and I remember thinking, ‘he could be in trouble next game’. It just reminded me of when Djokovic was beating him a few seasons ago. Djokovic held and in the blink of an eye, it was match point. Nadal saved it with a quality drop shot under extreme pressure and held but he couldn’t do so next time around. There, he found himself 0/40 and this time there was no way back. Having this played indoors suited Djokovic more, no two ways about it, his serve the main beneficiary. It lasted just over 5 hours but that is small fish compared to what Kevin Anderson has done last few rounds.

I was nervous before the start of Serena, as any fan is for a big match. When she broke back and held for 3/2 in the first set I thought she had started to play some really good stuff. It was just one of those days though. Shots that would normally land inside the line or on the line were going wide or long by small margins or even found themselves in the net. It happens from time to time, irrespective of the tennis player. Fed had one of those days against Kevin Anderson. I thought Angie played well and she was smart. This was a different type of opponent to what Serena had played throughout the fortnight. You can clearly see she has learnt from last years experiences as she said, she kept her nerves in check very well. I thought she would go close but not win Wimbledon, but when others lost their heads in the top half the German knuckled down and played very well in the last few rounds. I was hugely disappointed after as you would expect, there isn’t a match you go into thinking Rena will lose afterall.

You have to put things into perspective though. Rena has been through one hell of a lot in the last year. As if giving birth isn’t enough on its own. It is her fourth singles event of the year and to have made the final, having only dropped one set and playing the level she has, particularly in the quarters and semis, is quite something. As far as it goes it is a bad day at the office and nothing more than that. It is more of a positive that she has slotted right back into looking world class and the fact I am disappointed shows how far we have come in a short space of time. Rena’s Army.

Andy Del Potro