No buzz cut here

By Chuck Culpepper

June 21, 2009 12 AM PT

WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND —

As Rafael Nadal’s jolting withdrawal of Friday began to stop shaking on Saturday, the necessary Wimbledon commotion settled around two leading beneficiaries who didn’t want to be known as leading beneficiaries.

When Roger Federer labeled No. 1 Nadal’s absence “disappointing for me” and Andy Murray deemed it “a shame,” they might have spoken as prideful competitors or they might have spoken as two shy souls about to receive the onslaught of attention in a tournament with a sudden two-man narrative.

Federer just became “a big favorite” according to Murray, but Federer might be too giddy to care about such inconveniences as he savors his long-craved French Open title and maintains, “There’s a lot of weight off my shoulders since Paris, so I’m entering tournaments, I guess, a little more relaxed these days.”

Murray just saw the buzz around this tournament go from heavily Andy Murray to stark-raving-wildly Andy Murray as the 22-year-old Scot aspires to edit one of the most durable sentences in the English language, the one that goes, “No British man has won the Wimbledon singles title since Fred Perry in 1936.”

As the first British man to win the Queen’s Club preparatory event since Bunny Austin in 1938, he’s even wearing this timeless new Fred Perry attire, even if the earthy, small-town sort from Dunblane looks somewhat misplaced in it. “I feel like I’m ready to win a Grand Slam now, whereas last year I might not have been,” the 2008 U.S. Open finalist said.

Nadal flew to Mallorca and imaginations flew to July 5, the Sunday of the men’s final, even if Federer and Murray cautioned they shouldn’t because they evidently have six matches each to play before then.

It’s just that a Federer-Murray final would pit two men free of a Nadal who foiled them here in 2008 -- one in a sugarplum final, one in a rout of a quarterfinal -- and it would rouse a heap of potential goodies.

Federer could regain his customary Wimbledon crown -- his highest priority, he said -- win for the sixth time in seven years, surpass Pete Sampras with a record 15th Grand Slam title and regain a No. 1 ranking thought distinctly past-tense for him only one month ago.

Murray could unleash all Hades, or at least as much as could any British athlete who doesn’t play soccer.

Federer could bring to the newly roofed Centre Court the know-how from 19 previous Grand Slam finals -- including the straight-sets win over Murray in that U.S. Open -- while Murray could tote along his 6-2 record against Federer, including four straight wins since that U.S. Open.

Those wins in Madrid, Shanghai, Doha and Indian Wells may help explain why Federer, unaccustomed to such rebellion from the underlings, used the backhand to compliment Murray on Saturday.

“I mean, he’s a very gifted player, you know,” Federer said. “He has wonderful feel. He’s a great tactician. I always said that, you know. And he’s finally proved it because it took him some time, you know. That was the disappointing part, I thought, that it took him longer than I expected, you know. So I was wrong with my prediction, because I expected him to do better a few years ago.”

Point of information: Murray turned 22 in May.

When he budged from No. 4 to No. 3 in April, the boxing fan and statistics freak and savant who tends to remember every shot from a match became the highest-ranked British male since the rankings began in 1973, birthing hope for Wimbledon even if hard courts remain his best surface.

“The difference between the U.S. Open and here, obviously the surface is different, but less guys play well on grass,” Murray said as his story just begins.

Federer’s story, meanwhile, has just hairpin-turned from his tears in Australia in January and his tantrum in Miami in March and his 0-7 record against Nadal and Murray and Novak Djokovic since the U.S. Open entering May. Because those details didn’t match his supernatural dominance of previous years, he drew absurd assessments as some jalopy finally spewing parts, such that it takes a seasoned viewer like Maria Sharapova to notice, “As far as Federer’s chances, I mean, even if Nadal is in the draw, his chances are still pretty darned good.”

It’s all such a compelling turnabout, “such a relief and a happiness once it was all over” at the French, he said, that Federer has to strain to remind listeners of other possible contenders besides himself and Murray, including No. 4 Djokovic, No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and French Open finalist Robin Soderling.

Djokovic, a 2007 semifinalist who lost to Marat Safin in the second round last year, hasn’t menaced too much since winning the 2008 Australian Open, but then, Federer notices another player, the beacon of the 14 Americans in the draw.

“Roddick, I think, is going to be so difficult to beat again, because he’s playing better,” Federer said. And that’s the reality at the Roger-and-Andy Wimbledon: A grass-court player the caliber of No. 6 Andy Roddick, booming server, twice a finalist to Federer here, feeling more spry than in recent years, and with Nadal suddenly vanished from his once-harrowing quarter of the draw, somehow comes off as a footnote.

chuck.culpepper@yahoo.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Wimbledon facts

Surface: Grass courts.

Site: The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Schedule: Play begins Monday. The women’s singles final is July 4, the men’s singles final July 5.

2008 men’s singles champion: Rafael Nadal of Spain.

2008 women’s singles champion: Venus Williams of the United States.

TV: ESPN2 (starting Monday), NBC (starting June 27).

TOP-SEEDED MEN

(Ranking in parentheses)

1. Rafael Nadal (1), Spain, withdrew