WIMBLEDON, England (By Greg Bishop, NYT) July 4, 2010 — For the longest time, Rafael Nadal clung to his championship keepsake. He carried it, cradled it, even signed autographs with it tucked away in his right arm.

The Wimbledon trophy did what Nadal’s opponents could not over the fortnight. It made tears well in his eyes.

He captured the trophy at Centre Court on Sunday with an aggressive assault on Tomas Berdych, a lopsided match confirmed by the final tally, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Victory vaulted Nadal into rare company — his eighth major championship tied the likes of Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl — and he somersaulted across the grass in celebration.

“Last year was not an easy year for me,” he said. “To be back in the famous tournament of the world here, finish with the trophy, is amazing.”

For the first time since 2002, the Wimbledon men’s singles final did not feature Roger Federer. If that seemed strange, though, Nadal’s triumph certainly did not.

He slung groundstrokes, grunted and twisted his face into all the usual contortions. He looked normal, only he played different, more vicious, more aggressive, perhaps an improved version of the player who won this tournament in 2008.

Last year, Nadal watched Federer duel Andy Roddick from the sofa in his living room in Spain, breaking a string of three straight appearances in the Wimbledon final. On Sunday, in front a Centre Court crowd that included Bjorn Borg, Jaromir Jagr and the Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, Nadal reclaimed both the trophy and his status as the best men’s player on the tour.

While it remains premature to debate if Nadal can match or exceed Federer’s 16 Grand Slam titles, it is fair to wonder where Nadal, only 24, will eventually fit in tennis history.

“His place is undecided,” said Darren Cahill, a former player and an analyst for ESPN. “So much of the story is yet to be written. Much of it depends on how his body holds up. That said, he better make room in his trophy case.”

Minutes before the match started, in the ESPN booth high above Centre Court, the commentators Dick Enberg and Patrick McEnroe said they believed the conditions favored Nadal against the big-serving, risk-taking Berdych, the challenger from the Czech Republic.

Not only had it rarely rained this tournament, drying out the grass and allowing for higher bounces, but wind shot through the All England Lawn Tennis Club earlier Sunday morning. That, too, worked better for Nadal, whose furious, spin-cycle groundstrokes leave a higher margin for error.

Over the past two weeks, Nadal showcased his increased versatility. Once content with a strategy of attrition, to stand far behind the baseline and grind down opponents with groundstrokes, he now often moved forward and attacked.

Against the sentimental favorite Andy Murray in the semifinals, Nadal approached the net 26 times and won 23 of those points. He also ran around his backhand, delivering toxic doses of topspin from the forehand side.

Early Sunday, Berdych went after Nadal’s backhand instead. But McEnroe said that Nadal had improved that shot, too, in recent months. He stood close to the baseline, cutting off the court, forcing Berdych to take chances, to play perfect.

Nadal broke Berdych at 4-3 and seized the first set with sharp serves and brutal backhands. That was important because Nadal now holds a 100-1 career record when winning the first set at a Grand Slam.

“Tactically, Nadal played a perfect set,” McEnroe said.

Berdych’s best opportunity came in the first game of the second set, when Nadal had six unforced errors, double his amount in the entire first set, and delivered uncharacteristic double faults. But Nadal held, and Berdych never again seriously threatened.

“He was really strong today,” Berdych said. “He’s showing in the last few months that he’s really the champion.”

Still, Berdych became the first Czech to advance to a Wimbledon final since Lendl in 1987. Along the way, he sent Federer on an early July vacation with a seismic four-set upset. Berdych followed that by dropping Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

But Nadal proved over the past two weeks that, at least in this tournament, he played at a higher level than both Federer and Djokovic, who will be ranked third and second in the world when the rankings come out this week.

On the final point, Nadal hit another cross-court forehand, another long, looping stroke that Berdych could not handle. As he traditionally does here, Nadal fell backward onto the grass in celebration. He followed that with the nifty somersault, a new touch.

Nadal said afterward that he would withdraw from the Davis Cup to get treatment on his right knee back in Spain. Earlier in the tournament, he said tendinitis in the knee had bothered him, but on Sunday he said it did not hurt in any of his last four matches. He is unlikely to play until the Rogers Cup in Toronto in early August.

Nadal repeatedly talked during the tournament about how difficult last year was for him, with the knee injuries and the fall from the No. 1 ranking and the Wimbledon he missed. But since mid-April, he holds a 31-1 record, has regained the top ranking and claimed another Wimbledon trophy.

Everywhere Nadal went afterward, he carried that trophy, his new best friend. For as good as Nadal is on clay — and he is perhaps the best clay-court player in tennis history — he said that to win at Wimbledon, on grass, had always been his dream.