Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

I can go a year without watching tennis, then sit down for Wimbledon and enjoy every moment of it.

It’s a sport that lends itself to the casual fan. It’s a beautiful sport, often a mesmerising sport: anyone can appreciate Roger Federer’s pinpoint precision and poetic skill.

But there is no Federer here. And although that makes it less exciting in a way, I’m hoping it will still be exciting here, with these two players.

As I’m writing, the Wimbledon final is underway, and I’m hoping it’s going to be a thrilling game. It’s a little bit strange not to have Roger Federer in it: he limped out against Thomas Berdych earlier in the competition – and it will be interesting to see if it will be a passing of the torch moment, like when Federer trumped Sampras all those years ago.

There’s something thoroughly entertaining about Nadal. He plays with such intensity, such fire; a steely determination to never give up, never allow a single point to slip away. He literally plays every point as if he were against match point. And yet, he has such endurance that you have to think the longer the game goes, the more it favours him.

Berdych is a relative unknown. Although he if he wins, he will be the first person to ever win the title having gone through the top three players in the world to do so.

There are some famous faces in the crowd, too, and you can see why: it’s a fantastic event. The sun is shining, there are strawberries and cream and offer, and tennis is a game that you don’t have to follow to appreciate.