TENNIS/Wimbledon Countdown: Knocking the tennis tradition of talking oneself up, Rafael Nadal has a lot to learn. Underplaying his worth in depicting himself as an honest worker before going on to win a Grand Slam event at the first time of asking suggests that the 19-year-old, despite his endearing normality, has a rebellious streak.

A career curve that was moving steadily upwards exploded over two weeks in Paris and, with a game most likened to aggravated assault, Nadal, modest and deferential, especially to the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Roger Federer, is the most exciting talent to arrive for some years. Federer is the most efficient, Marat Safin the most erratic, Tim Henman the most leaned upon but for colour and electricity it is Nadal.

In the way that he plays himself down but never out, you get the feeling that the youngster has learned something from his three times World Cup playing uncle, the former Barcelona defender, Miguel Angel.

When the current French Open champion talks about Wimbledon and says, "I have no chance. I can't challenge for the title but I want to improve, no", it is difficult to continue believing in his sincerity about not winning the biggest tennis event in the world.

The question people will ask of Nadal over the two weeks of Wimbledon is whether the teenager can continue to generate energy to burn as he did for the entire clay court season. With his impossible returns, permanently moving legs and his sportsmanship, he has claimed a high ground as well as a broad popularity. During his successful semi-final match at Roland Garros against Federer, the world number one questioned a line call. As the umpire made a move to climb from his high chair and check the ball mark on court, Nadal gave a dismissive wave, unquestioningly handing the point to his opponent. Afterwards he showed himself to be as much a fan of the Swiss player as an unlikely winner.

"It's a dream for me. I beat the best player in the world. At the end I apologised to him because I know how much he wanted to win this title. For me Federer is the by far the best player on the tour," said Nadal.

In a sense it has all happened a little bit faster than he had imagined.

The former junior champion had beaten Federer earlier in the year in Miami, Florida and that was a significant marker for the global branding of the left-hander. Beating the world number one at 18, winning a Slam, the most difficult, at 19 and speaking English (albeit with fractured verbs) at press conferences indicates Nadal has no intention of becoming one of the many anonymous Latin players on the tour, many of whom have been to the finals and won Grand Slam events. Carlos Moya, Sergei Bruguera, Juan Carlos Ferrero are all French Open Champions.

Others such at Guillermo Coria, Maranio Puerta or Alex Corretja have never impacted north of Paris. All are great players but none fizz like Nadal because committed clay court players in the past have been a byword for boring. Many deleted Wimbledon from their schedule until the grass and balls were slowed down and the journey from Paris to London became less of an Everest.

After long sweat filled matches played out in injurious humidity and hammering sunshine on the dirt courts of Paris, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Rome and innumerable South American furnaces, Nadal arrives with boyish optimism, yelping and punching the air as a credible challenger for tennis supremacy.

Unusually, the impact he has made at the top of the game has come with unassuming ease. Cast against the thousands of column inches now deployed to describe Scotland's Andrew Murray as the next British hope, Nadal has burst through the banquet door and assumed a seat at the top table.

"He is so difficult to play against," says Federer. "Wimbledon? He is going in there with very little preparation. But I also believe he's going to be good on grass. If you make it into the world's top five you can play on any surface."

Bombing out of the Halle tournament in Germany, which Federer won for the third successive year, has not seriously dented Nadal's hopes of proving his ability on grass. His form was certain to have taken a dip after the energy spent on winning Paris. He was already being, prematurely, compared to Bjorn Borg. But opponents in search of relief should be cautious.

He cannot serve as powerfully as the Queens champion, Andy Roddick, nor volley and change gear as smoothly as Federer. He may not yet have the exceptional returning ability of Andre Agassi at his height or the touch at the net of Henman. But as the only left-handed player in the top 20, his sliced serve will cause trouble to all on the grass. He is also an aggressive can-do athlete, who is unafraid to dominate rallies and play the game he feels suits him. He will take risks and adjust to salvage a match, a difficult thing to do. Nadal will chase down impossible balls in the way Lleyton Hewitt has done for some years but he will return better and in the way Hewitt's snarling attitude can win or lose a crowd, Nadal's effervescence and enthusiasm will easily win them over. Wimbledon crowds are sops for forces of nature.

"I know it is not my best surface. It's a little bit fast," he says. "I need to improve some things in my game to play better on grass and the hard courts and I want to improve the serve and the volley."

He suffered an ankle stress fracture last year, which kept him away from both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Told to rest his body Nadal instead moved a table to the middle of the court and returned balls to his coach and uncle Toni so as not to lose touch with the hitting action and feel of the racquet.

It is here amongst his coach, friends and family that Nadal is most comfortable. His family ties are strong. Living with three generations of his family in the town of Manacor on the island of Majorca, he is essentially a Spanish hometown boy.

"When I was a kid, I played on the beach, went swimming, played on my parents' boat. I played tennis and football with my friends. I got one thousand friends," he says.

That number could rise over the next two weeks. If Nadal can survive the treacherous first week, there will be a number of players lurking. There is Federer, of course, Hewitt too but the Australian is still on the road to a full recovery after falling down the stairs and injuring ribs. Safin, lugubrious, classy and brilliant all in the one game can beat and lose to anyone and last year's finalist Roddick, who has yet to prove that his game is more than one dimensional at Wimbledon, could win.

Nadal may not triumph at Wimbledon if the Swiss world number one plays the way he can. If Federer does that, he won't drop a set on the way to a third successive championship. But watching Nadal, even in defeat, is in itself a spectacle.

Born: June 3rd, 1986, Manacor, Mallorca

Height: 6ft 1in

Weight: 188lb

Grand Slam Titles: French Open 2005

Career Prize Money: $3, 161,032 2005

Earnings: $2,445,204

World Ranking: 5

Wimbledon Seeding: 4

Career Titles: 7

2005 Titles: 6

Grand Slam record: Won 15, Lost 5