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Quadzilla99
07-09-2006, 11:57 PM
Updated: July 9, 2006, 11:39 PM ET
Federer's reign remains at WimbledonBy Greg Garber
ESPN.com


WIMBLEDON, England -- On the day before the men's final Roger Federer, with all due disrespect, was asked if he was scared of the swashbuckling Rafael Nadal.

Does he get in your face? This mighty muscles bit, does he intimidate you?

"No," Federer, a seven-time Grand Slam champion and the world's No. 1-ranked player, said. "I see 10 percent of what he does. I turn around quickly.


Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Roger Federer (right) snapped a five-match losing streak against Rafael Nadal to win his fourth straight Wimbledon title.
"It's going to be an interesting match on grass tomorrow."

A valid point, because despite Nadal's six wins in their seven matches, none of them had come on grass, which is Federer's favorite surface. In retrospect, interesting -- in Federer's dry, read-between-the-lines manner -- sounded like a prediction of sorts. An understated observation that he backed up with a vengeance on Sunday.

Federer defeated Nadal 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3 on Centre Court.

It was Federer's fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, something only Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras have also achieved in the last 93 years. There were times when the muscular Spaniard, ranked No. 2 in the world, looked like the 20-year-old he is.

Federer has now won two of their eight matches, and so the tennis universe, as we know it, remains intact. The laws of physics still apply. Frankly, there is a certain comfort in that, for the rivalry lives.

This match, considering the potential consequences, was far more important to Federer. The 24-year-old Swiss was asked about the blossoming rivalry during the trophy presentation.

"Now I like it again," he said, laughing, drawing hearty applause from the crowd.

Federer failed in his bid to become the first Wimbledon champion in 30 years to win seven matches without losing a set. He fell one short of Borg's 21-for-21 performance. For Nadal, it was the first loss after winning 14 straight finals.

"I'm very well aware of how important this match was for me," Federer acknowledged. "If I lose, obviously it's a hard blow for me. He wins French, Wimbledon back to back. I was twice in the finals.

"It's important for me to win a final, and beat him for a change."

Federer, killing them softly, whistled through his first six matches here with unprecedented dispatch, winning each of the 18 sets he played. And yet, as Nadal charged and hacked his way through the lower half of the draw, a general feeling developed that a victory was, at least, possible.

The bare numbers insisted on it: Nadal had won those six of seven previous matches in a span of 28 months. Moreover, since 2004 Federer had gone 26-1 in finals against anyone not named Nadal. Against Nadal the record was an ominous 0-4 -- including the recent championship at Roland Garros.

The caveat? The two had never before played on grass, a surface that Federer had not lost on in 47 consecutive matches. Make that 48. It didn't matter that by the end of a difficult fortnight the lush lawn of the All England Club, particularly along the Centre Court baseline, had been reduced to dirt -- Nadal's surface of choice.

A loss by Federer on grass -- the surface most conducive to his game and the least to Nadal's -- would have changed everything. Less than two years after Federer won three of four Grand Slam singles titles, the supposition that he was the greatest player ever would have turned out to be suspiciously premature.

The match was played in blustery conditions, the kind in which Federer has struggled in the past.

Much had been made of Nadal's streak of holding serve in 80 consecutive games coming in. It took Federer all of one game to end it. Nadal had saved 13 break points, including one against Federer, and it looked like he had saved another when the Swiss hit a running forehand down the line that got behind Nadal for a winner.

Most Consecutive Wimbledon titles, Open Era
Name Wins Years
Bjorn Borg 5 1976-1980
Roger Federer 4 2003-2006
Pete Sampras 4 1997-2000

Nadal then lost his second service game and, in 15 minutes, he had dropped as many games on his serve as he had in the previous five matches. In 17 minutes, it was 5-0. In 24 minutes, it was 6-0 and Nadal was 0-for-3 on his serve.

Early on, Nadal was tentative and hesitant to leave the baseline. He has succeeded in six previous matches by moving forward and here he was, going backward.

And the, Nadal changed the momentum -- on a dime. He broke Federer to open the second set with a backhand laser pass down the line. The advantage held up until Nadal found himself serving for the second set at 5-4. After they split the first two points, Nadal missed a running forehand, threw in a double-fault, then missed a forehand long. Those three unforced errors let Federer back into the set at 5-all and eventually it came down to a tiebreaker.

Nadal raced out to a 3-1 lead, but lost five straight points, two of them back-to-back on his serve when his forehand went haywire. On his third set point, Federer watched Nadal's weak backhand return fall into the net and he exulted.

The third set produced some scintillating tennis, but this time Nadal prevailed in the tiebreaker, winning the last five points.

The fourth set turned with Nadal serving at 1-2, 30-40. He tried to surprise Federer with a serve-and-volley, but Federer's return had some serious pace and Nadal's wild volley sailed long. Federer got the break and, later, serving for the match at 5-1 saw his serve broken. He made good on his second pass and, after 2 hours and 50 minutes -- instructively, the longest of his 28 straight victories here -- he was the champion again.


Phil Cole/Getty Images
Federer has never been taken to a fifth set in his eight Grand Slam victories.
Federer's athletic ability is extraordinary, but sometimes its subtleties can escape the naked eye. At one point late in the third set, Nadal hit a heavy forehand that was actually beyond the baseline. Federer never flinched, reached down and stroked what amounted to an exquisite half-volley, at full speed, that kept the rally going.

Late on Saturday night, Robert and Lynette Federer were dining in Wimbledon Village at the Indian restaurant Rajdoot. Two stories above the raucous pub crowds, they shared a bottle of Shiraz.

Animated tennis conversation dominated the small room. But when one diner loudly observed that, following Sunday's Wimbledon final Federer would be 1-7 against Rafael Nadal, Mr. Federer coughed loudly and glared. After an awkward silence, the ambient buzz continued.

After paying the check, Mr. Federer stopped by the table and asked genially, "You don't think Roger will win? You might be surprised."

At age of 24, Federer has now won eight Grand Slam singles titles, already placing him one ahead of John McEnroe, Rene Lacoste and Mats Wilander, and tied with, among others, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

Only the great Borg achieved his eighth Grand Slam quicker in his career.

Nadal proved as the tournament progressed that he has the goods to win at Wimbledon. He was 5-4 on grass before this tournament and this was only his 16th match ever on the slippery surface.

Can Federer be the greatest of all-time, Nadal was asked? He paused, because that possibility clearly exists for him, too.

"He can," Nadal said. "He has eight. Sampras [has] 14. We're going to see."

Federer has won 56 matches this year, while losing four -- all to Nadal. Hard as it is to believe, if Nadal didn't exist he might well be undefeated and gunning for The Grand Slam. A perfect monarchy. Nadal's presence ensures there will be a two-party democracy.

"I think when we play so often in finals, I think it adds something to the game," Federer said. "He's up and coming. I used to be the youngster. Now I'm, you know, sort of getting older. But, you know, he's so young that it's actually [a] great rivalry I think we're having at the moment.

"They absolutely can help tennis."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wimbledon06/news/story?id=2514182

Horry For 3!
07-09-2006, 11:57 PM
Like I said in the Nadal > Federer thread.


There was no way that Nadal was beating Federer today.

Quadzilla99
07-10-2006, 12:26 AM
Nadal really slept through that first set and that serve he lost in the 2nd set when he was up 5-4 killed him. Federer was steady all game. He's pretty low key and unflappable, he's got some Tim Duncan in him.