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Federer, Nadal Renew Their Rivalry

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By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

New York Times News Service

Published: July 6, 2008

WIMBLEDON, England - WIMBLEDON, England - Once again, it will be Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal for the Wimbledon title. It will be left-hander against right-hander; finesse against force; cardigan against clam-diggers.

Federer vs. Nadal is the sports rivalry of the moment: better even than Tiger Woods against his knee.

Although Federer has remained No. 1 in the world since February 2004 and Nadal No. 2 since July 2005, Nadal is the one with the advantage in their head-to-head meetings, winning 11 of their 17 matches, including the past three.

But all three of those were on clay, the surface that Nadal has dominated the past four years like no man since Bjorn Borg. Nadal allowed Federer just four games in three sets as he won his latest title at the French Open, disappointing a crowd that had been buzzing with excitement in the early stages of the match at the potential classic to come.

"The head-to-head matchup has always been a problem for Roger," said Darren Cahill, Andre Agassi's former coach. "He's been working hard to solve the problem. I think on clay you could say that he was experimenting with his game, trying out different avenues to try and be effective against Rafa. When it didn't work in the final, you could see that his game fell away pretty quickly.

"But on grass I would doubt that would happen, because he's a different player. But that said, he is 6-11 against this guy. That has to have some effect."

Still, Nadal has never beaten Federer on grass, losing the past two Wimbledon finals. And no man has beaten Federer on grass or at Wimbledon since 2002. He has won five consecutive Wimbledon titles, one short of the record.

"Everybody can talk a lot, because everybody is free to say what they think," Nadal said. "But finally, the whole important thing is what's happening today, no?"

The matchup will be their sixth Grand Slam final against each other, and their third consecutive at Wimbledon. The only other men to do that in this century at the All England Club were Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, who played three times from 1988-90.

Like that rivalry, Nadal's and Federer's rivalry lacks a hard edge. The two men, despite the language barrier created by Nadal's still-evolving English, have become very friendly and speak regularly in the locker room. They have even banded together to try to address some of their gripes with the administration of the tour, both being elected to the ATP Player Council before Wimbledon.

Both men are serving extremely well, with Federer putting 66 percent of his first serves in play at Wimbledon and Nadal 72 percent. More importantly, they are each winning more than 80 percent of the points when that first serve is in play and 64 percent each when they put second serves in play.

Though Nadal struggled at times with his footing in his semifinal victory over Rainer Schuettler of Germany, he was still superior enough with his serve and whipping forehand to win in straight sets.

A straight-set final sounds very unlikely, however.

"I don't think the surface will really allow it," Cahill said. "The serve is such a big weapon on grass, and both use it really effectively."

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