Nadal Goes Into Borg Mode to Hand Federer His Worst Humiliation

Unless his body lets him down, and it has taken a fearful pounding over the past three and half years, there seems no reason why Spain's Rafael Nadal should not become the greatest clay-court player of all time. Some, and that may include Roger Federer, would be inclined to believe he is already precisely that.

Yesterday afternoon Nadal did not so much defeat the Swiss world No1 as demolish him. He won 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 to win his fourth consecutive French Open, equalling the modern record of Sweden's Bjorn Borg who was watching from the VIP box. It was Federer's worst-ever defeat in his 173 grand-slam matches in terms of games won, and he apologized to the crowd afterwards. Nadal's reaction to this crushing victory, though, was understandably muted: "Given my relationship with Roger I did not want to celebrate too much."

Borg won the title here six times, and Wimbledon on five occasions. Nadal may never get near to matching such double surface prowess, although he seems more likely to win the title at the All England than Federer at Roland Garros - at least as long as Nadal is in contention. This was Federer's fourth consecutive defeat here at the swirling hands of the 22-year-old Mallorcan, three of them in the final, and the most damaging psychologically.

It was the most one-sided French Open final since 1977 when Guillermo Vilas defeated Brian Gottfried 6-0, 6-3, 6-0, and at 1hr 48min the shortest since Borg beat Vitas Gerulaitis in 1980, which was just two minutes quicker.

Quite simply and starkly Federer was hammered, and how it may affect his chances on the grass where he has been the champion for the last five years can only be guessed at. He has beaten Nadal in the last two Wimbledon finals, but last year's classic five-setter was uncomfortably close for Federer.

This was a masterclass. Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and long-time coach, had said that he believed the opening two sets of his nephew's semi-final defeat of Serbia's Novak Djokovic, the world No3, were the best tennis he had ever seen him play on clay.

There were those, including Borg, who were prepared to speculate that Federer might win, and thereby become only the sixth player in the game's history to win all four slam titles, the last being Andre Agassi here in 1999. Nobody had imagined this sort of drubbing, even taking into account Federer's often indifferent form this year.

Federer had suggested he was fitter than he had ever been, and that he believed "very strongly that this is my year". It was not a self-appraisal with which many agreed. All year the Swiss has rarely looked his former immaculate self, and he was beaten in the semi-finals of the Australian Open by Djokovic having previously reached 10 consecutive major finals, winning eight of them for a total of 12 titles, two short of Pete Sampras' record.

Against the Serb it was his forehand that haemorrhaged points, and the same was true against Nadal. Rarely can he have clipped the net cord so often on that stroke, an indication that he was striving to hit the ball too hard in his anxiety. Such is the pressure he is put under by the Spaniard, who has never lost a best-of-five-setter on clay in a total of 41 matches, 28 of them here at Roland Garros. "When he is on the attack he is lethal and he made some incredible defensive shots," said the Swiss. "I had a small chance in the second set, but he has played a terrific tournament."

It certainly has been terrific. His dominance, in not dropping a set, has made this fourth French Open triumph almost seem routine. It took Federer, who described the defeat as "a rough loss", to remind everybody of the pressure that Nadal was under: "To come up with a performance like this shows what a great champion he is."

It was the first time Federer had lost a set 6-0 at a grand slam tournament since his very first match here, against Australia's Pat Rafter in 1999. Andy Murray has pointed out how difficult Nadal is to play on clay, because he is capable of sliding into the ball on both his left and right feet. Nadal is right-handed, but was persuaded to play tennis left-handed.

"He plays like two forehands from the baseline because he has an open stance on both sides," said Federer. "So he's got a huge advantage, and he's so tough mentally too."

The first set was over in 32 minutes, with Federer's serve broken three times, including in the opening game. The 15,000 crowd tried everything to lift him. "Roger, Roger" rang around the Philippe Chatrier court when, at 2-0 down in the second set, the world No1 finally cracked the world No2's serve. It was never sustainable. Of his 11 service games, Federer faced break points in 10, and in total lost his serve eight times.

"I don't think I served badly, but he has made huge progress returning it, and I realized there was nothing I could do," Federer said. "He no longer plays short balls as he did in the past, and you can no longer attack him on his forehand. He was just much stronger than me today. But the clay season is over, so let's see what happens."

History of batterings

Roger Federer makes an unlikely entry into the all-time list of heaviest defeats in a major final

US Open 1974

J Conners bt K Rosewall 6-1, 6-0, 6-1

Wimbledon 1936

F Perry bt G von Cramm 6-1, 6-1, 6-0

Wimbledon 1881

W Renshaw bt J Hartley 6-0, 6-1, 6-1

French Open 1977

G Vilas bt B Gottfried 6-0, 6-3, 6-0

French Open 2008

R Nadal bt R Federer 6-1, 6-3, 6-0

Wimbledon 1984

J McEnroe bt J Connors 6-1, 6-1, 6-2

Wimbledon 1923

B Johnston bt F Hunter 6-0, 6-3, 6-1

The great rivalry so far

Nadal has won 11 of 17 matches against Federer (including yesterday's final)

Miami, round of 32

March 2004 Hardcourt

Nadal wins 6-3, 6-3

Miami, final

March 2005 Hardcourt

Federer 2-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-1

French Open, semi-final

June 2005 Clay

Nadal 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3

Dubai, final

March 2006 Hardcourt

Nadal 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

Monte Carlo, final

May 2006 Clay

Nadal 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6

Rome, final

May 2006 Clay

Nadal wins 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6

French Open, final

June 2006 Clay

Nadal 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6

Wimbledon, final

July 2006 Grass

Federer 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3

Masters Cup, semi-final

Nov 2006 Hardcourt

Federer 6-4, 7-5

Monte Carlo, final

April 2007 Clay

Nadal 6-4, 6-4

Hamburg, final

May 2007 Clay

Federer 2-6, 6-2, 6-0

French Open, final

June 2007 Clay

Nadal 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Wimbledon, final

July 2007 Grass

Federer 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2

Masters Cup, semi-final

Nov 2007 Hardcourt

Federer wins 6-4, 6-1

Monte Carlo, final

April 2008 Clay

Nadal wins 7-5, 7-5

Hamburg, final

May 2008 Clay

Nadal wins 7-5, 6-7, 6-3