Tennis: Federer Gazes at History Over Clay Summit

The trap is there for all to see, the two players in particular. There has been so much talk about today's semi-final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and its importance to both of them, that the assumption that the winner will go on and take the French Open title is regarded as a fait accompli .

"It's a tricky and possibly dangerous situation for both of us," said Federer, although for a man who has won his last 19 finals, and all four of his grand slam finals, he would not appear to have much to worry about. What will be playing at the back of Federer's mind, however, is the Australian Open semi-final he lost to Russia's Marat Safin earlier this year, the first really big match he has lost in recent times. It was Safin's birthday that day, and it is Nadal's, his 19th, today.

For the Spanish teenager everything is new. He had not played at Roland Garros before this year and, when he reached the quarter-finals, it was his best grand slam performance, beating the fourth round he reached in Melbourne this year where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt, the beaten finalist. In all Nadal has played in only six major championships, with 14 victories, including those here. Federer is playing in his 24th.

If it was not that the Swiss world No1 had previously failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, then Federer would be the overwhelming favourite, for he has clearly established himself as the best player in the world on hard courts and grass. But such has been Nadal's progress this year, with Masters Series titles in Monte Carlo and Rome and a run of 22 matches on clay without defeat coming into Roland Garros, that an extremely tight semi-final is expected.

Moreover in the Nasdaq-100 final in Key Biscayne this year, played on a hard court, Nadal led Federer by two sets and 4-1 in the third, and was later two points away from victory in the tie-break. The youngster clearly relishes the big occasion and believes he can win this time, whereas Federer thinks he learned enough about Nadal's game in Miami to beat him again.

"At the beginning of that match I really didn't play very well at all and he took advantage of that. So I had to fight my way back and at the end I felt the fitter player. He looked extremely tired in the fifth and that kind of surprised me," said Federer. "It is important to me that I have not expended too much energy and I'm through to my first French Open semi-final. That's the big thrill."

Much as everybody has warmed to Nadal's dynamic style, it would be a greater thrill for many tennis fans to see Federer go on to take the title and thereby become only the sixth player to win all four grand slam titles. The two-day break will have been tricky for both and they shared a somewhat awkward photo-shoot yesterday. They cannot wait to get started on the tennis and neither can anybody else.

Men's semi-finals

Today, 12noon BST

N Davydenko (Rus, 12) v M Puerta (Arg, unseeded)

R Federer (Swi, 1) v R Nadal (Sp, 4)