Nadal King of France

Roger Federer will have looked across at

Rafael Nadal on the French Open winner’s

podium yesterday and wondered if he will ever be

expelled from the club he least wants to belong to.

Membership comes through being

able to win any Grand Slam except

Roland Garros, and the world No 1

must contemplate whether he can

ever leave the company of such

modern greats as Pete Sampras,

Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.

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They are among those who

triumphed everywhere except here

and Federer’s problem is that the

man who beat him 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

yesterday could be around for a very

long time.

Certainly long enough to overhaul

Bjorn Borg’s record of six French

titles and probably long enough to

shut out the 26-year-old Swiss while

he is still in his prime.

As Federer tries to emulate Rod

Laver among others in winning all

four Majors, it will not help that he

sees across the net someone with a

left forearm which, like that of the

great Aussie, resembles a side of

beef.

Nadal has only just turned 21 and

unless his body crumples under the

physical stress of how he plays, he

should establish the kind of

dominance to outlast that which

Federer enjoys at Wimbledon.

The Spaniard did at least lose a set

yesterday but at times during this

fortnight it has looked like the Eiffel

Tower will topple over before he

suffers a first defeat in this corner of

the French capital.

Federer was determined to look on

the bright side and needed to be

creative, saying: "If I had won today

I wouldn’t have so many goals to

chase in my career. This stays open to me and eventually, if I win it, the

sweeter it is going to taste."

He admitted that it is always going

to be difficult against Nadal. "He is a

different type of player, he just

wears you out or wears you down.

With Rafa being a left-hander the

whole thing kind of gets screwed up.

You can’t say whether you played

good or bad because he’s so

awkward."

The bad news is that it is unlikely

to get any easier. Nadal said: "I feel

like I’m a better player than last

year, more complete. I’m very happy.

To win three Grand Slams is a

dream, especially as I was not playing

so well at the start of the year."

Nadal has shown that he can find a

way to win when he needs to,

because he was well short of

perfection yesterday — just like his

opponent.

This was not a final that delivered

on its promise, strewn with errors and

fashioned by the fact that Federer

could not convert one of the 10 breakpoints

he created in the first set.

There was anxiety in his game,

doubtless contributed to by the

occasion and the unique psychological

challenge Nadal presents.

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Playing this one opponent on this

one surface is the only time Federer

walks on to a tennis court knowing

he is really up against it.

It did not appear to have helped

that he beat Nadal in the slower

conditions of Hamburg three weeks

previously.

Nor was he buoyed by

the possibility that his rival might be

tired after playing through four

clay court tournaments in six weeks

before this fortnight began.

There also appeared a lack of a

clear purpose or strategy, with Federer

always looking like he fancied

creating more of a duel at the net

without quite having the resolve to

try to set the points up that way.

Now he is clutching at the annual

consolation of knowing the

tournament he loves most is just

around the corner.

It might have been different if

Federer had claimed one of those 10

break-points that got away.

The first

four opportunities came at 2-1 when,

with both players hammering at

each other’s backhand, he was

rallied out of it.

The best chances

came at 3-2, when he missed two

relatively straightforward forehands

— the shot proving infuriatingly

unreliable throughout.

Subsequent disappointment

contributed to him being broken

immediately but before the set was

lost, he threw in three more missed

break opportunities.

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Summoning more adventure,

Federer’s visits to the net increased

in the second and he finally managed

to convert his 12th break-point

with a forehand that hit the target.

He just held on to it to level.

Thereafter Nadal’s serve held out

impressively against the game’s best

returner and he drove through to

victory in two identikit closing sets.

Like so many others, Federer had

been clubbed into submission and

the eventual lack of drama was a

fitting end to a dreadfully flat

tournament all round.

Federer now heads to Halle in

northern Germany while Nadal will

today travel to London where he

might be spotted practising at

Queen’s Club this evening if last year

is anything to go by.

Should they meet again at

Wimbledon, retribution might yet be

swift but a 4-8 career record against

Nadal tells of how this rivalry is

weighing on the world’s top player.