A few times a year we're privileged to wake up relatively early on a Sunday morning and watch Federer versus Nadal in a Grand Slam final. I think most people would agree that Nadal and Federer are in a class of their own when it comes to mens' tennis. Their matches are absolute battles. The two rivals always seem to play back and forth matches with incredible shot making and sometimes even more incredible defense. Anyone who can't roll out of bed to watch these two compete against each other is missing out.
Federer holds some unbelievable tennis records. He's got records for consecutive semifinals made (23), top two for consecutive finals made (10,8, the next closest is 4), and most importantly Grand Slam titles (16). I suggest viewing a list of Federer's achievements here, his dominance and consistency are quite impressive. Despite Federer's dominance, Rafa Nadal has pretty much owned him over the past several years going 17-8 against Roger. Nowhere else has he had Federer's number quite like he does at the French Open.
Nadal is so smooth on clay and its awesome to watch. I was sitting on my couch watching the 2011 final and thinking to myself, "geez, Nadal gets to every ball." It's got to be gut wrenching for Federer to be so unsuccessful against one man. Few people recognize that during Nadal's run, Federer should be considered the second best on clay during the era. Him and Nadal have met four times in the French Open final and Federer has been unable to beat him. Fed has 16 Grand Slam titles but what if not for Rafa? Federer could be playing for his 20th this morning against undoubtedly someone he'd beat.
Flip to the other side - Nadal is in the process of winning his 10th Grand Slam title and he's got four or five good years left (barring any issues with his knees). Unless Djokovic or Murray can get their acts together late in Grand Slam tournaments, Nadal has a legit shot to surpass Federer's mark. Federer has to be aware of this and he knows every time he's got a shot at beating Rafa he needs to make it happen to keep Nadal far off from his titles record.
Alas, back to the match. After going down 2-5 in the first set, Nadal won seven straight games to take the set and gain an early break in the second, which he later won in a tiebreaker. Down two sets, things looked bleak for Federer but inspired play at the end of the third set cut Nadal's lead in half. However, Fed's first double fault of the match gave Nadal triple break point and a chance to grab a 3-1 strangle hold in the fourth set. Nadal indeed capitalized and the match was never in doubt from there as Nadal went on to win the set 6-1. He won his 10th Grand Slam title and pulls to within six of tying Federer for most all time. More importantly, sports fans got another opportunity to watch a great match between two great rivals.
