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A fascinating rivalry

With yet another masterfully constructed clay court symphony that brought him his third straight French Open crown, Rafael Nadal has taken a decisive step away from the giant shadow of an archrival who is on an epic journey towards surpassing greatness. After becoming the first man since Bjorn Borg (six French titles, four of them in a row between 1978 and 1981) to claim a Roland Garros hat-trick, the 21-year old Spaniard has earned the right to be celebrated for his own heroic attributes on the toughest of Grand Slam surfaces rather than for denying a great opponent the one missing link to unqualified greatness. Roger Federer was a solitary match victory away from becoming the first man since Rod Laver (in 1969) to hold the four Grand Slam titles at the same time. The genial, muscular left-hander has turned stopping history in its tracks into a habit, with three straight victories over the Swiss maestro in the only Grand Slam he has not won. With a game founded on physicality but not savage power, the man from Mallorca appears to have turned the silver Coupe des Mousquetaires into his own personal property after making his debut on the famous terre battue three years ago. A clever constructor of points who employs attack as the best form of defence, the intensely competitive Nadal is one of the finest athletes the game has seen.

The secret behind Nadal's convincing success against Federer — winner of 10 Grand Slam titles in 12 final appearances — on clay is the Spaniard's uncanny ability to negate potential winners and keep the ball in play. His acute sense of momentum alerts him to the slightest shift in the dynamics of a point. Comparisons are being made with Borg who twice won in Paris before taking the first of his record five Wimbledon titles in 1976. The great Swede won back-to-back French and Wimbledon crowns three years in a row, from 1978 to 1980. The king of clay has had reasonable success on hard courts and his improved volleying at last year's championship at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where he lost to Federer in the final, offered evidence of his potential on the quickest of all surfaces. After denying the current world champion a rare slice of history in Paris, can Nadal, with a Borg-like personality rooted in common sense and understatement, prevent him from matching Borg's Wimbledon record?

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