Rafael Nadal showed who is boss by beating the world No.1 Roger Federer in straight sets at the French Open. The final score was an unbelievable 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 after a disappointing final, once more underlining that Nadal is pretty much invincible currently on clay.

It seemed as though Federer never woke up from his sleep yesterday morning. Nadal started with a break in the first game and continued all the way till the end. Nadal was the clear favourite coming into the match because of his dominance on clay and any other result would have been a surprise. However, nobody expected Federer to simply roll over and die.

Nadal was relentless throughout and kept throwing in his winners all across the court. Federer only had himself to blame with a very high number of unforced errors, which was similar to the last final against Nadal.

‘Nadal was the clear favourite coming into the match because of his dominance on clay and any other result would have been a surprise. However, nobody expected Federer to simply roll over and die'


Somehow there is a mental barrier that Federer is unable to overcome against Nadal. It is not the clay courts, as it was with another great champion, Pete Sampras. Federer has been able to win matches and reach finals on clay unlike Pistol Pete, who always disappointed on the red stuff to say the least. Nadal has been the nemesis whenever Federer has come close to winning a big tournament on clay.

Nadal also matched the great Bjorn Borg's record of four consecutive French Open titles and, at 22 years of age, can go on to win at least three more titles at Roland Garros. Nobody has even got close to Nadal in Paris – world No.3 Novak Djokovic was beaten as badly as Federer, if not worse, in the semi-finals.

The basic strategy that Federer had was to get to the net, but Nadal had an answer almost every time the Swiss master tried it. The Spaniard made his opponent seem too slow on his approach to the net and hit winners that breezed past Federer.

Federer showed some signs of life in the second set and tried some different things, yet Nadal won that one 6-3. That is where, I think, Federer lost all hope of winning while Nadal kept rifling his shots all over. Nadal was hitting his angles and Federer was slow on most occasions in covering them.

Nadal's strategy was to keep his opponent as far away from the net as possible and he was able to execute his plan to perfection, playing deep most of the time and keeping Federer way behind the baseline for pretty much the whole match.

It was a complete annihilation of the world No.1 and he really needs to prepare a new strategy for the biggest threat to his position. The points total read 92-52 in clear favour of Nadal with the match lasting just 1 hour 48 minutes. It almost seemed like Nadal was in a hurry to go shopping around Paris and catch a night flight home.

Nadal didn't lose a single set in the whole of the tournament and, although he is still No.2 in the world - which he has been for the last three years behind Federer - he is almost there. Winning at Wimbledon could give him top spot and he is on track for that. He is a great example for his fitness and improvement. Even Federer could learn a thing or two from him.

Nadal was ruthless throughout and was cursing himself on each point that he lost, and for me that deserves the title of "The Perfectionist".

Original and more at UTP's Sports Blog

Gerry Weber Open, The Artois Championship