Huge Surprise At Wimbledon: The 2008 men's final will feature Marat Safin against Rainer Schuettler!

Imagine the shocked faces if this headline were to have been true. With all due respect to the Russian and the German, the truth is the TV ratings would collapse if Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal hadn't made it to their third straight final. Luckily, all joking aside, the world's top two players did make it and we are assured of a memorable final.

It took only one hour and 40 minutes for the resurgent Safin's run to end and Federer's dream of a sixth straight Wimbledon title to take one step closer to reality. The world No.1 defeated the Russian 6-3 7-6 6-4, while the second semi-final was closer than many would have thought.

The unseeded and almost forgotten German, Schuettler, raised shock expectation levels a notch when he served for the second set against Nadal. But then his nerve deserted him. Nadal broke back and finished up a 6-1 7-6 6-4 winner. 

Every sport has a great rivalry, and right now in tennis this is it. It is the modern day Sampras v Agassi or McEnroe v Connors. However you want to compare it, it is fantastic for the game.

If Federer can hold Nadal off and take the title, it will go a long way to cementing his status alongside the greats of the game. If Nadal can pull this off on grass, there will be many who will argue that he is now the best. One thing is for sure; if both continue to play at such an amazingly high level then this match is going to be fun to watch!
 
Two years ago, Federer needed four sets to beat Nadal, last year Nadal pushed him to five sets. This year, both men are playing so well that this is going to be a tough match to call. Nadal stands 11-6 against Federer and has beaten him three times this year (all on clay though). On grass and hard courts Federer is 5-1 up against Nadal.

I've picked Nadal to beat Federer for the first time at Wimbledon before the tournament started and I still like his chances. The Spaniard has simply improved every aspect of his game. His serve is now more powerful and he can mix it even better, which is something he couldn't do last year.

Nadal has also learned to slice his backhand with great efficiency for the grass, which has proved a winner time and again throughout the tournament. He has shored up some areas of his game that players used to think they could attack, namely his serve and backhand. Both of these have now become weapons.

We all saw what Nadal did to Federer in the finals of Roland Garros, but something tells me this match is going to be much closer. It is no secret that Federer is more comfortable on grass than he is on clay, and he hasn’t really been tested thus far at Wimbledon. The same could be said for Nadal, as he has only dropped one set (in the second round to Ernests Gulbis).

Federer’s serve has been his most consistent weapon this year at Wimbledon. He has used it brilliantly and won many points from it. Neither player should be tired, so I don’t think energy will be an issue.

I don’t think this is going to be a quick match like the French Open final because I believe they are a bit more evenly matched. For either player to win, they will need to get a high percentage of first serves in and keep their errors down. When they do this they are at their best. Either way, it’s going to be close.