If Rafael Nadal is the king of clay, Roger Federer is very much the master on the grass. Federer has won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and four Masters Cup titles against Nadal’s five Grand Slams, but Nadal holds an edge when it comes to their head-to-head record.

In their six meetings at Grand Slam finals, Rafa has excelled in four while FedEx has won only two. Nadal has 11 ATP Masters Series titles to his name, three less than Federer, but he has a 5-2 head-to-head record in these finals as well.

The rivalry between the two has built up over the years, with Nadal being the dominant force at the French Open and Federer making Wimbledon his fortress. Nadal broke ground as he conquered Wimbledon in a five-set thriller this year. He won the first two sets but Federer made a remarkable comeback, winning the next two. Federer eventually lost 9-7 in the final set. Many in the media called it the greatest Wimbledon final ever.

The battles between the two have been absorbing but the gap between them and the rest has widened. This year many experts had touted all the other matches of Wimbledon as just the prelude to the final between Nadal and Federer, and so it turned out. Newspaper headlines before the final proclaimed, “the real battle starts now”.

Although ardent tennis fans showed interest in other matches, there was very little to attract the armchair fan compared to the previous years. In countries like India, where tennis isn’t as big as other sports, most people watched only the final and few saw matches involving Indian players.

The duo’s increasing dominance shows in the stats as well. Either Federer or Nadal has won 11 of the last 12 Grand Slam men’s singles titles. Of these 12, they have competed against each other in six. In the latest ATP rankings Federer is at No.1. Novak Djokovic is in third position, more than 1,000 ranking points behind second-placed Nadal. The players below them are more than 2,000 points behind Djokovic. While Federer is sitting pretty at No.1 for a world record 232 weeks, Nadal has held on to the second spot for last 156 weeks.

Federer has 12 Grand Slam titles to his name and Nadal has five, while Djokovic has just one. He has made it to 14 finals in his singles career as against Nadal’s 37 and Federer’s 76.

Nadal turned 22 last month and Federer is only 26, so they have age on their side. They look fit and in form so no lapses are expected on their part. The effort will have to come from the rest of players and the sooner the better. Tennis badly needs others to catch up with them or else the spectator interest for other matches will die down completely.