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WIMBLEDON, England -- And so we get what we wanted, get what sports deserve. The best against the best, Celtics against Lakers, Tiger against Phil, Red Sox against Yankees.
Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal.
The two top men's tennis players on the globe. The two great rivals. The two most dominant figures in the game.
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| Hey, Safin, any idea how to beat Federer or Nadal? 'Both are playing great.' (AP) |
Does Federer, all Swiss efficiency, beat Nadal a third straight year, win a record sixth straight Wimbledon and take his 66th consecutive match on grass?
Does Nadal, all Spanish intensity, beat Federer the way he did a month ago in the final of the French Open on clay and prove he has replaced Roger as king of every hill?
They moved through the semifinals on a warm Friday in the southwestern suburbs of London, Federer needing only 1 hour, 42 minutes to dispatch Marat Safin, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Centre Court. Nadal followed with a comparable 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Rainer Schuettler.
From the opening day of what is called the Wimbledon Fortnight, an old English phrase for a period of two weeks, it was going to be the 26-year-old Federer and 22-year-old Nadal. They fulfilled their obligations, each winning six matches, Federer without loss of a set.
Do they meet expectations in producing a match that will end up as a classic? Or does it become something as forgettable -- at least it was to Roger -- as Nadal's destruction at the French?
We've been told this is the year of change, the year Nadal, improved on grass, solves the riddle of Federer, who outside of the clay in Paris has won Slam after Slam, albeit not in 2008.
Federer has been told that, too. Prideful, as any winner, he refuses to believe.
"Look," he said Friday, "I don't think it matters if I'm the favorite or not. I'm on an incredible winning streak on grass. First, somebody has to break that before we start talking differently."
The unwritten rule is you stay with a champion until he's beaten.
