Rafa pulls off a Role-Reversal at Wimbledon

Greatest Wimbledon final ever? Greatest players ever to play in a final? Greatest tennis tussle? Yes, arguably Yes and Yes . I could go on with adjectives that describe the 2008 Men's final at Wimbledon but if I were to use one word it was - sublime. Hardly have I seen two men throw winners at each other with the frequency of an electromagnetic wave for as long as they played (4 hr 48 mins to be precise). If the tennis elevated you to stratospheric heights, the glowing praise that the players showered on each other after the game only brought you back to moisture laden earth. The pair played out a semi-classic last year, but this one clearly made it to the top of the list.

There were three reasons Nadal won. Statistically, break-point conversion was where the game was decided - Nadal converted 4 out of his 13, while Federer managed only 1 out of 13. It merely highlights the fact that the winner handled the pressure much better and served exceptionally well on big points.

Secondly, Nadal's ability, as Safin had described earlier, "to run like a rabbit and hit winners from everywhere" ensured that Federer not only had to play extra shots to stay in the points, but also lost those points from seemingly winning positions. The number of times Nadal creamed winners from way out of the sidelines and from unbalanced positions was a sight to behold.

Thirdly, the main difference between last year and this was that Nadal truly believed he could defeat Federer at Wimbledon, a belief that was at an embryonic stage a year ago.

If Federer hadn't fought back to level the game from being 2 sets down and take it as far it ended up going, he wouldn't have been Federer. But for all his skill and effort he could only end up second best today. Nadal managed to pull off the near impossible, winning the French and Wimbledon in the same year (after Borg in 1980). To think that the only players in the modern era to win both the titles in their careers have been Laver, Borg and Agassi, puts this win into better historic perspective. Going by this year's form Nadal is clearly the better player and he has proved that his game is surface independent; the fact that he did so at 23 only opens up the world for him.

Federer has had a tough year, and this loss only puts the years he dominated into better perspective. Nadal has definitely caught up and Djokovic is not far behind, despite his slip on grass. All this means is that Men's tennis is set to enter the best 3-4 years of triangular rivalry seen since the days of Borg, McEnroe and Connors or Lendl, Becker and Edberg .

I hope the rivalry lives up to the expectations, but for these two players, exceeding expectations is like getting up from bed - just business-as-usual.