Nadal beats Federer for 3rd French Open title

History was made at Roland Garros today although not the kind we Federer fans were hoping for.

Nadal won a rare third straight French Open title as he ended Federer's bid for a career Grand Slam with a four-set victory in the latest chapter of the rivalry between the top two tennis players. In a way, Nadal was right in saying that Federer had much more at stake with that match: Federer had a career Grand Slam to aim for while he merely wanted to win his third Grand Slam trophy.

If there was one positive thing (from Federer's point of view at least) about the match, it is that Federer prevented Nadal from matching what he accomplished in this year's Australian Open: winning a Grand Slam tournament without dropping the set. He managed to win the second set 6-4 after breaking Nadal's serve in the seventh game by successfully coming to the net and shortening the points to his favor. He had not used that tactic in the first set which he lost 6-2 after losing his serve twice and failing to take advantage of numerous opportunities he himself had to break Nadal's serve. However, he didn't follow up on that great second set in the subsequent sets in which Nadal clearly dominated 6-3 6-4.

Poor Federer. He clearly looked disappointed after Nadal converted on his second match point and during the trophy ceremony. I'd say Nadal didn't really play his best but Federer just seemed to lack the fire and consistent brilliance that he usually displays in other tournaments. Even Federer graciously acknowledged--as he always does when he loses a match--that his opponent was the better player of the match:

He's the toughest guy on clay. So I knew that I would have to take my chances. There is one way, you know, to create chances, but then you have to convert them, too. But I couldn't get them done in the first set, especially, and then that maybe in the long run hurt me.

But, you know, I came back, and played okay in the second set, but had a bad start again in the third set, which kind of killed it for me. But, after that, I think, you know, he served better, made less unforced errors, and I couldn't really play the way I wanted from the baseline.

So it was tough, but I think he played an excellent match and deserved to win in the end.

Oh well. At least Federer also remains motivated:

Yeah, obviously, if I would have won today -- again, same thing happened last year--I would have had not many other goals to chase in my career. Like this, it always stays open. And eventually, if I get it, the sweeter it's going to taste.

As for the rest of the year, Federer can always look forward to the coming tournaments in Halle and Wimbledon--where the grass is definitely greener for him--and to the hard court season with the US Open afterwards.