Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, with a staggering 25 Grand Slam titles between them, meet in their fourth French Open final in six years on Sunday with both men anticipating another epic Roland Garros clash
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, with a staggering 25 Grand Slam titles between them, meet in their fourth French Open final in six years on Sunday with both men anticipating another epic Roland Garros clash.
Five-time champion Nadal needs one more title to equal the Paris record set by Bjorn Borg.
It would also allow him to hang on to his world number one ranking which had been threatened by Novak Djokovic until Federer ended the Serb's 43-match winning run in their breathtaking semi-final.
Victory for Federer would take his personal Grand Slam collection to 17.
The great Swiss rammed his critics' words firmly down their throats with his 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) defeat of Djokovic in the semi-final. He however, knows the hard work is still to come, trying to halt top seed Nadal whose 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 semi-final win over Andy Murray took his record in Paris to 44 victories against one defeat since his 2005 debut.
The Spaniard won their three previous Paris final meetings in 2006, 2007 and 2008 with the last encounter proving a bruising experience for Federer who claimed just four games.
"We played a great match in Madrid this year (where Federer won the first set of their semi-final before losing in three sets), so obviously I've got my hands full with him now," said Federer ahead of the pair's 25th career meeting.
"Whoever thinks it's going to be a walk in the park is wrong. Everybody knows how many times he's gotten me here in Paris. But I have another opportunity to beat Rafa and get the French Open title.
"I've got to play some extraordinarily special tennis. I'm aware of that."
Nadal meanwhile said: "This is something that people dream of, reaching the final. I've had to overcome very difficult situations in the past one and a half weeks. But I had to forget the fears I had and now I have gained more confidence."
Nadal said he wasn't concerned about equalling Borg's record of six Roland Garros titles.
"Seriously, I don't think about that. I have a lot of respect for the great Bjorn, but I am focussing on trying to play well. For me, it's much more important to win Roland Garros than equal Bjorn."
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