So after four hours, 23 minutes of tennis, Rafa Nadal wins his sixth grand slam title.Predictably, many are already writing obituaries for Federer, and perhaps rightly so, after Federer appeared a broken man in his post match speech.
The emergence of Nadal has proven to be a frustrating experience for Federer. For someone so schooled in the history of the game, surely Federer knows that his legacy is wilting in the presence of his spanish nemesis. Where he was once being heralded as the greatest player ever, Nadal has quickly taken over that title, with wins on the grass of Wimbeldon along with his dominance over the clay courts of Roland Garros.
So what now for Federer? Sports fans and writers are a fickle lot, and many will forget that Federer has won 14th slams and had 237 weeks at number one, something Nadal would do well to match before others may proclaim him the better player. Also, many forget that just last night, Federer won the fourth set before losing the decisive fifth, pushed Nadal all the way in the first four sets, and had 19 break points. That said, his inability to put Nadal away, converting just six break points along with a litany of unforced errors, indicates a worrying mental obstacle for Federer. As one fan so accurately concluded, Nadal is the demon inside Federer's head.
Sadly, even if Federer goes on to win 14, 15 slams, it will be on a limp, rather than with a strut befitting such a great accomplishment. Ironically, Federer's greatest chance of a comeback comes immediately after this most devastating of blows. Roland Garros is the next stop for the pair, and winning in Paris, on Nadal's backyard, would exorcise the demons and provide Federer with a comeback which would surely revive his flagging legacy and renew hopes that he will be able to wrestle the number one ranking back from Nadal.
For inspiration, Federer needs only to look towards the man whose immortality he has been chasing: Pete Sampras. Sampras himself faced similar, seemingly dire conditions just before his final US Open win. He failed to win a single title for two years and was largely written off as a spent force, before making a fairytale comeback to win the 2002 US Open for his record setting 14th slam against Andre Agassi.
If Federer succeeds in emulating this feat at France, it will surely be his greatest accomplishment, providing yet another remarkable chapter in what is becoming a tennis rivalry for the ages.
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