Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal Rematch Set At Wimbledon, "Wimbledon Picks"

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, London, England, Jun. 23-July 6, Grand Slam

The Championsips, Wimbledon 2008
June 23-July 6
London, England

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal Rematch Set At Wimbledon
"Wimbledon Picks" - Day 13
By Tripp Mateschitz, Lawn Tennis Correspondent, Posted: Sunday, July 6, 2008 7:01am CST USA

Photo by Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON, England (lawntennismag.com)—Defending Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of the Switzerland has won 65 grasscourt matches in a row. Rafael Nadal of Spain destroyed Federer however in the French Open final 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 and looks to do more of the same today in the Wimbledon final.

For Federer a win would mean a sixth title in a row, breaking his tie with Bjorn Borg of Sweden for the most consecutive Wimbledon wins in the Open era.

Defending champion Roger Federer of the Switzerland has won 65 grasscourt matches in a row.

Roger Federer (SUI)[1] v. Rafael Nadal (ESP)[2]
Nadal leads Federer head to head 11-6 with nine wins on clay and two on hardcourts. Nadal has never beaten Federer on a grasscourt but come close a year ago in the Wimbledon final losing 7-6(9-7), 4-6, 7-6(7-3), 2-6, 6-2.

I think the match will be won from the baseline by a large part even though the surface is a grasscourt. Nadal has the groundstroke advantage having won all 28 matches he's played at the French Open. Also being a left-hander, Nadal will use his extreme topsin forehand crosscourt to attack the Federer backhand with looping balls deep in the corner.

Federer will not be able to get into the net as much as he would like and will face more pressure than he normally would feel on grasscourt.

If Federer can attack from the net and mix up the game with slice and volley, he will have a great chance to win, otherwise Nadal will win a baseline battle as presently his groundstrokes are far superior.

Winner: Nadal