Rafael Nadal became the second man to win four consecutive French Open titles. Bjorn Borg did it in 1978-81.
PARIS — So what was Roger Federer to do with the elusive French Open trophy once again in sight and Rafael Nadal still looming so very large on the other side of the net?
Stay back and rally? Definitely not. Nadal was too quick and too steady, with unforced errors surfacing as rarely as sunshine in Paris during this tournament.
Why not attack the net? More sensible indeed, yet Nadal’s dipping passing shots were so precise, so forceful that they kept forcing the swooping Federer to dig balls out of the dirt or twist his neck — elegantly of course — to watch a winner land on the sideline or even the baseline.
No, the answer for all the millions of Federer fans worldwide who would like nothing better than for their man to win the only Grand Slam title he lacks is that there was no solution available to Federer in his current state of form and Nadal’s current state of grace.
In a final that only rarely resembled anything other than one-way traffic, Nadal was at his suffocating finest as he won his fourth straight French Open by beating up on his erratic, increasingly dispirited Swiss opponent. The final score — 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 — was the most lopsided result in their rivalry that now spans 17 matches, and it was the finishing touch on one of the most dominant performances in Grand Slam history.
Nadal, a Spaniard whose record at Roland Garros is now an astonishing 28-0, did not come close to dropping a set in this tournament. And his fourth straight victory in Paris matched the run of the Swedish champion Bjorn Borg, who was in the front row of the president’s box for the entirety of this one-hour and 48-minute rout and who later awarded Nadal the Coupe des Mousquetaires, which is beginning to seem like a formality at Roland Garros.
“I would have hoped, of course, to get more today than four games,” Federer said in French in a quiet, slightly sheepish voice as he addressed the crowd. “But Rafa is really very, very strong this year. He dominated this tournament like perhaps never before. Like Bjorn. He deserves this title.”
It was Federer’s most lopsided defeat in any significant match, and it was the latest disappointment in a season in which his pre-eminence in men’s tennis has been consistently usurped.
Losing to Nadal on clay in Paris was no surprise. Federer lost to him in the semifinals in 2005 and the final in 2006 and 2007. But Federer managed to win at least one set in those matches before Nadal wore him down. This time, Nadal was on a higher plane, controlling rallies with his wicked spin and swashbuckling athleticism and ripping big holes in Federer’s plan of attack.
He broke the top-seeded Federer’s serve in the opening game, then held his own serve with difficulty in the next. But after Federer held to 2-1, Nadal took command, reeling off 22 of the next 25 points. Federer then briefly stopped his momentum, breaking the Spaniard in the third game of the second set to get back on serve. But with Federer serving at 3-4, he was broken again when Nadal nailed a backhand passing shot down the line for a winner.
Federer would not win another game, and as his errors and Nadal’s winners piled up down the stretch, there were boos and whistles from the crowd.
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