They’ll do it again. No.1 vs No.2 for all the marbles at a third consecutive Wimbledon at the All England Club on Centre Court tomorrow.

Some more history will be on the line when five-time defending champion Roger Federer tries to become the first tennis player to win six in a row for the first time in over a century (1886) with his biggest nemesis standing in the path in four-time French Open conquerer Rafael Nadal, who blitzed the Swiss world No.1 holding him to four games leading many to make the younger Spaniard the favorite to win a fifth major on grass following up an impressive run at Queen’s Club.

The 22 year-old Nadal will once again be attempting to become the first male tennis player to win both the French and Wimbledon in the same year since tennis legend Bjorn Borg accomplished the feat some 28 years ago. In last year’s rematch, he came awfully close to dethroning Federer losing in an ultra competitive five sets with Borg returning to the place he once owned for the first time since he played to present the trophy to the Swiss Maestro.

Having battled mono early in the season when eventual Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic straight setted him in the semis, Federer suffered some tough defeats including to Andy Roddick in a close three sets down in Miami. But he even lost to Mardy Fish making people wonder if his brilliant level was dropping off leaving the door open for either Nadal or Djokovic to overtake him for the ATP’s top spot.
Though he made the final at Roland Garros, once again he was thwarted in an effort to become the sixth male tennis player to complete a career grand slam by a dominant Nadal, who made it look so easy that many pondered if a changing of the guard was on the horizon. Given how well Federer’s responded in not dropping a set while losing serve only twice and not since the third round, we won’t know until Sunday if the speedy and powerful Spaniard is ready to overtake him for the world’s top spot.

While Federer was taking care of business making Mario Ancic look normal and even frustrating Marat Safin to the point where the unpredictable 28 year-old Russian broke his racket and made some of the funniest challenges (they weren’t even close), Nadal was working his way through the field dropping just a set back in Round 2 to big server Ernest Gulbis while making quick work of tough foes such as Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Scot Andy Murray en route to a third straight final.

He sounds ready for the challenge but so does Federer. Whoever prevails, they’ll earn it. Get ready for some history.

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