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Nadal beats Federer to win the French Open

Nadal beats Federer to win the French Open
Rafael Nadal (1)        7    7    5    6   
Roger Federer (3)      5    6    7    1

Nadal whips a forehand down the line. 15-0. Another forehand rifle. 30-0. Federer nets a return. 40-0. Three championship points. Nadal looks like he's welling up and misses with his first serve. He regathers to get the second serve in, a quick rally ensues, and Federer goes long. Nadal falls down, his face buried in the red clay, but he picks himself up pretty quickly and scampers up to the net to embrace his opponent.

Tale of the tape (well we do it for boxers, right?)
                                Nadal               Federer
Age:                           25                     29
Height:                       6ft 1in               6ft 1in
Weight:                      13st 6lb            13st 4lb
World ranking:           1                       3
Career titles:              45                     67
Grand slam titles:      9                       16
Career prize money: $40,052,402      $62,497,310
Wins in past meetings: 16                  8

Nadal has a few quick words for the courtside reporter: He speaks in Spanish, but apparently he says what a hard and special tournament it is to win, and what's happened to him at Roland Garros is better than anything, it's a dream. Or something along those lines.

Trophy time. Federer trudges up first and is presented with runners-up trophy by Jim Courier, before Nadal comes forward to get his hands on the Coupe des Mousquetaires for a record-equalling sixth time. Cue the Spanish national anthem.

Federer then takes the microphone and - according to the Eurosport translator - congratulates Rafa, says she's sad to lose to him, but is proud to play him again in a grand slam final.

Rafa kindly decides to speak in English and apologises to Federer for beating him (for the sixth time in eight grand slam finals no less), but then decides to switch to Spanish. Bah. But all he seems to do is thank the tournament organisers, sponsors and his team.

So there you go. It was another magnificent clay-court display from Nadal, every time Federer got near him, he managed to find a way to raise his game. It's just a shame Federer couldn't push him closer in that fourth set. And by matching Bjorn Borg's tally of six Roland Garros crowns, Nadal's also ensured he'll stay as the world No1 ahead of Novak Djokovic - well, until Wimbledon at least. Thanks for all your emails today, sorry I couldn't use them all. Bye.

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