Tennis | Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal keep meeting in finals

WIMBLEDON, England — Fans are likely to talk about Sunday's Wimbledon men's final for years. Or at least until Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain top themselves.

Which, theoretically, could happen in about two months in the U.S. Open final.

Roger versus Rafa keeps getting better. Federer is 26, Nadal is 22, and they are seemingly forever locked into the No. 1 and 2 spots in the world rankings, meaning they will be on opposite halves of major-tournament draws for the foreseeable future.

Forget about Borg-McEnroe or McEnroe-Connors or Sampras-Agassi.

None of those duos, or any pair of men in the 40-year Open era, faced off in as many as six Grand Slam tournament finals, as Federer and Nadal already have done.

None of those duos ever produced a 4-hour, 48-minute Wimbledon final, as new champion Nadal and Federer did last weekend, a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 classic on the grass filled with perhaps as many thrills and chills, twists and turns as any match ever played.

"Probably later on in life, you know, I'll go, 'That was a great match,' " Federer said. "But right now, it's not much of a — how do you say? — a feel-good thing."

Federer was two points from becoming the first man since the 1880s to win six Wimbledon titles in a row.

Nadal succeeded in becoming the first man since Sweden's Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win titles at Wimbledon and at the clay-court French Open in the same year.

Notes

• Nadal, the defending champion, withdrew from this week's Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, because of pain above his right knee.

"My doctor said I need a few days off," Nadal said. "I will have a checkup and treatment and won't return to the court until I am 100 percent fit."

The top-ranked player in the field is No. 11 Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

• The Wimbledon men's final on NBC got a 4.6 overnight rating, the best for the event in eight years and 44 percent better than last year's Nadal-Federer final.

The overnight rating for Sunday's match was the best for a final not involving an American since a 5.0 rating in 1991, when Michael Stich beat Boris Becker in a matchup of Germans.

A rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions; overnight ratings measure the nation's 56 largest TV markets.

• The Wimbledon women's final, won in straight sets by Venus Williams over sister Serena Williams on Saturday, drew the highest overnight rating — a 3.4 — for a women's final in three years.

When Venus beat Lindsay Davenport for the 2005 title, the rating was 4.0.

Venus' victory over Marion Bartoli in last year's final generated a 2.8 rating, 21 percent lower than this year's final.