ESPN Tennis

Updated: June 10, 2006, 2:44 PM ET

Career-defining final for Nadal

For the first time in 22 years, the top two seeds will meet in the French Open final. As Greg Garber writes, both players are in search of their own piece of history.

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By Greg Garber
ESPN.com
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PARIS -- The Minotaur, a dark force of chaos in Greek mythology, was half-man and half-bull. He was banished by King Minos to a dungeon on the island of Crete that was an inescapable labyrinth. Seven Athenian men were sacrificed each year to the man-eating beast.

In tennis, Rafael Nadal is that heavily muscled half-man, snarling half-beast.

He hails from the island of Majorca off the coast of Spain -- not far from Crete. His game on clay is an unsolvable riddle, an inescapable labyrinth, and at last year's French Open seven young men were led to slaughter here as he claimed his first title at Roland Garros.

The difference? Nadal, merely 20, is no myth. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you (as a public service), the Majorcan Minotaur.

Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesRafael Nadal's 60th straight clay-court win would also result in his second French Open title.

On Friday, Ivan Ljubicic became the record 59th straight victim to Nadal on clay. The Croatian is the world's No. 4-ranked player, and he played as well as could be expected. Yet Nadal was extremely bullish on Ljubicic, winning 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7).

No. 1 seed Roger Federer will try to avoid becoming Nadal's 60th consecutive casualty in Sunday's French Open final.

Federer was the first to reach the keenly anticipated championship bout by prevailing over No. 3 seed David Nalbandian, who retired with an abdominal pull with Federer leading in the third set 3-6, 6-4, 5-2.

It's the scrambling, grunting, dirt-slinging, biceps-ablaze Minotaur versus the stylish Swiss player, a coolly efficient assassin in his own right.

"I think it would be fantastic if he wins," Federer said before Nadal advanced, "because to play in our first Grand Slam final against each other, I think that's quite special, you know, No. 1 and No. 2 in the world."

"I know if I arrive in the final, I have chances of playing him," Nadal said. "There are 126 other players who want to play the final, and now we are there. You [the media] speak a lot about this match before the tournament. Now, we win. Is nice.

"Now we play the final. It's a nice match, No. 1 and No. 2. I know I'm going to try my best."

Federer and Nadal have met six times, with Nadal winning five. Three of those victories came this year -- and they represent the only times Federer has lost in 2006. Their matches in the finals in Monte Carlo and Rome were examples of sometimes-sublime tennis.

"I think Rome and Monte Carlo showed that we were sort of the best players on clay this season," Federer said. "It's not like you're expecting some guys ranked much lower to make [the] finals. We can cope with the pressure."

For Federer, the pressure is self-imposed. He has already won the other three Grand Slams -- the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open -- but the French Open will always remain the most difficult because the clay negates his power game. If Federer wins Sunday's final, he not only will hold all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously but also will be halfway to a calendar Grand Slam, not accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969.

Those close to Federer say he wants this one very badly. The fact that he has now won 27 consecutive Grand Slam matches, second on the all-time list to Laver's 29, suggests it is possible.

Nadal is playing for history, too. He has never lost a French Open match; the win over Ljubicic raised his record to a pure 13-0. At the age of 20, he would be the youngest man to repeat at Roland Garros since Bjorn Borg in 1974-75.

A single point in the fifth game of Friday's first set illustrates what Federer is up against. Nadal is not only swift and strong but also creative.

Ljubicic is a powerful player with more pace on the ball than Nadal. He sent a typically heavy ball deep cross-court, and Nadal had to sprint just to get close to it. Instead of throwing up a lob or forcing Ljubicic to make a difficult backhand volley like most mortal players, Nadal went for more. With a savage little chop, he stabbed the ball and sent it back cross-court, just barely over the net, for a clean winner.

Nadal had taken a very tenuous defensive position and turned it, instantly, into a winning offensive shot. While most players need two or three shots to work themselves into a position of strength, Nadal can achieve it with a single stroke. This, in turn, puts pressure on the opponent. Ljubicic, on numerous occasions, went for too much.

"Many things are discouraging, but not him running around, getting every ball," Ljubicic said after the match. "That is what you expect."

Ljubicic pressed Nadal into a third-set tiebreaker, but Nadal -- who is not known for a dominating serve -- hammered three aces.

For Ljubicic, Roland Garros represented his best Grand Slam result ever. He will continue to be a threat through the grass and hard-court seasons that suit his forceful game.

For Nadal, this French Open final will be career-defining.

Nadal won his first title at Roland Garros at the age of 19, but Mats Wilander took the first of his three championships in 1982 at the age of 17. Wilander says that, despite Nadal's age, he should be feeling a sense of urgency.

"He's mature enough to win at a young age, and this is going to make him a smarter player and it's going to make him want to improve even more," Wilander said. "Although I do believe that he almost really needs to win this year's French Open to really feel that he has a chance to win other majors.

"If he doesn't win this year's French Open, then suddenly he turns into that, 'We always love Rafael, he's the greatest guy in the world, but we don't like [this or that] in his [hard-court or grass] game.' We like them to be able to play on every surface, and if he doesn't win it, I think it's going to be a lot of pressure."

Students of tennis history are aware that it has been 22 years since No. 1 played No. 2 in a French Open final. On that occasion, No. 2 Ivan Lendl defeated No. 1 John McEnroe. The Minotaur, as students of mythology know, was eventually defeated. Greek hero Theseus navigated the labyrinth and slayed the half-man, half-beast.

In 48 hours we will know if Roger Federer is that hero.

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com