Rafael Nadal- Getty Images

Rafa Rules!

June 9, 2008

For the fourth year in a row, the French Open ended with Rafael Nadal hoisting the winner’s trophy, running up his career record at the tournament to an astonishing 28-0.

This year, as in the past two, the No. 2 seed defeated world No. 1 and arch rival Roger Federer (Switzerland) in the final. He becomes just the second player after Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, who was victorious from 1978-81, to win four consecutive Roland Garros titles and joins Ilie Nastase (1973) and Bjorn Borg (1978, 1980) as just the third player in the Open Era to win the French Open without dropping a set.

The scary thing for the rest of the men on the ATP Tour is that Nadal seems to be getting better on clay. His performance on Sunday was one of his best yet as he absolutely crushed Federer in less than two hours to win 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, the second most lopsided final in Roland Garros history. The story of the contest, other than Nadal’s near perfect play, was the complete collapse of one of the greatest champions the sport has ever seen. Federer hit 49 unforced errors and won only four games, the lowest total he’s collected in 173 Grand Slam matches.

But it was not just the Swiss superstar who faced Nadal’s wrath on the clay. The 22-year-old Spaniard dominated in every match he played, dropping only 41 games en route to the championship. If he hadn’t done so already, Nadal’s spectacular performance solidified himself as one of the greatest clay court players ever.

For Federer, the loss means he’ll have to wait another year to try and capture the one Grand Slam title that is missing from his resume. He remains at 12 major tournaments won, only two back of the record 14 American Pete Sampras amassed over his career.

The final capped off what was an exciting two weeks of tennis in Paris and fans could not have asked for much more throughout the event. Things got off to a wet start when several matches had to be postponed due to rain, but eventually the skies cleared and the players got on court. Not only did the game’s biggest stars remain in the draw until the very end, but a group of up-and-comers joined them in the quarter-finals. Along with Federer, Nadal, world No. 3 Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and world No. 5 David Ferrer (Spain), players such as Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, Latvian Ernests Gulbis and Frenchman Gael Monfils survived until the round of eight, adding some fresh faces to the mix. As a result of their play, each of them moved up several spots in the South African Airways ATP Rankings and proved they will be forces to be reckoned with in the coming months.