One-Sided Rivalry

In a hard-fought win, Nadal holds an 8-2
career record against Federer in Grand
 Slam matches.

It wasn't easy, it never is.

Rafael Nadal continued his dominance, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4, over the suddeningly aging Roger Federer on Thursday night.

While many in the United States were unable to watch the match live, after losing the first set in a tiebreaker, Nadal reeled of three straight set wins to earn a berth to play for his second Australian Open title in as many attempts.

Nadal won his first and only Australian Open back in 2009, handing Federer his first ever loss in the final.

It was only the second time these two rivals have met in a Grand Slam semifinal, usually reserving their matches with a title on the line. They have now faced one another 10 times in a Grand Slam with Nadal holding an eight-two advantage, including five consecutive Grand Slam match wins. Federer's last major win against Nadal came in 2007.

The southpaw, who is currently ranked the No. 2 player in the world, has won 10 career Grand Slam titles, six of them have come at the expense of Federer.

Nadal's only two Grand Slam losses against Federer have come in the same tournament, same venue, Wimbledon. Federer has won six Wimbledon titles, giving him the second most all-time. He also co-holds the record for the most consecutive title victories (5) on the legendary grass court with tennis great Bjorn Borg.

However, Nadal captured his only Wimbledon title against Federer, giving him his only final loss there. It was in 2008. And after experiencing numerous rain delays, the two gladiators put together not only one of the greatest matches in the tournament's storied history, but the longest, playing for four hours, 48 minutes.

Prior to that, in 2006, Nadal was responsible for snapping Federer's Open Era record of 56 consecutive victories on hard courts.

Just like Federer, Nadal also dominated a surface, winning 81 straight matches on clay before the Switzerland native ended that in final of Hamburg Masters in '07. And even though it wasn't a Grand Slam final, it still might be one of Federer's greatest accomplishments.

Nadal has won five French Open finals in his young career while Federer's only French Open title didn't come against the Spaniard. Nadal was hampered by injury in the 2009 tournament at Roland Garros and lost to Robin Soderling in four sets.

They have never met in the U.S. Open.

As for the present, Thursday night's loss to Nadal now gives Federer 18 career losses against him, by far the most to any one opponent in his career.

Nadal awaits the winner of the tournament's second semifinal between (1) Novak Djokovic and (4) Andy Murray. Fresh off his fantastic 2011 season, Djokovic is the clear cut favorite to meet Nadal in the final, but don't count out Murray just yet.

Murray has been been to the semifinals in the last five Grand Slams. The 24-year-old has never more a Grand Slam title, but right now, Nadal might be his biggest fan.

Every player has their kryptonite, Nadal's is Djokovic.

Oh Roger!

Federer has mastered the grass court in
England, but has yet to even reach the
 semi-finals the last two years.

For the second straight year Roger Federer will not be playing for his seventh career Wimbledon title. Federer was ousted from the tournament Wednesday in five sets, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, by French men Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

It wasn't so much shocking that Federer won't be in the finals once again, like he is seemingly every year at the All England Club, but more how he lost.

The world's former No. 1 had won the first two sets and seemed to coasting to yet another semi-finals appearance. Tsonga never lost faith and fought all the way back, accomplishing something no other player has against Federer in a Grand Slam tournament.

Federer had been 178-0 when holding a commanding two-sets to none lead in a Grand Slam heading into Wednesdays' quarter-final match. That all came to a screaming halt when Tsonga did the impossible defeating a very passive Federer. It was not the first time the twelfth-seeded Tsonga had beaten Federer in dramatic fashion.

In August of 2009, Tsonga rallied from 5-1 down in a third set against Federer and eventually came back to win the set and match. Tsonga is also no stranger being down two-sets to none and make a great comeback. Wednesday marked the second time he had accomplished that feat in his young career.

For Federer, he has now not won a Grand Slam title in his last six chances matching the longest drought of his career before he won the first of his record 16 Grand Slam singles titles in 2003 on this very stage. It is the second straight year the six-time Wimbledon champion has lost in the quarter-finals.

It was the second time Tsonga had defeated
Federer in his career.

With Federer knocked out three of the top four seeds have now reached the semi-finals and are ready to begin battle. Rafael Nadal currently has 19-match winning streak at Wimbledon with him winning two of the last three. The defending champion was unable to defend his title in '09 due to suffering a knee injury causing him to pull out of competition.

Federer doesn't seem far removed from his reign as the world's No. 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks, but it looks to be a changing of the guard. Move over Switzerland, the Spaniard has taken control.