Federer Nadal semi final could dictate who is the greatest

Respect: Rafa or Roger?

So nowadays Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are contesting semi finals, rather than finals, but this could perhaps be more significant than any of the previous encounters when it comes to where each will be placed in the pantheon of the greats.

With Novak Djokovic out following his surprise defeat to Stanislas Wawrinka, the winner of tomorrow's clash will be the clear favourite to take this year's Australian Open title on Sunday.

Should Federer claim his first Grand Slam in almost two years, his longest spell without one, he would gain his 18th career Slam, a seemingly unassailable lead over Nadal, who has 13, especially given the Spaniard's injury record.

However, should Rafa prevail the pendulum would swing in his direction, being just three behind his great rival and almost five years younger than the Swiss.

Both have won all four slams at one point in their career and though Rafa has the distinct advantage when it comes to their head to head record, 22-10, Federer will often have an edge in any argument over a pint given his overall number of Grand Slam titles won.

Perhaps this is a little premature as no one can tell quite what the future will hold in this unpredictable sport (who would have anticipated Djokovic breaking the aforementioned's duopoly) but this match could just give us a definitive answer to who is the sport's greatest ever player.

"The best day of my life" Djokovic proclaims upon winning Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon for the first time in a four set thriller against Rafael Nadal.

After a few wobbles the Serbian closed the match out 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 to be the first man to beat Nadal at SW19 since 2007.

He didn't have it all is own way, though, in a match that had more swings than the local park. But he never expected it to be against one of the best players of all time. Few can doubt, however, that his victory was well deserved and Nadal acknowledged as much afterwards.

All the talk beforehand was whether Djokovic was a rightful world number one, particularly if, as was likely, he would lose to Nadal, whom the Serb was usurping at the top of the rankings.
The first nine games went with serve as both players demonstrated their awesome power and the set was heading inexorably towards a tie-break. But then Djokovic broke in the blink of an eye.

What followed was some of the best tennis of the Serbian's career as his forehand winners left the Spaniard dumfounded. He broke his opponent twice en route to winning the second set 6-1 and there seemed no way back for the outgoing world number one. Djokovic won an impressive eight games out of nine and there was something irrepressible about the way he was playing.

On top of that, Nadal didn't seem to be at his best. At one stage he had won just 20% of his second serves and was committing the kind of unforced errors we normally associate with his opponents.

However, Nadal didn't get to where he is today by giving in easily and he fought back in only the way he can. He was ably assisted by mistakes from Djokovic as the number two seed seemed to tense up with the finishing line in sight.

Nadal started to give out the kind of treatment he was receiving in the previous set as he crushed his opponent 6-1 to take the match into a fourth set. Djokovic chose the worst time to make his first double fault of the match as he faced break point and seemed to be relieved the when the set came to an end.

The crowd were now really getting behind the man from Mallorca as they were desperate for a deciding set. Nadal could see history beckoning as no man in the modern era has recovered from two sets down in a Wimbledon final.

Djokovic, though, had other ideas and broke his opponent early in the fourth set. He seemed set for his third grand slam victory.

However, once again he let it slip as Nadal responded immediately with a break of his own, albeit ably assisted by a net cord when a backhand return had the temerity to hit the net before trickling over to Djokovic's disbelief. The fortune and form were now firmly in the double Wimbledon champion's court.

Just as a fifth set seemed likely, back came Djokovic. Nadal opened with a double fault in the eighth game and was down 0-40 before he knew it. Nadal won the next point but not even he could get out of jail this time.

Serving for the match the audience began to wonder if Djokovic could hold his serve, as well as his nerve, one more time and he didn't disappoint.

Upon winning, he said: "This is the best day of my life and the best game I have ever played on grass." And now he's the new world number one. "This has certainly been a good day at the office."

The game may not have had the consistent quality of the 2007 and 2008 finals between Roger Federer and Nadal but there is a feeling that we are beginning to see the start of a new rivalry at the top of men's tennis. At the moment the advantage is clearly with Djokovic in that tug-of war.