Over the last three years, world’s No.1 Roger Federer has rarely stepped into a tennis court against an opponent who can time after time throw of his balance. The year 2005 gave everybody a glance of what could be when Federer had to come back from two sets down to beat Rafael Nadal in the Miami final. Then he lost on the French Open Semifinals. Now in 2006 Federer is 0-2 against the muscled Spanish teen, with losses in the Doha final on hard-court and in the Monte Carlo final on clay.



In Monte Carlo, Federer's discomfort became even more apparent for everyone to notice when he threw a ball out of the stadium as a sign of irritation, you could also see the facial expression that he usually reserves for his opponents who have realized they've run out of options.

Federer has a much bigger rankings lead over Nadal and the rest of the upper echelon of ATP players, you can almost say that he can sit out the rest of the season and still finish the year with the desirable ranking in pocket. Federer has thus far in 2006 earned approximately twice the rankings points as his nearest competitor.

Nadal has not only won four of his five career meetings with Federer, but is on the verge of setting all-time streak records that have been the lone dominion of the Swiss over the last couple years. A win in Rome this week for Nadal would tie him with Guillermo Vilas at 53 consecutive match wins on clay, the all-time mark.