Federer stepped up his game to reach 3-3 in set two. But Nadal would only play even better, passing Federer at ease and connecting with
almost all attempted groundstrokes to take the last nine games of the match. Federer had not lost a set 6-0 since 1999.
“He no longer plays short balls, the way he did in the past. You can no longer attack him on his forehand, the way I could in the past,”
said Federer. “He is getting much more aggressive, and it’s becoming much more difficult. He dominated from the first point until the end.”
Nadal, who moved to 28-0 at the French Open, also raised his head to head lead versus Federer to 11-6.
Overall Nadal's claycourt records are staggering. He is 115-2 on clay since 2005 and is 22-1 in claycourt finals and has never lost a
match at the French Open, one of the toughest tournaments in tennis.
Nadal's low error count also proved a key in his upset win over Federer as he hit only 7 unforced errors to 35 for Federer. Nadal
also is the first man since Borg (1980) to win the French Open without dropping a set.
“I am humble,” Nadal said, “but the numbers are the numbers. I didn’t expect a match like this. I played an almost perfect match.
I didn’t believe this match.”
“Roger, I'm sorry,” Nadal said after the 1 hour, 48 minute final, the most one-sided in French Open history since 1977, at the
trophy presentation.
