Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer | featured news

After dominating tennis so completely in his mid-20s, Roger Federer has only one trajectory remaining in a brilliant career: downward, as certain as gravity. And even that has been graceful. It’s difficult to pinpoint a skill of Federer’s that has diminished these last two years, in which he slid from No. 1 in the world to No. 3. His movement, at 30, remains fleet and fluid. His serve is shrewdly placed with plenty of pace. And he brandishes a full array of strokes and the smarts to deploy each as circumstances dictate.

Rafael Nadal beats Lukas Lacko to reach the Australian Open fourth round, while Roger Federer sees off Ivo Karlovic.

On a day judged as much by elapsed time as games won, Rafael Nadal came out looking the freshest. Nadal and Andy Murray won Friday to set up a semifinal matchup at the U.S. Open. They'll be back on the court Saturday - their third straight day of tennis at a tournament that has been forced into some drastic scheduling changes after losing two days to the rain.

Both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are out of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati after quarter-final defeats.

Rafael Nadal overcomes Roger Federer in four bruising sets to equal Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open crowns and retain his number one world ranking.

After relentlessly running each other all over the court for more than three hours in a match that flip-flopped throughout, Rafael Nadal got the breaks he needed Saturday to beat Andy Murray 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (6). The top-ranked Spaniard, however, had to overcome a mid-match slump to reach his first final at the ATP World Tour Finals, where he will face 16-time major champion Roger Federer.

The top-ranked Spaniard advances to his first ATP World Tour Finals championship match with a three-set victory. He'll play the winner of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

So much for Rafa vs. Roger in the U.S. Open final.

The Open House twosome take a stab at defining great tennis, which, for New York, demands a Federer-Nadal final.

With six-time champion Roger Federer out, Rafael Nadal becomes the favorite for the Wimbledon men's title.