Nadal in need of big step forward

Virtually all the attention before and after Sunday's Wimbledon final was on Roger Federer equalling Bjorn Borg's modern record of five successive Wimbledon titles, but the Swede himself, who was also six times the French Open champion, surely looked down from the front row of the royal box during the five-set final and felt a considerable part of himself siding with Spain's Rafael Nadal.

By the time Borg was Federer's current age of 25 he had all but left the world stage, his star burned out. He had been arguably the most focused men's champion of all time, his unbending concentration driving opponents to the point of distraction. The similarities between him and Nadal are obvious, and there are many who wonder how long the young Spaniard will be able to sustain his extreme focus, to say nothing of his phenomenal energy.

As John McEnroe said in Rome this year: "Doesn't this guy ever have a bad day or a headache once in a while? His intensity and quality level are quite amazing." But will it come at a price? In his early days Nadal suffered a considerable number of injuries. Now for the most part he has steered clear of serious trouble, although after winning the French Open title last year, and then playing in his first Wimbledon final, his game fell away on the US hard-court circuit, leading up to year's fourth and final major at Flushing Meadows.

Federer has entered his 180th week as the world No1, a position he has held since February 2004, just after he won his second grand slam event, the Australian Open. Since then he has captured a further nine, putting him level on the all-time list with Borg and Rod Laver. And since July 2005 one man, Nadal, has tracked him. The 21-year-old Spaniard is now in his 103rd consecutive week as the world No2, and it is remarkable to think that all his 13 matches against Federer, of which he has won eight, have been while the Swiss was in the top spot.

The difference this year is that Nadal has put himself into a position to overtake Federer by the end of the year. Indeed there were those prepared to argue that if he had beaten the Swiss in the Wimbledon final he would already have been, de facto, the world No1.

Nadal remains circumspect. "I am a better player than last year. Maybe right now you cannot compare us because Roger has 11 grand slam titles and I have three. But I am young and improving every season."

Nadal has already won top tournaments on hard courts but as yet has not broken through to challenge Federer at either the Australian or US Open. That may change in New York this year. The adjustments he has made for grass took him within a shot or two of victory over the world No1 in the fifth and final set, and such is his unquenchable desire that next month's US Open may see him achieve another major step forward.

"I have to improve. I can't stop," said Nadal. "But sometimes when you are improving it is not always easy to win. I'm trying to be the best player every year and now I have the chance to be the No1."

Already this year, having won the French Open and three of the five Masters Series, he has edged ahead of Federer in points won to date. Ideally the final battle will come down to the end-of-season Masters Series Cup in Shanghai in November.

Federer, despite winning the Australian Open and now Wimbledon, has not been quite the force of the past two years, and Nadal gets under his skin, as was obvious on Sunday. "I have the highest respect for him," said the Swiss, who has faced him in four of the past six grand slam finals, two at Roland Garros and two at Wimbledon.

Clearly Federer has a major advantage on hard courts, having won the Australian and US Opens three times. So Nadal's next big step forward is to challenge him in New York. It was a tournament Borg never came to terms with, even though he finished runner-up four times. If Nadal is to become the world No1 this year, or any other year, he must learn to love the madness that is the US Open.