Thumbnail glances at the men's singles finalists at Wimbledon, with seedings:
No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland vs. No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain:
Federer:
Right-handed, 26, born in Basel, Switzerland, and lives in Oberwil, Switzerland. ... Playing at Wimbledon for the 10th time. ... Has won the past five championships at the All England Club. ... Trying to become the first man since Willie Renshaw in 1881-86 to win Wimbledon six years in a row. ... Beat Nadal in the 2006 and 2007 finals. ... Lost to Nadal in last month's French Open final, his third consecutive loss to the Spaniard in the title match in Paris. ... Is 6-11 overall against Nadal, but 5-2 on surfaces other than clay. ... Hasn't lost a set at Wimbledon this year; he also reached the 2006 final without dropping a set. ... Beat Dominik Hrbaty, Robin Soderling, Marc Giquel, No. 20 Lleyton Hewitt, Mario Ancic, Marat Safin. ... Ranked No. 1 since Feb. 2, 2004, a record 231 consecutive weeks. ... Will be playing in his 16th major final, tying Bjorn Borg for fourth most in tennis history. ... Has won 12 Grand Slam titles, five at Wimbledon, four at the U.S. Open, three at the Australian Open. Pete Sampras holds the record with 14. ... Has 55 career titles, two this year. ... Is 43-8 in 2008. ... Doesn't have a full-time coach.
Nadal:
Left-handed, 22, born and lives in Manacor, Mallorca, Spain. ... Playing at Wimbledon for the fifth time. ... Will be playing in his third consecutive final; lost to Federer in the title match the past two years. ... One of only eight men to reach at least three Wimbledon finals in a row in the 40-year Open era. ... In his 2003 debut at Wimbledon, at 17, became the youngest man to reach the third round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984. ... Is aiming to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. ... Has won the past four French Open titles, the first to win that many in a row since Borg did it from 1978-81. ... Has won 23 consecutive matches. ... Has lost one set at the All England Club this year. ... Beat Andreas Beck, Ernests Gulbis, No. 27 Nicolas Kiefer, No. 17 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 12 Andy Murray, Rainer Schuettler. ... Ranked No. 2 since July 25, 2005 _ 154 consecutive weeks. ... Has won 28 career titles, including five this year. ... Is 55-7 this year. ... Coached by his uncle, Toni Nadal.
