Rafael Nadal became only the second man in the open era to win three consecutive French Open titles on Sunday, denying Roger Federer an even more significant entry in the record books as he did so.

Nadal’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over the World No.1 allowed him to equal Bjorn Borg’s three titles on the bounce. The Swede won the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982(having already won the title in 1974 and 1974) and remains the most accomplished male player in the history of Roland Garros.

At his current rate of achievement, 21-year-old Nadal may one day better him. The Spaniard has already bettered Federer, at least on clay, having won six of their seven meetings on the surface, three of which have now come at Roland Garros. He may be the world’s best player away from the Parisian dirt, but Federer is relegated to nearly man the moment he walks onto Court Philippe Chatrier with Nadal alongside him.

Had he beaten Nadal today, Federer would have become only the third man in tennis history to hold all four grand slam titles at one time; he would have become only the sixth male player to win all four during their career and would have headed to his happy hunting grounds of Wimbledon and the US Open with a strong chance of capturing the calendar “Grand Slam” of all four major titles inside a season.

Such dreams will have to wait until next year but the more he comes second to Nadal on clay; the more it seems he may have to wait for someone else to remove the Spaniard from the draw in order to make the French Open his own. Much was made of Federer’s win over Nadal in the Hamburg final three weeks ago but beating Nadal over three sets and beating him over five are two entirely different prospects. Nadal is simply too strong, too fast and too obstinate at crucial moments to be beaten over the greater distance.

Federer had a string of breakpoints over the course of the match – seventeen in all – but converted only one of them. That statistic, more than any other, tells the story of the match. When he plays Nadal, Federer gets an insight into how his opponents must feel when they play him; forced to be aggressive and thus vulnerable both to their own mistakes and sudden, vicious counter-attacks.

Only in the second set, when Federer’s level of play heightened to near its upper limits, did the Swiss have the initiative and push Nadal out of his comfort zone on the baseline. Even Federer could not keep up that almost supernatural level of play for long, and he made too many errors on points which might have turned the match. Federer has long struggled with the tactical puzzle posed by Nadal and recently parted ways with his coach Tony Roche after the Australian failed to come up with any answers. Amateur coaches in the crowd and press room suggested that he needed to come in to the net a little more and not allow himself to be forced back, but such things are so much easier said than done against a player who, like Nadal, frequently sends the ball back with such torque and pace that it seems to bounce nearer the sky than the ground.

History was going to be made either way in the 2007 final match and, either way, an extraordinary achievement was going to be recorded. In the end, it was Nadal’s and, as Federer told the crowd afterwards, it was “an incredible effort.”