Federer out to teach Nadal a lesson

London: Roger Federer plans to exact revenge for 13 months of Rafael Nadal-induced frustration in Sunday's Wimbledon men's singles final.

Despite his undisputed status as the world number one, Federer has been beaten five times in succession by the 20-year-old Spaniard since June 2005.

Four of those were in finals this year, the most painful of which was the most recent - his French Open final loss four weeks ago when Nadal denied the reigning US Open and Australian champion a rare non calendar-year grand slam.

Were Nadal to end Federer's three-year reign at Wimbledon on Sunday, he will have every right to consider himself the world's best.

Despite the claycourt specialist being the second seed, it will be an enormous upset if Nadal wins their first meeting on grass.

Federer has been in sublime form on his favourite lawns this year, not dropping a set and taking his record of consecutive wins on the surface to 47.

He hit new levels of excellence in his quarter-final and semi-final wins over Croatia's Mario Ancic and Swede Jonas Bjorkman respectively but says Sunday will be a different matter.

"I have to really forget the last couple matches and the whole tournament so far," he said. "I can't rely on a flawless, straight sets, no worries, no break points performance every time."

"A final is always very different because the pressure is much higher. I'm sure I will have to fight much harder."

If he wins an eighth grand slam title, the Swiss will join Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras as the only men to win four consecutive Wimbledon singles crowns since tennis went professional in 1968.

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For added incentive Federer is attempting to become the first man since Borg in 1976 to win the title without dropping a set.

Very Difficult

Despite having lost six of their seven previous meetings, the Swiss remains upbeat. "My confidence against Rafa is there. I know I can beat him. I need to focus on me playing on grass, my style of play, playing aggressive."

"It's going to be easier on grass to do that than on clay where he can cover much more ground, when he can play further in the baseline."

Nadal is trying to become only the second Spanish man after 1966 champion Manuel Santana to win the Wimbledon title.

His progress from novice to contender on grass this past fortnight has been extraordinary and the Mallorcan is unlikely to be over-awed on Sunday despite talking down his chances.

"I'm going to have a very, very, very difficult match," said the double French Open champion. "I'm going to play against one of the best in history, especially on this surface. So I need to play the best match of my life to win."

"I fear Roger on any surface but on this surface more so because he is the best. If you look his matches, he is winning very easily. He is playing very good and he won the last three times here and this year is in the final again."