There’s a few things in life that are just a given. The grass is green, the sky is blue, and if Sportable is talking about tennis, it involves Roger Federer, the most dominant athlete in the world. The 25 year old sensation took another step towards the title of “best ever,” defeating his nemesis Rafael Nadal to win Wimbledon for a 5th straight time. It was the first time Federer had been pushed to five sets in a major final.

“I win my share. He wins his. We’ve been at the top for over 100 weeks together. It is like building up to one of maybe the great rivalries,” Federer said. “We sometimes haven’t lived up to the expectations in the past … but you can’t always play five-set thrillers, you know. I’m happy it happened today. I left as the winner. Perfect.”

Because I don’t consider 19th century sports records to be very legitimate, it cuts down the number of challengers Federer has when compared to the all-time greats. With the win, he joined Bjorn Borg as the only player in the last 100 years to win Wimbledon five consecutive times. This tough win over Nadal gives him 11 titles in the last 17 major tournaments. Considering Pete Sampras won his last major at the age of 31, it looks like Federer has plenty of years left to topple Pete’s record of 14.

Unlike their previous meetings at the French Open and Wimbledon, this match turned out to be a thriller. There wasn’t much doubt about the last two finals of the French and last year’s Wimbledon. But this one had some serious drama. For tennis’ sake, let’s hope these two can continue their rivalry for years to come. If Federer wins the U.S. Open next month in New York, he’ll start off 2008 just two majors shy of equaling Sampras’ record. Not bad for a 25 year old.

Every dominant athlete has their nemesis. Peyton Manning had Tom Brady, Magic had Bird, Tiger Woods had Duval Mickelson Singh. Roger Federer, the best tennis player on earth and (possibly) ever, has Rafael Nadal. At the French Open Final in Paris earlier today, Federer had the chance to earn that last piece of hardware. He didn’t. Nadal beat Federer to win the French Open for the 3rd straight time.

“Of course, I’m a bit sad, a bit disappointed,” the 25-year-old Federer said. “Eventually, if I get it, the sweeter it’s going to taste. So hopefully I’ll give myself more and more opportunities, over and over again. I know I can do it now, that’s for sure.”

Once Federer won the Australian Open back in February, he set all of his attention on the clay surface, where Nadal reigns supreme. Is it a true rivalry when your opponent can only dominate on one surface? Maybe not. But for now, Nadal sits in the way of Federer’s tennis immortality. It was said that Federer needs a win in Paris to solidify his spot as one of the best ever. I guess that’s on hold now.

Again, it’s highly likely that Federer will win at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in New York, possibly beating Nadal in the finals of both tournaments. But if Federer can take anything from this loss, it’s that he could have very easily won. He had plenty of chances to break Nadal’s serve and couldn’t get it done. Considering that Nadal is the only person not named Federer to win a major since the summer of 2005, I’d say he’ll be just fine for the rest of the year.

The French Open begins this weekend in Paris and you’d be hard-pressed to find any contenders not named Federer or Nadal. After the stunts pulled by American Mardy Fish, you can eliminate one more challenger from the list. Fish sprained his foot while preparing for the French Open kicking field goals with the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe.

“It’s really unfortunate,” teammate James Blake said. “We all learn not to do silly things and to be more careful if we are going to do anything like that. But we also have to be human beings and live a life. We can’t live in a shell or a bubble and only play tennis and never go out and do anything. It’s a tough balance.”

While Blake is certainly correct in talking about balance, you have to question Fish’s timing. Fish is the 31st ranked player in the world and with a good performance in Paris, he could have continued his momentum from the Australian Open, where he reached the quarterfinals. Instead, he tried to do his best Ray Finkle and nail a kick. So much for that.

Fish’s Silver Medal in the 2004 Olympics will now pale in comparison to his ill-fated effort at kicking a football to impress some scrub football players. While Blake made the trip to visit the Fire, you don’t hear about him jacking up his foot or trying to run routes. Living your life in a bubble might be extreme but you probably shouldn’t stray far from the tennis court the week of a major.

Just a week before the world’s best tennis players gather in France, Roger Federer earned a huge morale boost in Hamburg. You might think it’s impossible for the world’s top player (and one of the best ever) to ever need a match to gain confidence. But this was it. Federer snapped Rafael Nadal’s 81 match winning strak on clay and earned his first championship on clay in over two years.

“It was an incredible performance from my side,” Federer said. “I had a great day, it’s nice to be playing well again. It’s my first title on clay in a couple of years.”

I guess when you’re the world’s best player, you can get away with saying incredible arrogant postmatch quotes. Calling your own performance “incredible” might seem a bit tacky but if anyone can get away with it, it’s Federer. It’s hard to call a four tournament drought a slump but Federer’s precious success can justify it. But with this win, it’s clear that the Swiss star is comfortable enough on clay to win the French Open. It’s likely he’ll need to go through Nadal to get it done.

While these two have a nice rivalry emerging, it’s not gaining much attention in the sports world. I think it’s time for one of them to throw a racket at the other. Maybe we’ll see that at Roland Garros in a few weeks. A possible rematch between the two stars could come on June 10th, the date of the final in Paris.

They say Roger Federer’s only flaw is his struggles with young Spaniard, Rafael Nadal. With the two players likely on a collision course for the French Open Final on June 10th, they’ve decided to have a little fun. Federer and Nadal will play an exhibition match today on a real unique court. Half of the court will be clay, Nadal’s specialty. The other half is grass, Federer’s preference.

“It’ll be fun to find out what it’s like to play on a court with mixed surfaces,” Federer said Tuesday. “And it ought to be interesting to see who chooses the better tactic.”

This is the best of both worlds for tennis fans. Nadal has a mind-boggling 72 match winning streak on clay, including two wins over Federer in the French Open. Meanwhile, Federer hasn’t lost on grass in four years, which coincides with four straight titles at Wimbledon. But this court layout creates an interesting debate. Will the player opt to receive on their preferred court? Or will they choose to hit to the other surface?

The only thing that’s held these two back from a classic match is the court surface. While this is just an exhibition match, it should be interesting to see their contrasting styles. Each player will walk out of this match with something far more important than bragging rights. For Federer, he might figure out a way to finally conquer Nadal on clay. Doing that would give him a Career Grand Slam. Likewise for Nadal. If he can pick up a flaw in Federer’s grass game (one that probably doesn’t exist), it may help him at Wimbledon this summer.

How could two tennis legends lose a fundraiser doubles match to a couple of kids? When one partner requires stitches during the match. That was the unfortunate result of Andre Agassi hitting his wife, Steffi Graf, in the face with his racket. Graf required three stitches as a result of the incident.

After she was hit, Graf lifted her left hand to her mouth and walked off to the side of the court with Agassi following closely behind her to check on her well-being.

She wiped her mouth with a towel before leaving the stadium for an on-site doctor to administer three stitches to her lip, officials said. It was not clear whether the cut was to the inside or outside of her mouth area.

Watching the interview after the incident was funny because Agassi looked like he was on the verge of laughing his ass off. Of all the ways for a tennis player to get hurt, she had to get slugged in the face by a tennis racket wielded by her husband. Of all the ways for a hall of fame tennis player to be injured by her hall of fame husband, it had to involve a tennis racket. The Agassis don’t use frying pans like the Artests. They use tennis rackets.

Maybe Agassi thought he was playing alongside longtime rival Pete Sampras. After all, Sampras did beat Agassi in four Grand Slam finals. Or maybe he’s jealous of Steffi’s 22 Grand Slam Championships, which dwarfs Andre’s eight titles. But one thing is certain. Whenever their child gets in trouble for beating someone up in school, he will use a tennis racket.