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Viewers of Sunday morning’s telecast of the Hamburg Masters final saw two matches.
One was the Master Series tournament final between the tennis' two greatest nemeses, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Nadal won that match 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
The other was the match within the tremulous, top-ranked Federer, who squandered wide leads in the first two sets and exhibited an occasionally cranky demeanor. The 26-year-old Federer has one title this year, at Estoril, and an aberrant seven losses.
This continuing crisis of confidence handicaps the 12-time Grand Slam winner heading into the French Open next week, where Federer has wilted in two straight finals, in 2006 and 2007.
— Max Dickstein