In the four years since he became the no. 1 player in the world, Roger Federer has rarely lost a match, and when he has, he has usually done so by the slimmest of margins. Marat Safin had to save match point before beating Federer at the 2005 Australian Open, 9-7 in the fifth set. At the French Open in 2005, 2006, and 2007, Federer stole a set from Rafael Nadal and played him close in other sets — no small achievement against the best player in the world on clay. Earlier this year, when Federer played the Australian Open despite suffering from mononucleosis, he pushed Novak Djokovic in all three sets of their semifinal match.

In the French Open final yesterday, though, the world saw something it has never seen before: Roger Federer, the man whose name is often spoken in the same breath as the words “greatest of all time,” humiliated on a tennis court. In the fourth meeting between Federer and Nadal in Paris, Federer suffered the worst defeat of his career. It took Nadal less than two hours to win his record-tying fourth consecutive French Open title, 6-1,6-3, 6-0. It had been nine years since Federer had lost a set at love, during a match on grass at Queens Club in London as a 17-year-old. The frightening thing about yesterday’s French Open final? Federer was lucky to win four games. He easily could have lost all three sets at love. Nadal was that good.

Federer served 11 times in the match. He lost eight of those games and faced break points in two of the three he won. Only once did he serve out a game without having to erase a break point. Federer broke Nadal once (and he did so with difficulty). Only a handful of times did Federer win a point, never mind a game, with ease (he hit a mere two aces). In one stretch, Nadal won 24 of 27 points. He made seven errors for the match, compared to 35 for Federer. He hit 46 winners to Federer’s 31. Federer won five out of 24 points on his second serve, just 21%. Nadal so badly outclassed his chief rival on clay that when the match ended, he didn’t bother with his traditional roll in the dirt. Instead, he threw up his arms and jogged to the net with an apologetic look on his face. “Roger, I’m sorry for the final,” Nadal said as he addressed the crowd. The defending champion was embarrassed by how easily he had won.

For sure, Federer didn’t play well yesterday. He looked tense and seemed to lack conviction from the first moments of the match. Still, the magnitude of this defeat and the way Nadal charged through this tournament (he didn’t lose a set and dropped a total of 41 games) ought to end the discussion about what Federer needs to do to beat Nadal on clay. This loss had nothing to do with how much Federer chose to volley, how well he served, or “day form,” as he likes to call it. Nadal outlasted Federer in baseline rallies, he beat him with passing shots, with a lob, with service returns, with a drop shot to save break point in the second set, with speed, with spin, with power, and with guile.

When Nadal is playing at this level on clay, no man, no matter his form, will beat the Spaniard. It can’t be done (at Roland Garros, it hasn’t been done: Nadal is now 28-0 there in his career). Unless he’s injured or lacking motivation, it likely won’t be done for several more years. Bjorn Borg, the only other man to win this title four consecutive times, won six French Open titles. Nadal, who celebrated his 22nd birthday last week, might well break that record before he loses a match in Paris.

First, though, Nadal would like to do something that could change the world’s perception not only of him, but of Federer: Win Wimbledon (Borg was the last man to win the two tournaments back-to-back, in 1980). The last two years, Nadal has gained ground on Federer on grass, to the point where last year’s Wimbledon final, which lasted five sets, easily could have gone his way. Federer has improved on clay, yet there’s more distance between him and Nadal on that surface than ever before. If Nadal wins Wimbledon, any talk of anointing Federer the best player in the history of the game will have to be put on indefinite hold.

In an interview after the match, Borg told John McEnroe that he sees Nadal winning Wimbledon this year, as long as he isn’t upset in the first few rounds. This seems a wise assessment. Nadal could lose in the early rounds at the All England Club, but if he finds his way into the second week, he’ll be difficult to beat. If he plays Federer in the final, the pressure on Federer will be immense — and the drubbing that he suffered yesterday not far from his mind.

In 10 years, or however long Nadal’s career lasts, we’ll look back at the 2008 French Open and remember a clay champion at the peak of his powers. But we might also look back and see the moment when Nadal found the confidence to win not just this major title, but others. Wimbledon begins in two weeks, and Nadal isn’t about to let up.

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On Thursday, she became the no. 1 player in the world. On Saturday, she won her first major title. It was, all in all, a pretty good week for Ana Ivanovic, the 20-year-old from Serbia who is now at the top of women’s tennis. At Wimbledon, Ivanovic will try to become the first woman to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back since Serena Williams in 2002.

Mr. Perrotta is a senior editor at Tennis magazine. He can be reached at tperrotta@ tennismagazine.com.