The most talked about tennis match in decades is over, Rafael Nadal remains the French Open champion, and the lasting memory may well be Roger Federer repeatedly swatting his backhand out of bounds.

Faced with beating Nadal in their most marquee contest to date, the world no. 1 – undefeated to this point in seven Grand Slam finals – often looked lost. That this match turned out to be a disappointment was not the greatest of surprises, considering everyone’s grand expectations. Shocking, though, was that Federer’s first French Open final looked more like his first final, period. On a 90-degree day in Paris, his backhand was bad, but his forehand was worse at key moments, his tactics passive, and his service returns timid. For the first time, the world no. 1 struggled when it mattered most.

In the end, Federer’s woes probably did not matter much. Nadal was better. Much better. Relentless, boisterous, and now unbeaten on clay in 60 matches, the lefty with the bulging biceps and blazing-fast feet survived a nervous first set to win his second straight French Open, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4).

The final three sets saw the 20-year-old Spaniard at his defensive and offensive best. He made 16 errors to Federer’s 43 (overall, Nadal made 28 to Federer’s 51, 24 on backhands). He moved beautifully, hit groundstrokes with greater depth than usual, and showed that he is no novice at the net, either, moving in for a few fine winners and a championship point flourish: a swinging forehand volley that spun off the court. After the ball bounced past Federer, Nadal collapsed on his back and spread out on the clay, a king unlike any the surface has known since Bjorn Borg, a six-time winner.

“I was thinking about nothing,” Nadal said of his winning moment. “You just don’t feel the tension anymore. I didn’t even realize I was falling on the ground.”

Federer was characteristically gracious and positive, though he admitted disappointment over several lost opportunities. He said squandering a 40-0 lead on his serve in the second set was perhaps decisive.

“I won the first set easily, and usually in a situation like that I don’t let things go by,” he said. “But, you know, it’s a final. It’s against Nadal. It’s on clay. That makes it very difficult.”

The match was a rare moment in tennis. For Federer, it was a chance to join the five men -Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Fred Perry, Rod Laver, and Andre Agassi – who have won all four major titles. A victory yesterday also would have given him all four majors at once, last done by Laver in 1969, and put him on the road to a historic feat, the single season Grand Slam. Nadal had to tend to a record 59-match winning streak, a unbeaten record at Roland Garros, and a 5-1 mark against Federer, including three wins – Federer’s only three losses – this year.

Federer could not have asked for a better start. Nadal raced to the baseline to begin his warm-ups, but could hardly move once the match began. The steadiest player in the world looked miffed as he made 12 errors in the opening set.

The momentum quickly changed in the second set. Trailing 1-0,Federer took a 40-0 lead before missing two forehands and a forehand volley. Nadal eventually broke with a crosscourt backhand passing shot as Federer took the net.

The set disappeared in a hurry, but Federer had an excellent opportunity to seize the advantage early in the third set. With Nadal serving at 1-2, Federer played his way to a 0-40 lead. Nadal closed to 30-40 with two fine points, and then Federer missed his chance. After striking a beautiful inside-out forehand, he failed to follow it in as quickly as he would have in Monte Carlo or Rome earlier this year, when he relentlessly attacked Nadal. Rather than taking Nadal’s average reply in the air for a forehand volley winner, Federer let it bounce. Off the center line it skipped, jamming Federer and forcing an error.

Nadal held and immediately broke, and it was not Federer’s backhand that did the damage. At 2-2, he missed three routine forehands and a bouncing overhead. Nadal held easily until he served for the match at 5-4. In fact he held easily most of the afternoon, largely because Federer obliged him by standing too far behind the baseline on service returns, even on second serves. Before yesterday, Nadal won 59% of points on his second serve for the tournament.He won 65% against Federer, one of the best – if not the very best – at returning serve.

“I suppose this is the point that I really regret,” Federer said. “I should have returned better on his serves.”

Federer did not approach the net often enough, either. In Monte Carlo and Rome, where Federer held two match points against Nadal before losing, Federer moved forward on 24% of points, according to data from those matches. Yesterday he came in on 18%. He said the conditions were slower in Paris, though he was far from firm in explaining why he backed away from a tactic that had worked quite well.

“I was hoping to come in more often,” he said. “But somehow, you know – maybe it was the heat. I don’t know.”

Still, for a fleeting moment late in the fourth set, Federer had hope. Two points from losing the match and in need of a miracle, he played the point of his life, sprinting the width of the court four times, sliding to the net to retrieve a drop shot, and then angling a forehand volley that Nadal steered wide. Nadal missed an easy forehand on break point, Federer held, and then took an early lead in the tiebreaker. From there, Nadal was too steady, and Federer too impatient. He attempted a backhand drop shot at 2-1, and missed two forehands. Nadal would not lose another point on his serve.

Will any amount of Federer be enough to defeat Nadal? After Rome, it seemed Federer had uncovered the answer, and most everyone in Paris, and in tennis, wanted to see him prove it. The fans at Roland Garros chanted his name. Laver pulled for him from California. The rest of the men’s tour rooted for him, too, rooted for history. Even Nadal said he would prefer Federer if he had not reached the final himself. For Nadal to overcome all this, well, the Spaniard is something special indeed. Just four more French titles to go.

tperrotta@nysun.com