Nadal poised to topple Federer from the top

Rafael Nadal stands on the verge of becoming the best player in the world, even if the latest rankings showed that he was still number two.

Regardless of the computer reading, Nadal stamped his supremacy over Roger Federer when he ended his Swiss rival's five-year Wimbledon reign on Sunday in a heart-stopping five-set thriller.

In addition to snatching the All England Club crown, the Spaniard also snapped Federer's record streak of 65 wins on grass.

"Whoever wins the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year for me is the number one in the world," said three-times champion Boris Becker.

"The computer just didn't get it yet."

Lest anyone should doubt just how difficult it is to achieve the French Open-Wimbledon double in the same year, Nadal became the first man to pull off the feat since Bjorn Borg in 1980.

With the All England Club defeat coming quickly on the back of his humiliating loss in the French Open final, where a rampaging Nadal allowed Federer to pocket just four games, the Swiss's hold on the top ranking looks extremely precarious.

Federer has led the rankings for a record 232 consecutive weeks, and Nadal has been second for a record 155.

If the computer does not reflect what everyone else can see, its authenticity could soon be questioned, especially since Nadal's haul of six titles in 2008 includes two grand slams and two Masters Series events.

Federer, in comparison, has won two low-key events but still leads his Spanish tormentor by 545 points in the ATP standings.

For a man who had won 12 grand slam titles in the space of just five years, Federer has had to contend with some serious setbacks in 2008.

Recovering from a bout of glandular fever, he was forced to relinquish his Australian Open crown to Serbia's Novak Djokovic in January and then suffered his Paris nightmare. But nothing will hurt him as much as losing his cherished Wimbledon crown.

"In tennis, sometimes there have to be winners and losers, there's no draws," said the 26-year-old, who had been hoping to set a modern-era record of winning six successive titles at the All England Club.

"This is my hardest loss, by far. This is a disaster, Paris was nothing in comparison," added Federer, who will now be looking to salvage his season with victory at the Beijing Olympics and at the US Open next month.