After his dreams of completing a career Grand Slam were ruined by Rafael Nadal in the French Open final last month, Roger Federer is keen for revenge on his favourite turf at Wimbledon.
The Swiss world number one was demoralised four weeks ago when months of planning came to nothing and he subsided to a second successive defeat in the Roland Garros final against the irrepressible Spaniard.
But one month on, it will be Federer who will enter today's final as top dog and he is determined to preserve his status and win an 11th grand slam crown. "I'm very excited. I think it's an incredible moment for me, especially also playing Nadal in the finals. I think it's very fitting," said Federer, who beat the second seed in the showpiece match here last year.
Nadal holds the advantage 8-4 in meetings with Federer though most of his wins have been on clay. "On clay I always feel like he is in the driver's seat, whereas on grass I feel like I'm in the driver's seat. I know I've got to play aggressive, serve well, play the grass court game I can. Hopefully that's going to be good enough."
The four-times champion will also attempt to join Bjorn Borg by becoming only the second man in the professional era to win five consecutive Wimbledon titles. Borg dropped in to watch Federer's 7-5 6-3 6-4 semi-final win over Richard Gasquet on Saturday and the Swiss is excited at the prospect of equalling Borg's record in front of the great Swede.
"It will be an incredible, awesome feeling for me to achieve this goal because I never, ever thought I was going to win Wimbledon so many times," said the 25-year-old.
"I saw him sitting there today. Thank God only in the second set so I could concentrate on the first set first. "It is tricky when you see him sitting there because he is a living legend. I have so much respect for him that it is great that he's here.