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Ali and Frazier. Tiger and Phil. Johnson and Bird. Brady and Manning. Jordan and whoever got in his way.

Some names are synonomous with each other in every sport. There is always that classic rivalry that could go the way of either participant. Most the time it's a 50/50 shot at who's going to win these venerable match-ups. (Except for Tiger and Phil, where it's about 80/20, but it's better than anyone else has on Woods.)

Over the weekend, another mano-e-mano duel was added to the annals of sports lore.

Ironic that on Independence Day weekend, a Spaniard and a Swiss could capture so many people.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer had the best tennis match that I have ever witnessed, bar none.

I'm not old enough to have seen some of the classic Bjorn Borg/John McEnroe battles, or even some of the early Pete Sampras/Andre Agassi matches, but what I watched on a sticky, humid Sunday on July 6 of 2008 was more than a simple tennis match.

The two have been going back and forth for some time. Nadal burst on to the scene when Federer was at his best, and it took a while for Nadal to be on an equal ground as Federer, but now the time has come when they are both at their peak in tennis.

It is the match that I believe will reinvigorate tennis among young people.

Tennis isn't a contact sport. It uses a sometimes confusing score set, and it isn't 'cool' to like tennis when you're young. But Nadal, who probably still struggles to grow a full tuft of facial hair at the fresh age of 22, and Federer, who just turned 26, have made tennis cool again.

Watching the two volley back and forth on the sleek grass of Wimbledon would be like watching da Vinci put his brush to an empty canvas.

The result is a fine-tuned practice in perfection. A masterpiece capped only when one of the cogs in the flawless machine has a slight breakdown.

Federer had more breakdowns this weekend, which is rare for the man from Switzerland, whos 12 career Grand Slam titles place him second behind Sampras.

The story usually goes "Nadal wins at the French Open on clay, and Federer wins Wimbledon on grass," but this week, Nadal broke Federer's streak of five consecutive titles at the All-England Club.

With perfectly placed forehands, smashing backhands, and speed that makes him look like a tiger stalking his prey, Nadal took the first two sets in similar fashion, 6-4, 6-4.

In the third and fourth sets, Federer fought back with finesse and power of his own. He would serve to the outside to drive Nadal towards the near baseline, and then blow a forehand past Nadal on the far baseline. It's a shot that takes a perfect serve and a perfect forehand every time, and it rarely failed for Federer as he won the two sets, 7-6, 7-6 in tie break.

In the deciding set, both competitors, although playing for nearly four hours already, turned their intensity up to the highest level. Nadal started to chase down the far baseline forehands, Federer started to find a return for those smashing Nadal backhands.

But, as it is with every sport, someone must lose. In this enthtralling match, youth and energy prevailed over guile and experience. Young over old. Spain over Switzerland. Nadal over Federer.

And so the pair carved their names alongside the likes of Bird and Johnson and Ali and Frazier with their five-hour effort on the court. And that is what embodied the players at the end of the marathon match. By then muscles were sore and serves and returns became slower, but as Winston Churchill said, "Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."

On Sunday, July 6, 2008, Nadal unlocked the potential for a fierce rivalry that will live on as long as the two play the game of tennis.

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