It’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 for men’s title

Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England

From 1983 to 2003, the world’s top two players never met each other in the Wimbledon men’s final.

It’s about to happen for the seventh time in eight years — with a couple of twists.

Thanks mainly to a couple of guys named Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, No. 1 vs. No. 2 Grand Slam finals became something of a regular occurrence in recent years, at the All England Club and elsewhere. Today, No. 1 Nadal will be involved in yet another 1-2 Wimbledon championship matchup, only it’ll be against No. 2 Novak Djokovic — and they’ll switch spots in the ATP rankings a day later.

Djokovic will move up to No. 1 on Monday, and Nadal will slide down to No. 2, regardless of today’s outcome. Whichever man wins, it will be the sixth major title in a row that’s gone to Nadal (French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in 2010, French Open in 2011) or Djokovic (2010 Australian Open).

“One guy played unbelievable the first half of the year, so he’s the new No. 1,” Nadal said. “We just can congratulate him, because what he did this first part of the season is something really impressive, really fantastic.”

That’s definitely the case.

Djokovic is 47-1 in 2011, including a 4-0 record against Nadal, beating him in two hard-court finals and two clay-court finals.

“The four times I won against him this year can probably help me in some ways mentally prior to this match,” said Djokovic, who is 11-16 against Nadal overall, including 0-5 in Grand Slam tournaments.

The 24-year-old Serb won the first seven tournaments he entered this season, before his 43-match winning streak ended with a loss to Federer in the French Open semifinals.