PARIS (AP):

No less a tennis authority than Bjorn Borg wonders whether Roger Federer can stave off Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.

Granted, Borg has a rooting interest: He won five consecutive titles at the All England Club from 1976-80 and Federer aims to claim No. 6 in a row a month from now.

And, granted, Borg wasn't exactly on the mark when he predicted a tight French Open final: No. 2-ranked Nadal beat No. 1 Federer 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.

Still, 11-time major champion Borg's words carry weight and after watching Sunday's championship match at Roland Garros from a front-row seat, the Swede said of Nadal: "If he survives the first couple of rounds this year, I pick him to win Wimbledon."

Over Federer?

"Yes," Borg said.

Meeting again

After losing the most lopsided Grand Slam men's final since John McEnroe allowed Jimmy Connors to take only four games at Wimbledon in 1984, Federer spoke Sunday about wishing he could face Nadal on grass more often.

There are far more tournaments played on clay than on grass and there's a strong possibility the rivals will meet on the slicker surface once in 2008, just as they met once at the All England Club in 2006 and 2007 - in the Wimbledon final.

Truth be told, if Federer's lucky, he won't have to play Nadal at all on grass. At this point, perhaps Federer ought to hope that somebody else eliminates the 22-year-old Spaniard before yet another meeting. Because here is the surprising thing: Nadal has come much closer to beating Federer at Wimbledon than Federer has come to beating Nadal at the French Open.

The scare

Never at Roland Garros has Federer really put a scare into Nadal, the first man since Borg in 1978-81 to win four consecutive French Open titles. In 2005, they met in the semi-finals. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, they met in the final. Each of the first three match-ups, Federer pushed Nadal to four sets. But the 26-year-old Swiss star didn't even come close to making a single set competitive Sunday.