Exhibit A: Nadal, the Modern Tennis Man

What we're seeing at the French Open is the evolution of sport. Rafael Nadal, Modern Tennis Man, won his 29th consecutive match at Roland Garros Sunday, breaking Bjorn Borg's record of 28. Nadal is going for his fifth straight French title, which would break Borg's other unbreakable record.

And this isn't a baton handoff through history as much as a climb up the evolutionary ladder. Borg is Neanderthal man. Nadal is actually the same guy, modern epoch.

These things don't take tens of thousands of years in sports. It was just 26 years ago that Borg retired at 26, and in just that time, Modern Tennis Man has not just developed some new things, but evolved entirely.

Take a look at Nadal, tall and muscular. Borg is skinny and bow-legged. Tennis Man has evolved in something much bigger and more powerful.

"I didn't play well with my legs," Nadal said after beating Marcos Daniel 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 Sunday in the first round. "In sports, in a tenth of a second, you have to catch the ball, and everything can change in a game. You need to be present there, on time. If you play well, you have the feeling you'll be on top of the next ball, but today I was a bit short in my shots."

He was talking about the power required in the game today with modern racquet technology, modern fitness. Nadal is saying that his legs didn't feel their best, which is already a small concern for him.

His knees were sore coming into the tournament. But on Sunday, he needed the power in his legs, and didn't feel that it was entirely there.

And that's so much more important now, in tennis' power era, than it was even in Borg's day. When your opponent is blasting the ball the way today's Tennis Man is, it takes more strength to fight back.



It's always so tough to compare between different eras in sports. But in the week leading up to the tournament, The Tennis Channel was showing great French Open matches from the past. And when they showed Mats Wilander or Ivan Lendl, it was shocking how puny they looked.

Chris Evert beat Martina Navratilova, and both players seemed so tough at the time. Back then, Navratilova was hulking. On replay last week, she looked like she was playing pat-a-cake with Evert. Navratilova couldn't compete at the top level with that body today.

After Nadal embarrassed Roger Federer in the French final last year, Borg was on TV saying he'd love to play Nadal on clay, and that his plan would be to have the patience to stay out there all day long. But that's a former champ projecting himself into the wrong era.

If you took Borg from 1981 and put him on the court against Nadal today, that match wouldn't last an hour. The thing is, Borg wouldn't look like that today. With today's nutrition and weightlifting, and with what's required to stand up to all that power from the modern racquets, Borg, I think, would look an awful lot like Nadal does. In fact, watching Borg on the senior tour, you can see how he has cut back his looping swing and added power.

Look back at old films of NFL legends, or NBA -- Bob Cousy? -- or skinny baseball players and you figure they couldn't even last today.

Remember the Fridge, William Perry? He stood out as a 300-pounder for the Chicago Bears in 1985. Today, at that size, he would be the little guy on the bench.

Nadal and Borg are the greatest clay-court players of all time, but that has to be based on how each player did in his own era.

Typically, players can be clay-court specialists or grass-court specialists. Not both. But both players won several French Opens, and both won Wimbledon. And neither won the U.S. Open on the hard court. Both hit loads of topspin and preferred going cross-court. Both had to try to find ways to add speed to their serves. Both had the best footwork on tour, maybe that was too much of an advantage for them on slick courts, whether clay or grass. Or maybe it just had something to do with the way they set up their points.

Whatever, the thing is, they are the same guy. And Borg also serves as a warning to appreciate Nadal while you can.

Borg won his fourth straight French in 1981, his sixth French title overall, and then retired by the end of the year. Surely there were personal reasons for that.

But he was 25, and Nadal is 23. And Nadal's knees have already been a problem. The beating on modern Tennis Man's body is far worse than it used to be.

Well, Nadal continues to work his way through history. But what keeps throwing me is this: Twenty-eight years from now, when The Tennis Channel shows this year's final again, will Nadal look like Neanderthal?

What will Modern Tennis Man be then?