SO IT'S the final everyone wanted and the one everyone expected. It is a tough one to call but, while Roger Federer has looked supremely comfortable in his cardigan, the match may well hinge on Rafael Nadal's shorts - and whether the Spaniard can get through what may well be a gruelling five-setter without calling a time-out for treatment from his tailor.

It is not entirely true to say that Rafa has breezed his way through to tonight's final because, in terms of having to extract his shorts from his cheeks, he has had to dig deep, as the commentators are fond of putting it, after almost every point.

Nike may be responsible for both players' outfits but it's pretty clear that one of them has had a bum deal.

When Rafal is married and middle-aged, this constant fiddling with his nether regions - especially in company - is more likely to attract an icy glare from Mrs Nadal than a look of adoration but, for the moment, Rafa is comfortably the No.1 seed of heart-throb male tennis players.

It's not quite at the intensity it was when Bjorn Borg made his first centre court appearance, provoking the "ooh, I say!" to end them all from Dan Maskell when the hallowed turf was invaded by teeny-bopper girls in high heels. But it's getting there, and neither is his fan club exclusively confined to spotty females.

When Nadal met Andy Murray in the quarter-finals you would have been hard pressed from the respective cheers to know which one was the plucky Brit. Mind you, Murraymania remains a relatively non-contagious disease and will probably remain so while our boy keeps challenging Colin Montgomerie for the most glum expression to come out of Scotland.

No one seems sure why Nadal is so popular because in many ways he is fairly boring. If he were a matador he would not so much dazzle the bull with his twirling cape work as beat it to death with a blunt instrument.

And his hobbies are listed as fishing, lying on beaches, and eating meals at home with his family in Manacor; Manacor being the Majorcan equivalent - albeit with a coastline - of Manchester.

The centre court crowd might find it tough to settle on an allegiance, given that Federer has never exhibited the merest hint of ego, although his popularity may be on the wane since it was revealed what happened to the cow he was presented with back home in Switzerland after winning his first Wimbledon title in 2003. Juliette was her name but once she stopped producing enough milk to earn her keep her next appearance was as boeuf a la Juliette on a restaurant plate.

If Nadal wins his own first Wimbledon title tonight he might well be presented with a Spanish bull although, given the size of his biceps, a Bullworker might be more up his street.

It's not just a question of muscles, though. Nadal is one heck of a tennis player and while not so long ago the mere thought of Federer losing a match at Wimbledon would have induced a cardy-ac arrest, that will not be the case if it happens tonight.