So relentless has been Roger Federer’s reworking of the record books that he might as well travel with a personal statistician. And should he lift the Coupes des Mousquetaires for the first time by beating two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in Sunday’s French Open final, it would seal his place as the greatest racket-swinger of all time.

The 25-year-old has 10 Grand Slam titles from his three trophies at the Australian Open, his four at Wimbledon, and his three at the US Open. But the one thing which has been missing from his CV has been a victory on the red clay of Roland Garros, leading some commentators to qualify their praise for the world No 1. Beating the brutish, brilliant Nadal would prove that Federer can win on all surfaces, making those ifs, buts and maybes disappear like puffs of baseline dust.

Nadal is just one victory away from a hattrick of titles at Roland Garros, a feat only Swede Bjorn Borg has previously achieved during the Open era. But it would be colossal if Federer, last year’s runner-up to Nadal, became the new King of Clay, especially as that would also make him only the third man in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time, following on from American Don Budge in 1938 and Australian Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969.

And such a non-calendar ‘Roger Slam’ would mean that a proper calendar Grand Slam would most definitely be on, as Federer would be the favourite to triumph once more at Wimbledon and then at the US Open. “Winning here would open the door to doing the Grand Slam, winning the four titles in one year,” Federer said after Friday’s 7-5, 7-6, 7-6 victory against Russian Nikolay Davydenko, which took him into an eighth successive Grand Slam final, yet another record.

Nadal’s 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over Serbian Novak Djokovic took him to 20 victories from 20 matches at the clay-court slam. He is yet to drop a set during this tournament, while Federer conceded one during his quarter-final victory over Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

Federer is under no illusions about the challenge that he will face in trying to get the better of Nadal, a man whom Serena Williams rightly described as ‘an animal’ on the slowest and the most demanding of all the surfaces.

So Sunday will see the classical tennis player versus the clay-court ‘animal’, and Federer will need to perform substantially better than he did during his untidy match against Davydenko, when he had to recover from a deficit in all three sets. Davydenko served for the second set, and also served for the third, in which he held three set points.

As Borg has pointed out, matches between Federer and Nadal always have the feel of “a big fight”, but there could hardly be more riding on this one.

Here is why Federer needs that stats man at his side. There is a famous quintet of men to have won all four majors, comprising Britain’s Fred Perry, Budge, Laver, Australian Roy Emerson and American Andre Agassi. So Federer could become the sixth, and would then move to joint third with Laver and Borg in the list of most Grand Slam titles won, with Emerson in second on 12 and Pete Sampras — who never won in Paris — on a record 14.

Of course, this is the second year in succession that Federer has reached the French Open final with the possibility of holding all four slams simultaneously. Last year, Federer had just the start he wanted in the final, taking the opening set 6-1 and dominating Nadal, but thereafter he was well below par and was beaten over four sets.

So what has changed in 12 months? Well, Federer finally scored a clay-court win over Nadal in last month’s Hamburg final, attacking more than he ever had against the Majorcan for his first success in six meetings on the dirt. That ended Nadal’s clay-court winning streak of 81 matches, and, for Federer, it felt like ‘a breakthrough’.

And yet the relevance of that result has been much debated. For all the encouragement that Federer received from that victory, Nadal was mentally fatigued and far from his best. Also, the deadened bounce in Hamburg helped Federer, while the livelier Roland Garros clay suits Nadal. Plus, that match was over three sets. This will be over five. Will Nadal stop history in its tracks on Sunday?

ROAD TO FINAL

Roger Federer (1, Sui)

• Round I — bt Michael Russell (US) 6-4, 6-2,6-4
• Round II — bt Thierry Ascione (Fra) 6-1, 6-2,7-6 (8)
• Round III — bt Potito Starace (Ita) 6-2, 6-3, 6-0
• Round IV — bt Mikhail Youzhny (13, Rus) 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4
• Quarter final — bt Tommy Robredo (9, Esp) 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2
• Semi-final — bt Nikolay Davydenko (4, Rus) 7-5, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7)

Rafael Nadal (2, Esp)

• Round I — bt Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) 7-5,6-3, 6-2
• Round II — bt Flavio Cipolla (Ita) 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
• Round III — bt Albert Montenes (Esp) 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
• Round IV — bt Lleyton Hewitt (14, Aus) 6-3, 6-1,7-6 (5)
• Quarter final — bt Carlos Moya (23, Esp) 6-4,6-3, 6-0
• Semi-final — bt Novak Djokovic (6, Srb) 7-5,6-4, 6-2

Head to Head

• 2004 Miami (hardcourt) — Nadal won 6-3, 6-3
• 2005 Miami (hardcourt) — Federer won 2-6,6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-1
• 2005 French Open (clay) — Nadal won 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
• 2006 Dubai (hardcourt) — Nadal won 2-6,6-4, 6-4
• 2006 Monte Carlo (clay) — Nadal won 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6
• 2006 Rome (clay) — Nadal won 6-7, 7-6,6-4, 2-6, 7-6
• 2006 French Open (clay) — Nadal won 1-6, 6-1,6-4, 7-6
• 2006 Wimbledon (grass) — Federer won 6-0,7-6, 6-7, 6-3
• 2006 Shanghai (hardcourt) — Federer won 6-4, 7-5
• 2007 Monte Carlo (clay) — Nadal won 6-4, 6-4
• 2007 Hamburg (clay) — Federer won 2-6,6-2, 6-0