Federer and Nadal square-off at Australian Open

Thanks to a guy named Novak Djokovic becoming the number one player in the world last summer, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are being forced to play each other in the semifinal of a grand slam tournament.

These two champions, who have 26 slam singles titles between them, have not played in a semifinal of a major since way back in 2005 at the French Open. Since then, they have played in the French finals four times, the Wimbledon finals three times and once in the Australian Open final.

Both are seeking redemption in this tournament.

Nadal lost his number one ranking to Djokovic last year as well as the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open. His last win at a major was the 2011 French Open over Federer. For the Swiss superstar, the slam drought has lasted even longer. His last win at a major came two years ago at the Australian Open – a record 16th slam title.

But Federer has been in better form than Nadal since last fall winning three straight tournaments including the year-end ATP Masters title where he beat Nadal in the process. Federer won his first three matches at his first tournament this year in Qatar but defaulted before his semifinal match with a back injury.

They have played 26 times, and Nadal leads their overall head-to-head series 17–9, with 14 of those encounters having been on Nadal’s favored clay court surface.

The two champions have always gotten along famously despite an intense on-court rivalry. But on the eve of this tournament, Nadal was critical of Federer for not taking a leadership role in addressing some of the issues in the men’s game such a scheduling and prize money.

Both insist the issue has been put behind them.

Okay, I’m going to go ahead and make a prediction: Federer in four sets. It might be based more on my hoping so than reality but I do believe he has been stronger and grown more confident in recent months. He hasn’t actually lost a match (besides the default) since the semifinals of the US Open in September when Djokovic survived two match points and went on to beat Federer in five sets.

Go Roger!!!