Australian Open semifinal preview - Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer

Modified Jan 23, 2014 18:43 GMT

Eras in tennis have always been defined by great rivalries. The ‘Ice-Man’, Bjorn Borg, against John McEnroe, the brash kid from New York, the battle of the two ‘alpha-males’ in John McEnroe vs Jimmy Connors, German prodigy Boris Becker going up against the Swedish artist Stefan Edberg, ‘Pistol’ Pete Sampras taking on the rebel Andre Agassi – each of these players have pushed their rivals to the absolute limit and then some more. Its what takes the sport to heights that have never before been reached.

That being said, it is probably not an exaggeration to say that the rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal tops everything else in tennis’ Open era. Two players who will definitely feature in all discussions related to some of the greatest players to have ever played the game, two players who share 30 Grand Slam singles titles between them, two players who between them have dominated the sport over the last decade.

The Swiss genius, Roger Federer, and the Spanish matador, Rafael Nadal, will face off yet another time at the business end of a Grand Slam tournament on Friday at the Australian Open.

Nadal had a rather tough looking draw when the tournament began. The World No.1 however, sailed through the first 3 rounds courtesy a Bernard Tomic injury and some high quality tennis. Nadal dispatched France’s Gael Monfils in straight sets in the 3rd round and looked in ominous form. He has however has failed to repeat that performance and has laboured to wins against Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov to reach the semifinals.

Nadal clearly hasn’t been hitting the ball as well as he would like to. The Majorcan did not find good length or the overspin that his forehands are known to generate in his quarterfinal win over Dimitrov. But Nadal did what Nadal does best. He struggled through. Nadal hung in there, chased down every ball and raised his game when it mattered. The left-hander could not trouble Dimitrov’s single-handed backhand by forcing him to hit them from above his shoulder and that is something Federer’s camp would have noticed. Rafa will have to raise his game, go for the lines and get his serve going if he is to get another shot at winning the Australian Open on Sunday.

Federer has breezed past his opponents so far and has only been stretched by Andy Murray during their quarterfinal clash. The Swiss No.1 has displayed some sublime form both in the 3-set demolition job of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round of 16 and a rather clinical win against Murray in the quarters.

Federer has been taking the returns well inside the court, come in to the net more often than he has in recent years, hit the ball as cleanly as he has ever done and got broken just twice during the entire tournament. An aspect of his game that often goes unnoticed though is his defensive play. Federer at his best can hang with the biggest hitters on the tour with his defensive slices off both flanks that get the ball deep into the opponent’s court and allows him to regain good court position. Its something that Federer has done all tournament, but did particularly well against Murray.

Against Nadal, Federer will have to counter the heavy topspin to his single-handed backhand as always, but he will also need to finish off points quickly by venturing to the net. If it goes to a long drawn battle from the baseline, Nadal will come out trumps more often than not. Nadal too will serve himself well by coming in off his forehand cross-court at every given opportunity as the Spaniard is one of the best volleyers on tour, probably only behind Federer. The mental aspect of the game will be important for Federer having not beaten Nadal in a Grand Slam since 2007 while Nadal will have to be particularly wary about letting Federer make him move from side to side which the maestro will do if Nadal cannot hit good lengths with his groundstrokes.

It will be an intriguing battle with so much hinging on so many minute details. So whoever you are pledging your allegiance to, whatever you might be occupied with, on Friday, find yourself a nice spot in front of a television. For this will be a spectacle, a spectacle that the whole world will watch with bated breath.