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The two biggest names in the sport face off in a semi final encounter at the Australian Open. Both know a win will give them the chance to play Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray in the final. Both Federer and Nadal have played well in Melbourne and we have seen glimpses of their very best form in their earlier rounds. They take to the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday morning 830pm GMT and face each other for the 27^th time. A lot is talked about the difference in surface and how that affects the outcome of these big games, traditionally Nadal loves his clay and Federer cant touch him on the dirt. Federer loves the grass but is a fantastic hard court player too. So this match is hard court, Advantage Federer?

 The last time Federer beat Nadal in a grandslam match was the 2007 Wimbledon final, although he has between him since, these matches have been best of three affairs. It seems that over the course of 5 sets Nadal is the stronger beast, and manages to grind down not just Federer but everyone barring a certain Mr Djokovic. The fact that its on hardcourt bears absolutely no relevance to the outcome of the match, Nadal is no longer the dirt baller fromSpain, he is much more than that. He dominates Federer from the baseline, peppering his backhand with vicious topspin forehands. The match comes down to one simple facet, style. Quite simply Nadal’s style of play and the fact he is a left hander gives him a huge advantage against Federer.

Federer has perhaps one of the most beautiful one handed backhands, the thing is when Nadal pounds the ball with topspin towards Federer, he forces him to hit the ball at shoulder height, Federer cant get the contact point, the power or the depth and Nadal gobbles up the half court ball .

Nadal is a beast on the baseline, he runs and runs and runs. He gets seemingly impossible shots back and inevitably frustrates Federer; we then see Fed shanking balls off his minute 90 sq inch frame. The last time these two met was in Australian Open Final 2009, when Nadal was supposedly fatigued from his 5 hour semi final with Fernando Verdasco and back then he had yet to win  a slam on the hard courts. Look what happened. He roared into life in the final and won the final set 6-2.

If Federer is to win, he is going to have to strike quickly and avoid getting drawn into long baseline rallies. He must maximise his 1st serves and hit forehands flat and hard. He has used his one hand backhand up the line to great effect thus far, this will be an important shot for him against Rafa. He needs to step into the court and take away Nadal’s time. He can do it for a set maybe 2, but 5 may be a bridge too far.

So throw the form book out the window, forget about surface, weather and fatigue, Nadal is my massive favourite for this one

Yours Truly

A Roger Federer Fanatic