Nadal: Federer has advantage

Rafael Nadal has insisted that he is at a disadvantage when he faces Roger Federer in the Australian Open final after the Spaniard’s gruelling semi-final victory over Grigor Dimitrov.

Federer also played out an exhausting five sets in his win against Stan Wawrinka on Thursday, but will have an extra 24 hours to recover as Nadal, for television reasons, played his respective semi-final on Friday.

Nadal has clocked up a total playing time of 18 hours and 59 minutes in this year’s Australian Open, while Federer has played 13 hours and 41 minutes.

This is Federer’s first official tournament since his appearance at Wimbledon last year, while Nadal cut short is campaign in October to tend to a wrist injury.

"These kind of matches, even for the body, it destroys your body, but that's tennis, that's special, much more special than playing best-of-three. It should be like this, in my opinion," Nadal said.

"For me it is fair enough. It is true that if you play a match like I had today, it probably is true that you are in disadvantage, yes.

"But that's a special situation, no? I cannot complain about that."

The two met back in 2009, with Nadal emerging victorious after five sets, and the 30-year-old insisted he is delighted to make the final after a tough semi-final.

"I have a fantastic match. I am very emotional; I think Grigor played great. I played great. So it was a great quality of tennis tonight," the former world number one said.

"So just for me, is amazing to be through to a final of a grand slam again here in Australia at the first of the year. It means a lot to me.

"It is special to play with Roger again in a final of a grand slam, I cannot lie.

"It is great. It is exciting for me and for both of us that we are still there and still fighting for important events. So that's important for us, I think. That's very special.

"After that it is a final. It is a very important match for both of us. I hope to be ready to compete well again. I need to go back to the hotel, to rest well, and to recover from now."

Image/GettyImages/PatScala

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