Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are meeting on Friday morning in the Australian Open semifinals and the matchup starts at 3:30 am ET from Melbourne on ESPN/ESPN2 and streaming online from WatchESPN and this matchup between Nadal and Federer could be the final time they meet in a major.
Federer made it into the semifinals after defeating Andy Murray in four sets and he continued his streak of 11 straight grand slam semis and Nadal made it in after beating Grigor Dimitrov and that was a tough four sets and now the two rivals face off. Nadal has won the two matches against Federer they have played in the Australian Open and now they will get the chance to face off against Stanislas Wawrinka in the finals, as he defeated Tomas Berdych. Nadal has been playing very well, but he has a bad blister on his hand that has been affecting him and that could be a factor in the match.
Nadal has the career record against Federer in his favor, but this could be different with the blister and also with Federer playing some good tennis. Murray didn't have any answers for Federer and only snagged one set in a tiebreaker, while Nadal dropped the first set and then came back and now he is in position to win his first Australian Open in years if he can get past Federer, who did not win a slam last year, while Nadal got two. Nadal and Novak Djokovic played an epic final two years ago and now the three time defending champion in Djokovic is gone and that means Nadal, Federer or Wawrinka will be the one holding up the trophy.
Check here for the ESPN coverage of the Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer match.
Nadal is coming into the Australian Open after missing it last year and he won the French Open and the US Open last season and had a fantastic record on hard courts and now he will play against his top rival. The match between Federer and Nadal comes later in a slam than they have in a while and both are coming in playing well. Nadal started off slow and held strong in the middle two sets and won in tiebreakers and then he took command in the fourth set and went up 2-0 and ended up winning 6-2 and he will have to be on his game to beat Federer despite his older age. The former number one player is taking on the current number one player and this would be a pretty decent upset in a way now and also not an upset and this is the 33rd time the two players are matching up and they are playing against each other again in a grand slam.
Nadal and Federer are playing in a grand slam semifinals for the first time since this tournament two years ago and that set up the epic Djokovic match and now Federer will be looking to get back to a finals matchup. Nadal and Federer have good records against Wawrinka and he has not won a match against Nadal in his career and that is now at 12 in a row and against his countryman in Federer he is 1-13.