Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka are playing in the Australian Open 2014 finals on the men's side and the TV coverage will be on the schedule for ESPN at 3:30 am on Sunday morning early from Melbourne and it will have the top seed against number eight and it comes after Nadal took down Roger Federer in the semis and the match will be from Rod Laver Arena.
The Australian Open had upsets on both sides of the draw this year with top ranked men and women falling left and right and both champions are out of it now and after Li Na won on the ladies side, there will be a new champion for the men since Novak Djokovic was beaten by Wawrinka. Djokovic had won this tournament three straight years and had a massive winning streak on the line and he had a much easier road to the finals, with Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray all on the other side of the draw, but now he is gone and Nadal has the chance to pad his number one ranking and a win would send Federer to eighth, his lowest ranking in years and he also will be out as the top Swiss player with Wawrinka making it to the finals.
Nadal was powerful and nearly unstoppable against Federer, having a return for seemingly every shot and he was masterful despite dealing with a very serious hand blister and now he has the chance to win again in Melbourne. The match with Federer was yet another win for Nadal and now the Spanish star has the chance to get back the trophy after losing an epic final against Djokovic two years ago that was nearly six hours and after missing it last year with an injury, he is back in the finals. Nadal has continued his excellent streak since coming back from his injury, winning the French and US Opens last year and now if he gets his hands on this he could end up with a two season spanning grand slam with hands on all four majors if he can also snag Wimbledon this year.
Nadal owns the French Open and he will the favorite for that tournament as long as he is healthy and now that injury that kept him back last season looks fully healed. Nadal got back the number one ranking in the world from Djokovic with his fantastic year and he also ended up winning the Qatar open heading into the Australian Open as a warmup. Federer had been looking good heading into the match, but Nadal was simply too much for him and now he will plummet in the rankings and on top of that, he loses out as the top Swiss player and that has to hurt a little bit and this comes after Federer did not make it to a grand slam final for the first time in over a decade. The 32-year-old will now prepare for the next major, while Nadal concentrates on trying to win his first Aussie Open in a number of years.
Check here for the Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka live coverage from ESPN.
