The last singles match of the Australian Open is the final the whole world and tennis fans everywhere wanted to see as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will fight it out for the men’s singles title on the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
There have been many huge tennis matches in the past but this one could just be the biggest of the lot as these two genuine legends of the game meet in a Grand Slam final once again, possibly for the last time. Federer will be looking for an 18th Slam in this match while Rafa will be eyeing up a 15th.
Roger Federer
It would be stretching it to say Roger Federer has played his best ever tennis this week but he has certainly shown glimpses of the game everyone has fallen in love with in the past. He has served brilliantly and his backhand looks to be in the best shape it has ever been and you get the feeling he has a big performance left in him.
Federer has come through a couple of five set battles in the tournament so far so that will give him confidence should this turn into a battle. He knows that his body is in decent enough shape after so long out and the evidence of his tennis and the way he has taken care of opponents like Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka suggests his game is good too.
Rafael Nadal
With all of his injuries in recent times Rafael Nadal might have been forgiven for thinking his days of competing in Grand Slam finals were done but we saw in the semi-final that he can still be a force to be reckoned with. In Grigor Dimitrov he faced one of the best young players in the game who threw everything he had at Nadal over almost 5hrs of tennis but when the going got tough we saw the very best of the Spaniard which could be ominous for Federer in this final.
That epic was the second five set match Nadal played in this tournament having earlier gone the distance with Alexander Zverev and on each occasion when the pressure was cranked up his best game came to the fore so you would think Nadal will head into the final with plenty of confidence behind him.
Head to Head
This will be the 35th official competitive meeting between the two greats. Nadal has a really strong record in their past meetings with 23 wins to Federer’s 11 but it must be said a lot of those wins are on clay. Away from the clay they are much more evenly matched with Nadal just shading it 10-9. This is their first meeting in 18 months.
Betting
A large part of this final will be how well Rafael Nadal has recovered from that marathon epic of a semi-final. Assuming that hasn’t left any lasting effects then we could be on for a battle of the ages here.
These two have met in six Grand Slam matches away from the clay and by and large they are lengthy affairs. Four of them have gone the distance and another one had four sets and with the way they’ve both played this week and the confidence they have shown, especially in the vital moments, there is plenty to suggest this will be another long clash.
Nothing will be lost on these two men. They’ve met so many times there is nothing new they can produce to surprise the other so I expect this final to fit in alongside their previous meetings and be long and full of quality. I’m with over 40.5 games here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 40.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfred
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
