As it has 20 of the 27 times they have met, victory favored Spain’s Rafael Nadal over Switzerland’s Roger Federer when tennis giants met Thursday night on Melbourne’s Rod Laver arena to determine who would advance to the finals of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
After the match, Nadal said that Roger Federer had motivated Nadal throughout his career. “It is fantastic to have one player in front of you, seeing him without mistakes, having a totally complete game—All my career I tried to keep learning because I always saw in front of me one player better than me,” Nadal said on ESPN after the match.
Rafael Nadal played his game, making 77 percent of his first serves, hitting few errors, and taking advantage of Federer’s faults. Federer made poor shot choices on occasion, feeding Nadal’s forehand when he might have gone elsewhere, hitting 63 errors for 46 winners and served at 64 percent on the match. After the first set, which Federer won after nearly an hour’s struggle, the Swiss player was on the defensive for the rest of the match.
