Nadal wins an epic match vs Federer to reach the 2012 Australian Open final – YouTube Video

It wasn’t the Spaniard slam.. but… it is! Rafa was plaguered by injuries (sholder and knee) a dwindling passion for the game (it does not look so by the way) and a new balanced racquet. And guess what? It does not matter, he is in the final and he managed to beat Federer again! 

Roger started with a sublime tennis in the first 20 minutes to get an early break (quickly wasted) to then win the opener at the tie-break. Then in the second set Rafa went into his groove and his tennis started to take off. The score was 2-2 and the Spaniard won 5 straight games (OK Roger went a bit on vacation at that point).

It was clear again that the more solid game of the Spaniard would give him a better milage, and in fact the world nr.2 was able to win the third set in an tiebreak (at 5 where he was leading 6-1 thanks to some unoforced errors by the Swiss) and the forth (6-4) where Federer missed some good opportunities to break back..

In a entertaing interview at the end of the match Rafa said.’For me is an honor to play against Roger,’ Nadal said calling Federer the greatest player in history along with Rod Laver. ‘I always saw him in front of me, one player better than me.’

Then talking about Murray, ‘Andy has to play more aggressive than usual,’ Nadal said , then paused. ‘That’s my advice. My advice is probably not very good because I lost to Novak six times.’

Well done Rafa!