Federer vs. Nadal Preview and Prediction

It's one of those days again, when Federer and Nadal meet in a Slam - but only the second time that it's in a semifinal. The last time was at Roland Garros in 2004 where Nadal ultimately won his first of many Grand Slam Titles. Anyway, back to tomorrow's match.

Everyone knows what Nadal is going to come out and try; pummel Federer's backhand with his high bouncing forehands, eventually getting a short return which he can use to his advantage. Although this tactic is very predictable now, Nadal executes it perfectly and it is still very effective as there's not a lot Federer can do about it. In attempt to counter it he could try to keep the rallies short by trying to hit his backhand down the line, but Federer hasn't been able to do this very consistently in the past.

The key for Federer is to keep the rallies short and so will have to take advantage of any short balls Nadal gives him and try to work his way up the court, maybe ultimately finishing the point off at the net or extracting an error off Nadal's backhand side after pulling him wide. To do this Federer will have to be very confident in his groundstrokes as there's no room for complacency. Federer will have to get the balance between being aggressive AND playing percentage tennis correct.

Of course Federer must serve well to take the pressure off him in his service games as much as possible. I'm sure we'll see the wide slice serve a lot on the deuce side - he seemed to be experimenting a lot with it in their exhibition match at Abu Dhabi. Nadal normally stands very far back behind the baseline when returning serve, and Berdych was taking advantage of lots of short returns from Nadal in their last match. It was towards the end of the third set when Nadal started stepping into the court and being more aggressive on the return of serve, and Berdych's service games became more difficult. This is something we might see right from the start of the match.

That seems to be a lot things that Roger must do - but if anyone can do it, he can. He did this perfectly in London in November but I don't put much emphasis on that match as Nadal was not feeling 100% in that match, and a match over five sets is a different story. But if Federer serves well he is always very difficult to beat.

This will be the second time these two will do battle at the Australian Open. Federer came into their previous match as a hot favourite after completely pulling Roddick apart, whereas Nadal had that long marathon match with Verdasco which I'm sure we all remember. But it was Nadal who was victor then, not Federer and it is for this reason I don't really know who will win this match, but if I had to bet I'll go for Federer in 4.