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It is the rivalry to end all rivalries. The Granddaddy of the all. Top of the pops. And tennis fans are blessed in early January of 2017, to be the recipient of one more Federer vs. Nadal Grand Slam final.

Before we pop our popcorn and dive into the 35th edition of the rivalry, let’s take a trip inside the numbers:


35 Number of times Nadal and Federer have played. The pair will meet for the 12th time at a major, with Nadal holding the decisive 9-2 edge all-time. Only Federer and Djokovic (15) and Djokovic and Nadal (13) have met more at majors.

23-11 Nadal owns the 23-11 lifetime edge over Federer, which includes the aforementioned 9-2 at majors.

Here are some other splits:

Grand Slam Finals: Nadal leads, 6-2
ATP Finals: Nadal leads, 14-7
Hard court: Nadal leads 9-7
Australian Open: Nadal leads, 3-0

3 Nadal is one of just 3 active players who have had more than one career meeting with Federer to hold a winning head-to- head – the others are Djokovic (23-22) and Dominic Thiem (2-1).

4 Federer has a losing head-to- head against just 4 players at the Grand Slams where multiple matches have been played – Nadal (2-9), Alex Corretja (0-2), Arnaud Clement (1-2) and Djokovic (6-9).

28 Federer has reached his 28th career Grand Slam final in Melbourne. He has been to seven more major finals than anyone else. Nadal, meanwhile, moves into a tie with Djokovic for second all-time with 21. Here are the top four:

Roger Federer 28
Novak Djokovic, 21
Rafael Nadal, 21
Ivan Lendl 19

5 This is just the fifth time in the Open Era that two players aged 30 or greater have contested a Grand Slam final. It has not happened since 2002, when Pete Sampras met Andre Agassi. It hasn’t happened since 1972 in Australian when Ken Rosewall met Mal Anderson for the title.

18:59 Amount of time that Nadal has spent on court during his six matches at Melbourne. Nadal needed to win five-setters vs. Alexander Zverev (4:06) and Grigor Dimitrov (4:56). Federer has spent just 13:40 on the court despite having to win multiple five-setters as well. He defeated Nishikori in the round of 16 in five sets (3:24) and Wawrinka in the semis (3:05).

1.900 Combined number of wins that Federer (1086-245) and Nadal (814-175) have earned over the course of their careers.

2 x 4 Nadal is bidding to become the first player in Open Era history to own two or more totals at all four Grand Slams.

Roland Garros: 9 titles
Wimbledon: 2 titles
US Open: 2 titles
Australian Open: 1 title

3 Nadal ended a three-match losing streak in five-setters at majors with his win over Alexander Zverev in the third round. He has reached a Grand Slam final for the first time since the 2014 French Open.

3 Nadal has not won a hard court title in more than three years. He last triumphed on this surface at Doha in 2014.

6 Federer is bidding to become the sixth man in Open Era history to win multiple major titles after turning 30. Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver each won four titles after turning 30, while Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Stan Wawrinka have each won two.

1974 At 35, Federer is the oldest male player to contest a Grand Slam final since 1974, when a 39-year-old Ken Rosewall reached the U.S. Open final.


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