Federer vs Nadal: Top 5 Grand Slam matches between the LEGENDS

2. 2017 Australian Open final

Nadal and Federer at the 2017 Australian Open

Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal 6-4 3-6 6-1 3-6 6-3

Match Stats:

Time Duration: 3 hrs 38 minutes

Points Won: 150-139 (Federer)

Aces: 20-4 (Federer)

Winners: 72-35 (Federer)

Unforced Errors: 26-57 (Nadal)

Background:

At the beginning of 2017 Nadal and Federer were both coming back from a break. Nadal was ranked #9 in the world and Federer was 17th.

Nadal had his last Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open and Federer's last Major was 2012 Wimbledon. Many were of the opinion that both these legends wouldn't win a Slam again, so both Rafa and Roger started the tournament with low expectations.

The first two rounds were fairly easy for both, but in the third Nadal had to fight five sets to go past the young Alexander Zverev in an epic match. The fourth round proved to be tough for Roger; this time he had to play a five set match against Kei Nishikori.

Both registered straight set victories in the quarterfinal, but both had tough semifinals. Federer was pitted against compatriot Stan Wawrinka; Federer won the first two sets and Stan won the next two, but Federer won the fifth to enter the final.

Nadal's semifinal was against Grigor Dimitrov which also went into the fifth set, where he was able to seal the deal to enter his 4th Australian Open final to meet his arch rival.

The Match:

The first set started with both men holding their serve until Federer broke Nadal in the 7th game and went on to win the set 6-4. Nadal began dominating the second set, winning the first 4 games; Federer fought back a little by winning the next 2 but lost the set 3-6.

The third set had some very close games, but most of them went Federer's way and so he won the set by the score of 6-1.

Nadal fought back in the 4th set, breaking his opponent's serve in the 4th game and won the set to level the match.

Nadal began the fifth in the best possible manner, breaking in the very first game. Federer had 4 break points in the next game, but the Spaniard saved all to go 2-0 up.

After a hold of serve from both sides of the net, Nadal was 3-1 up and very close to claiming his 2nd Australian Open title. That's when Roger turned things around completely and won the next 5 games in a row to win his 18th Grand Slam title.

This was the beginning of an unforgettable comeback for Federer in 2017; he went on to win Wimbledon that year too.