They dare not say it, but history will weigh heavily on the shoulders of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s Australian Open final – and the pressure is being applied by someone who left here several days ago: Roger Federer.
Why these two wonderful players and rivals shy away from speculating about matching or overtaking his record of 20 grand slam titles is hard to fathom. Nadal has 17, Djokovic 14. And time is running out for both of them, more so the Spaniard, probably, who somehow won five singles titles last year with a body hardly fit to leave for science. Yet they pretend that winning more majors than Federer does not occupy their thoughts.
It is as if they may disturb the order of things – or even inspire the 37-year-old Federer to try for even more majors. Perhaps it explains why Federer declared after losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round that he would return to Paris after four years away while resting from the rigours of clay and throw himself into the game’s toughest challenge: winning the French Open with Nadal in it.
Nadal backpedalled furiously when asked if it was realistic to finish his career with more slams than the other two. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t take it like this. I always say the same: ‘I do it my way, then, when I finish my career, we’ll see where I am, where Roger is, where Novak is.’
“My goal is always the same: just be happy with what I am doing. I am more than happy, satisfied, about my career. My goal is just to keep doing the things that I am doing as long as possible. That gives me chances to compete at the highest level. If I’m able to make that happen, maybe I will keep having chances to win.”
There is no triangle of rivalry like it in sport – or rectangle, if you include the sizeable contributions of Andy Murray over the years, which now sadly seem to be at or near an end. They all need each other, though.
Nadal said: “All the rivals you feel are like you or better than you – Novak, Roger, Andy sometimes – I don’t say without them I will not keep improving, because I always have my personal motivation, but I say one thing: when you have rivals like this in front of you, it is easier to have a clear view about the things you have to improve.
“That’s the main reason, probably, why Roger, Novak and me, we’re still here, because we pushed each other during a lot of years.”
And now, one more heave. Djokovic, who has lost to Nadal on this surface seven times in 24 meetings and not at all on a hard court since the 2013 US Open final, is the favourite. The world No 1 was in astonishing form when he embarrassed Lucas Pouille in the second semi-final on Friday, for the loss of four games, two fewer than Nadal conceded in his match against Tsitsipas the previous day.
They have met 52 times and Djokovic leads by two victories. In 14 encounters in slams, Nadal leads 9-5. In seven finals, the honours go Nadal’s way, 4-3.
But Djokovic owns Melbourne. The only time they have played each other here, the unforgettable 2012 final, which lasted five hours and 53 minutes, Djokovic won, utterly spent – and it was all the more amazing, given he had to go four hours and 40 minutes against Murray in their semi-final 48 hours earlier.
That was his third Australian Open title. On Sunday, he reaches for his seventh, more than the six Federer and Roy Emerson have won. Then he, too, will push on to Roland Garros with his constant companions in pain.
If Nadal were to fall over, if Federer were to find the surface too demanding, he may win his 15th major and would go to Wimbledon as the favourite, with the prospect in New York of doing something no man has done since Rod Laver in 1969: sweep all four slams.
That would put him two behind Federer, one in front of Nadal. They have thought about it alright, and Djokovic should start that particular ball rolling on Sunday.
