Rafael Nadal’s exhaustion fears

Rafael Nadal admitted his exhausting five-set victory over Grigor Dimitrov will put him at a disadvantage against Roger Federer in the Australian Open final tomorrow (8.30am live on Eurosport, highlights BBC1 1pm).

Federer was also taken to five sets by Stan Wawrinka on Thursday but the Swiss star enjoyed an extra 24 hours rest than Nadal who, for television reasons, played his semi-final yesterday. At four hours and 56 minutes, Nadal’s epic 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7/5) 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 victory over Dimitrov took almost two hours longer than Federer’s.

And across the fortnight, Nadal has been on court for a total of 18 hours and 59 minutes, the equivalent of two routine matches more than Federer’s 13 hours and 41 minutes.