The Surface Matters!

Nadal is 12-6 against Federer ... so, Nadal's obviously the favorite in the Australian Open final, right? And, Nadal is 5-2 against Roger in grand slam events ... so it's a done deal, right? That's what ESPN would have you think. But, it's not that simple. Nadal has done a lot of damage against Federer in Paris, on the clay, at the French Open. Nadal also got Federer at Wimbledon last year. However, despite taking over the #1 ranking last year (from Federer), Nadal wasn't victorious at either hard court slam last year. In fact, Nadal hasn't even made a hard court GS final before this year. Maybe Nadal has turned the corner and will finally prevail in a hard court slam. Or, maybe Federer is back on top after a down year following a bout with mono. Either way, we can only hope that people are a little more diligent with presentation of statistics in the future.