A knee injury sustained in Melbourne last year had ruined last season for him.
It forced to take six months off after Wimbledon, he came to Australia not knowing what to expect and yet here he was, the champion again. He could not believe it.
“This one stands alone,” said Federer, 35, still slightly stunned by what he had achieved. “It’s so different than all the others. The first win always feels different because you make your breakthrough. Then you have these streaks when you win a lot and they feel different again. But this one is different.
“Everything seemed so perfect tonight. Especially winning it in the fifth, when I thought this wouldn’t happen. Plus it was against Rafa, after so long a time.”
Nadal, 30, had been Federer’s nemesis in major finals since Wimbledon 2007.
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Roger Federer is savouring his Australian Open triumph
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Eight times they had met on the final Sunday and six times,Nadal had won. But not this time.
“I go back a long way with him,” Federer said of Nadal. “I’ve seen him grow and become the legend that he is now. He’s hurt me and my career many times but he’s made me tougher. Without him, I think maybe I wouldn’t be here tonight.”
That losing record against the Spaniard had worn Federer down in the past. But given another chance, his coaches, Severin Luthi and Ivan Ljubicic, drummed into him that he still had the game to beat Nadal; this was his chance to prove it.
“They told me ‘it’s mental, it’s not physical’ and I think that’s what decided it,” said Federer.
“I embraced the fact that it was a big match. Don’t shy away from it. It’s big for me, for him, for everyone. And I had the necessary distance from it because I hadn’t played him in a final for a long time. I was just playing the ball and not the opponent.
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Roger Federer edged out old rival Rafael Nadal
“I think I started to play more clear again in the fifth set. I told myself, if you are going to win this match, you have to play up the court. I told myself to be offensive, all you need is a couple of good connections – I think that’s what paid off for me.
“It’s going to be a big party. I’ve got a long night ahead of me.”
“It’s true that I probably (lacked) a little bit of speed today compared to the last day in my legs probably, a little bit. But that’s normal after what happened one day and a half ago,” said Nadal of the five-hour semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov.
“I think I tried. I didn’t play bad. But it’s true it was difficult to play a lot because he really went for the shots, almost for every shot.”
The tournament was a major test of his fitness after a wrist injury wrecked Nadal’s 2016 season.
“I won against the best players of the world, and I competed well against everybody. That’s the most important thing for me, and that gives me confidence to keep playing, and that’s what I am going to try,” he said.
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