Rafael Nadal makes surprising Australian Open claim about Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal says he was not surprised to hear Roger Federer crashed out of the Australian Open. Federer was knocked out of the Australian Open by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round on Sunday “Surprising or not, I will not say no because always when Federer is on court, is always surprise when he loses, no?” Nadal said. “But we know they are good. We know that Stefanos is one of these players that can win against everybody. Was a surprise but not a very big surprise. I know Stefanos is ready to win against everybody.” Nadal watched the first set of Federer vs Tsitsipas - which went the way of the world No 3 via a tiebreak. “I saw the first set, then I went for dinner,” Nadal added. “Being honest, I saw the first set. Yeah, I went for dinner with the team. We are Spanish, so we went for dinner late. We don't come back that early. It was a good quality of tennis in that first set. Very emotional tiebreak. Then I didn't see it. But I saw him play today. I saw him play against [Nikoloz] Basilashvili the other day. He's a charismatic player. Good shots from both sides, good serve. Yeah, is a good challenge for me. I hope to be ready for it. I think I am playing well.” Even though Nadal was out for dinner, he still had one eye on his close rival. “I think Roger in the second set was unlucky,” he said. “I was following on the live score. A lot of breakpoints in key moments that probably if he takes one of them, one of that breakpoints, probably will be a big difference on that score.”

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