Federer vs. Djokovic, Part 50—Which Australian Open icon will prevail?

However different their journeys were, they both led to this: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will clash for a milestone 50th time in a blockbuster semifinal at the Australian Open on Thursday. Djokovic has the head-to-head edge over Federer, 26-23.

It will be just the second men’s rivalry in the Open Era to reach 50 meetings—Djokovic has played Rafael Nadal 55 times, and the Serb leads that one as well, 29-26.

“I obviously have tremendous respect for Roger and everything that he has achieved in this sport,” Djokovic said. “He’s definitely one of my two biggest rivals. I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll say it again—the match-ups against Roger and Rafa have made me the player that I am today.

“I’m grateful to have had so many match-ups against those guys.”

A deeper look into Djokovic and Federer’s head-to-head might give Djokovic a slightly bigger edge than his overall lead. The Serb leads at the Grand Slams, 10-6, winning their last five meetings at the majors, and he’s also up 3-1 at the Australian Open, winning their last three meetings in Melbourne.

What Djokovic said:

But Federer did win the pair’s last encounter, a swift 6-4, 6-3 victory in the round-robin stage of the year-end Nitto ATP Finals. And though Djokovic has won seven Australian Open titles—the most for any man in tennis history—Federer is right behind him with six.

The two have combined to win 13 of the last 16 years in Melbourne. And how's this for a stat: every time Djokovic has gotten past the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, he has gone on to win the title.

“I don’t know [why we do so well]—I think conditions suit us well here,” said Federer, who’s won 22 of his last 23 matches at the event. “It’s probably something to do with court speed, and feeling comfortable down here. It helps when you start the year off with a bang. We were able to do that quite a few times.”

As for this match, Djokovic is definitely going to be the fresher of the two players. He’s only dropped one set in his first five matches, and that was just his third set of the tournament, on opening night. He’s spent a total of 10:11 on court.

Meanwhile, Federer has dropped five sets this tournament, and spent a total of 12:38 on court. Two of his last three rounds have been nail-biters—he rallied from 8-4 down in a fifth set tie-break to beat Australia’s John Millman in the third round, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8); and then fought off seven match points to escape American Tennys Sandgren in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3. Seven is the most match points Federer has ever saved en route to winning a match at a Grand Slam.

What Federer said:

Despite some physical struggles in his win over Sandgren, he’s hopeful for the semifinals.

“Semifinals, you have an extra day, adrenaline, there’s a lot of things," said Federer. "Two good nights of sleep, doctors, physios. Hopefully we’ll find out that it’s actually nothing bad, that it was just the groin that went really tight from playing a lot, who knows what, from nerves. I don’t know. But I’m hopeful.

“We’ll find out tonight, tomorrow. The next day we’ll see how it goes.”

Djokovic, whose 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (1) quarterfinal win over Milos Raonic was his 55th win in his last 58 Melbourne matches, was asked about Federer’s comeback victory against the 100th-ranked American.

“I hope I get to at least one match point in our match,” the Serb said. “It’s amazing what he did today—it’s why he is who he is.”

For more on the match, read Steve Tignor's preview.