Melbourne: Roger Federer has named his arch-rival Rafael Nadal as the favourite going into the year's first Grand Slam - the Australian Open.
"I'd always pick Rafael, he's had an incredible season last year, I think he won the Olympics pretty comfortably, crushed almost everybody on the way and I thought he was playing well at the US Open as well and I thought what I saw of him playing in Doha as well he was playing well there as well, just came up against Monfils who played well in three sets it's over in a hurry so let's not forget he didn't play in the masters so he couldn't really show there but I'd pick Rafael," said Federer, who hasn't won the Australian Open in the last couple of years.
World No 1 Nadal and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic are the top seeds in the men's and women's singles at the Australian Open tennis starting in Melbourne from Monday.
Earlier, Federer continued his build up to the Australian Open with a hard-fought win over Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the semi-final of the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne.
The world No. 2 won a two-hour-14-minute encounter in three sets 6-3, 3-6 and 7-6.
He will meet fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka or Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in Saturday's final.
Wawrinka and Gonzalez play on Friday.
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