Roger Federer: No Shame in Losing to Rafael Nadal at Australian Open

Another Grand Slam tournament, another tough "Trivalry" defeat for Roger Federer.

The Swiss master sliced and diced his way to the semifinal round at the 2012 Australian Open, only to run into his greatest foil—Rafael Nadal.

And, as he'd done 17 times before, Federer failed to play his way past Nadal, finding himself befuddled by more than just Nadal's jarring grunts once again.

The result? A three-hour-and-42-minute masterpiece of a match for everyone at Melbourne Park to see, even if it didn't yield a particularly favorable result for Federer. Nadal was able to advance to the final, 6-7 (7-5) 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-4, though not before Federer put up a brilliant fight of his own.

Federer dominated at the outset, holding Nadal off the scoreboard for the first 17 minutes, though he was still unable to keep the feisty Spaniard out of the running entirely. Nadal had the upper hand for most of the match from there on out, though Roger did fight back on several occasions, including a pair of remarkable passing shots in the second set.

The fact that this particular meeting didn't take place on clay/wasn't at Roland Garros didn't seem to tilt the table in Federer's favor—nor did the litany of injuries, nagging and otherwise, that Nadal has suffered through of late. The Spaniard nearly withdrew from the Aussie before it ever began, on account of knee and shoulder problems, and spent some time in a local hospital this past Sunday.

Losing to anyone who's under that much physical duress is hardly a good sign for Federer's future. Neither is his current drought in majors that's officially reached the two-year mark.

That being said, Federer's latest match served as proof that he still has plenty of sparkling tennis left in the tank, even at the age of 30. The gap between himself and Nadal and Novak Djokovic may be growing ever so slightly, but the distance between Federer and the rest of the field below remains far greater.

Tennis fans can only hope that Federer won't decide to hang them up anytime soon, even if the rest of the "Trivalry" remains an impediment to his own on-court success. After all, having three great players atop the sport is better than just two, even if only one can win at any given time.

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