Australian Open 2012 Finals: Rafael Nadal Has Big Advantage over Novak Djokovic

Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal has a clear advantage over current No.1 in the world and arguable favorite to win the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic.

Granted, that's not saying much, because Nadal is already one of the all-time greats and he's only 25 years old.

What that statement does do is give a ton of credit to Djokovic though, who has been an absolute stud in the past year. He's destroyed everybody, including Nadal, on his way to winning three out of the four major titles in 2011.

He's currently the best in the world, and even a great like Nadal is going to have to play at the top of his game if he wants to come out the winner of the 2012 Australian Open.

Believe it or not though, despite all of Djokovic's dominance, Nadal does have a big advantage over him.

At this point you're probably wondering what they are. Let's check it out:

Health

Health is going to be the key factor in this final, and unfortunately for Djokovic, his is questionable at the moment. 

According to Ravi Ubha of ESPN, Djokovic has been dealing with allergies that are causing him some breathing issues during matches:

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Djokovic held up fine in southwest London and Flushing Meadows, but his health is a concern here. He suffered spells of breathing problems (yes, again), which were caused by allergies, against Murray and then David Ferrer in the quarterfinals.

"I've been trying to do everything possible to clear that out," Djokovic said. "But we are all surrounded with the flowers. It's really difficult to take that away."

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This is a huge advantage for Nadal, as he is very in shape and should be able to match up better if the match were to go long—which I expect it will.

Djokovic's Last Match

Andy Murray finally stepped up to prove that he could compete with the big names in the sport, pushing Djokovic to a near five-hour match in the semifinals.

Obviously Djokovic won and advanced, but he's now at a huge disadvantage as far as his overall conditioning and fatigue is concerned.

Which leads to the last advantage...

Rest

Because of the way the semis were scheduled, Nadal played his semifinal first, which means he had an extra day to rest.

Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal, but the allergy and breathing issue, plus the toll the Murray match would naturally take on his body, should all add up.

Overall, this gives Nadal a tremendous advantage, and I expect he will take advantage of it.