Rafael Nadal laughed off Novak Djokovic's supposed breathing problems and hit back at suggestions that the schedule handed his rival an unfair advantage.
After a final practice session ahead of Sunday's Australian Open final, Nadal made it clear he thought Djokovic's health issues were overplayed.
"It's funny, no?" Nadal said of Djokovic being wounded one hour and fighting fit the next against Andy Murray on Friday night.
He added, "I saw the match on the TV [which showed Djokovic] in the fifth set moving fantastically well, and they show images from two hours and 50 minutes before and seems like he was destroyed ... two hours and 50 minutes later, he was in perfect condition. So is difficult to imagine that he has these problems."
Nadal, who lost the past six matches to Djokovic, was in no mood to feel sorry for the world No. 1 on the issue of recovery time, following rumblings in the Serbian's camp about him being disadvantaged.
The Spaniard was fortunate this year to be handed an extra day to prepare under a scheduling policy to split the semifinals across two days but is living by the "what goes around, comes around" mantra.
"Well, that's what it is. In 2009, I played longer in the semifinals," Nadal said. "I played more than five hours at very high intensity, too. I had only one day, and Federer had two, no?"
Nadal went on to win that final on a shorter break.
"I was recovered for the final, so I think you can say it's unfair, yes, but not crazy unfair," Nadal said. "Really unfair is the US Open, when you don't have [a] day off between semifinals and final. That's really unfair. If the match of [Friday] happened in the US Open and the other semifinal is in straight sets, you are in big trouble for the finals."
Of Djokovic's plight, Nadal said, "Having one day off, I believe you are not in big trouble."
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