Fed got tactics wrong

Federer slumped to his fifth straight defeat to Nadal as the Spaniard triumphed 7-5 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-2 on the Rod Laver Arena.

And former world number two Stich believes that Federer needs to change his tactics if he is to stand any chance of reversing his losing trend against Nadal.

"I think it is just a matter of changing the pace," Stich told Eurosport. "Roger always plays at the pace Rafa likes.

"His serve was not as good today so it didn't give him as many free points. Roger hasn't got his tactics right for probably the last 10 meetings now.

"(He needs to) look at the video tape at some stage and figure it out because if you lose you might as well change things.

"(You need to) play the drop shot, make him move forward and sideways and that's what I don't get about Roger's play, he keeps playing the kind of tennis Rafa loves.

"It was pure will, mental toughness and physical toughness (from Nadal). Rafa has so much will and strength that he deserved to win today."

Former British number one Greg Rusedski also believes that Federer needed to mix up his play more in order to beat Nadal, highlighting the serve and volley tactic in particular.

"It was unbelievable," Rusedski said. "At the start it looked like Federer was going to be in control. But he never got the tactic completely right.

"I wish he would have come in a bit more and taken it to Nadal. Federer should have serve and volleyed earlier on because Nadal was standing so far back (to receive). If he had mixed it up more, serve and volleyed a bit more, Nadal would have had to try something different.

"I don't think (Federer) served as well as he would have liked. I wish there could have been more variety in his tactics but Federer just doesn't seem confident to take that kind of play out against Nadal."