At an age when he’s supposed to be slowing down, the incomparable Roger Federer is perhaps even peaking ahead of his blockbuster Australian Open semi-final with Rafael Nadal.

Such has the landscape changed in men’s tennis that, for the first time in seven years, Federer and Nadal will clash at a grand slam on Thursday night but no trophy will be awarded to the winner.

Instead, Federer and Nadal will rekindle statistically the greatest rivalry in the history of men’s tennis merely for the right to contest the final.

If Novak Djokovic’s remarkable form continues, Federer or Nadal’s reward will be a showdown with a player now ranked above the two grand slam gluttons.

Federer, though, was relishing the prospect of posting back-to-back-to-back defeats in Melbourne over the only three other players since 2005 to have landed any major silverware.

Having crushed 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals to extend his four-and-a-half month unbeaten run to 30 matches, the white-hot Federer was itching for sweet revenge against Nadal.

The Spaniard’s five-set victory over Federer in the 2009 Open final – the pair’s only grand slam meeting on a hard court – reduced the Swiss master to tears.

He hasn’t forgotten.

“I’d like to get a chance to play him again here,” Federer said.

No two men have clashed more in grand slam finals.

Federer trails 6-2 – 7-2 overall including their 2005 French Open semi-final – but five of their encounters have been on clay, the surface on which Nadal has proven nigh unbeatable since reigning in Paris for the first of six times in 2005.

Federer, now a father of two who turns 31 this year, should be on the decline.

But like ageless cricketers Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and 11-times world surfing champion Kelly Slater, among others, the 16-times grand slam champion is intent on chalking up majors well into his 30s.

He fears nothing – no player and certainly no younger rival like Nadal, Djokovic or Andy Murray, despite their five-year age advantage.

“I’m really happy with my game. That’s what I’m most concerned with, to be quite honest,” Federer said.

“I’m moving well. I’m serving well. I’m hitting the ball clean.

“From now on, basically it’s only night sessions so it’s going to change now.

“It’s going to be an even easier sort of, to get a better feel for the ball.

“Then again, it’s going to be more athletic and tougher. I’m ready for that.”

Nadal is acutely aware of both Federer’s supreme fitness and scintillating form after suffering his heaviest ever loss to his friend and foe at the World Tour Finals in November.

After a poor end to 2011, Nadal was thrilled enough to make the last four at Melbourne Park for the first time in three years, but was happy to play the underdog role.

“Hopefully I will have my chances,” Nadal said.

“Always playing in these kind of surfaces, he’s the favourite. His level is fantastic.”

Win or lose, Nadal was eager to pen another chapter in one of sport’s most enduring rivalries.

“We talk about a player who won 16 grand slams and I won 10 and we played a lot of matches between each other and all in very important moments for our careers and very high moments,” he said.

“So the match is special. I don’t know how many we played, but the most were finals or a few semi-finals in a Masters Cup.

“But for everything, for what represents the match, all the matches against him are special and will be special even if we are 20 against 25.”