Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Reuters

Former world's no.1 Roger Federer has openly attacked incumbent top netter Rafael Nadal for what he believed a breach of rules committed by the Spaniard during their semifinal showdown at the Australian Open last month.

Federer, who lost to Nadal in three sets 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3 in their semis match, accused the Spaniard of using more time during injury break but surprisingly only given a two-point deduction throughout the course of their 33 matches.

"Rafa is doing a much better job today than he used to. I'm not complaining much about the time. But I think I've played him, what, three times. He's gotten two point penalties over the course of our rivalry. I just think that's not quite happening," Federer pointed out via Tennis Tonic.

"I mean, we know how much time he used to take. I'm not complaining about so many things. But either you have rules or you don't. If you don't have rules, it's fine. Everybody can do whatever they want to do," added Federer, who only won 10 times in 33 head-to-head encounters with Nadal.

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Federer believed following the rules is a must as a professional tennis player, whether he's a Grand Slam caliber player, top-10 contender or a journeyman in the ATP Tour.

"I just think it's important to enforce the rules on many levels, whatever it may be. On all the players the same way. Don't give me or Djokovic a free pass just because of who we are. I think we should all be judged the same way.

"Not just a guy on Court 16 because the guy had a brutal rally, you have to give him a time violation just because you can. On center court, they're always going to be afraid, the umpires, to take those decisions. I just like to challenge them a little bit," Federer stressed.

The Swiss Master also urged officials to be strict on the rules set because it would amount to nothing if it's not observed properly.

"I just hope they do their job correctly. If they don't, what are you going to do? Sit and watch. Sometimes you just got to say things. I didn't lose the match because of that. It didn't bother me. I just felt I had to mention something," added Federer, who boasts 17 Grand Slam titles in his career.

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