Australian Open 2012 live stream

We seem to have been here before. Roger Federer, the master of the grand slam stage, facing Andy Murray, the man with the weight of history bearing down on his shoulders, doing battle in a major final.

Federer is hoping to win his 16th grand slam title; Murray is looking for his first – and Britain’s first in 74 years.

The two last went through this routine at the US Open in 2008 and Federer won. He had cruised into the last match, had a day off as a tropical storm washed out much of the final weekend, and he had the guile and the experience to snuff out Murray’s challenge in three sets.

Murray, on the other hand, had taken two days to get past Rafael Nadal in the semi final – thanks to the rain – and ended up scampering into the storm-delayed Monday final without having time to draw breath. For a lad unused to major finals at the best of times, much less at the rapidly rearranged times, it all came as something of a shock.

This time it is different. This time both men have had their time to prepare and their time to think. And this time, we might just be in for a cracker.

There are not many men who hold a winning record of the Mighty Fed but from the very early exchanges in their 10 match rivalry, Scotland’s finest showed that he had the knack of making Federer work and think. The second time they met, Murray won – Fed, admittedly, was exhausted at the time – and then he won again. Suddenly the Swiss master was a little perturbed.

When Murray set off on a four match winning run against the Swiss, Federer was not only perturbed, he was flummoxed. The Scot’s counter-punching ways often drove him to distraction and, last year, he seemed at a loss to know what to do next. Murray now leads their head-to-head 6-4.

This year, Murray has arrived in town as a different man. Not only has he gone through his usual, intensive physical training in the off-season, he has also added a new aggressive element to his play. Now he goes for winners rather than playing cat and mouse; now he will serve and volley when the moment seems right.

“So long as you’re calm in the head, it will be fine,” he explained. “I think whatever your tactics are for the match, if you know what you’re trying to do out there – like against Rafa I knew I had to go for my shots and play really aggressive – so long as you stay calm and remember to do that it’s OK. Sometimes if you’re thinking about other things, you can take your eye off the ball a little bit.”

It has been enough to whisk him through six rounds for the loss of only one set and now he waits to see whether it will be enough to earn him the title that he and his countrymen yearn for. But, deep at the back of his mind is the thought that when he played a more defensive style of tennis, he beat Federer regularly. The Scot, then, has several game plans up his sleeve and that, as Nadal pointed out after losing to Murray in the quarter-finals, makes all the difference.

“He can play offensive, he can play defensive,” Nadal said. “He can do a lot of things during the same match. So that's a most important thing. That's very important because you have different options when the match is complicated.”

But Federer, too, is a changed man from the emotional, tear-stained challenger who left Melbourne Park last year. Then he was still chasing history; then he was still desperate to beat Pete Sampras’s record of 14 major titles and, more than anything, he was praying that he could win his first French Open.

As the pundits and critics wrote him off after his loss to Nadal here 12 months ago, Fed charged back to win at Roland Garros, reclaim his title at Wimbledon and regain the No.1 ranking. And he became a dad, as well. Suddenly the burden of expectation that he had placed on his own shoulders was lifted and suddenly he could play freely again.

When he lost the US Open to Juan Martin Del Potro last year, there were no tears, just a slightly concerned look and a promise to go back to the drawing board: “Mental note to self: do not lose your way in the fifth set of a major final again.” The pressure had seemingly gone and the Mighty Fed could cope with anything.

So now he faces Murray. If Federer plays as he did in the semi-final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Frenchman believes that no one can stop the Fed. And if Murray plays like he did in the quarter-finals against Nadal, Nadal does not think anyone can stop him either.

The only certainty is that if both men play to the peak of the abilities, we are in for a belting final.