Even fresh and healthy, winning would have been unlikely. Though Federer defeated Djokovic in a best-of-three-set match at the ATP Finals in November, he has not beaten him in a best-of-five-set match or a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon in 2012.

He came agonizingly close in the Wimbledon final last year, failing to convert on two match points on his own serve before Djokovic closed him out in the fifth set.

Federer has not beaten Djokovic at the Australian Open or the United States Open, the two Grand Slam events played on hardcourts, since 2009.

Not for nothing was Djokovic named the player of the decade for the 2010s by the men’s tour. And though he has won on every surface and at every major championship venue, it is perhaps Melbourne that brings out the best in his elastic, defense-to-offense game.

Federer, despite some brutal setbacks, has been the man to beat at Wimbledon, winning a record eight titles. Rafael Nadal has been tops, and then some, at the French Open, winning a record 12 titles there.

But Djokovic, 32, has ruled down under, accumulating a record seven Australian Open singles titles. He has gone 8-0 in semifinals and 7-0 in finals, overwhelming Nadal in straight sets for the championship last year. He will be the favorite again on Sunday when he faces either Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev, neither of whom has won a Grand Slam singles title.

It will be Djokovic’s first major final against a player who is more than a year younger than himself. Thiem is 26. Zverev is 22. Djokovic recalled his own path to success against older players, like Federer, and players with more big-match experience, like Nadal.