Fair enough. But if Rafa's a robot then he's a crappy one if he gets out on court the way he did at the AO F this year.
Don't think either draw is particularly easy for either of them at this point. On paper either player should get by until they meet each other, but they have to play against players who won't go down easy. In Fed's draw it's Wawrinka, for Nadal it's Schwartzman. Tiafoe could be tough against Fed, and Goffin potentially so against Nadal (based off their most recent matches at least anyway), but I'm sure neither Fed nor Rafa would mind swapping draws in that particular round if they could.
The reports are about extremely slow conditions and that both is a disadvantage for Federer and an advantage to Nadal.
Especially agains Wawa, when Wawa can set up for his shots Federer is in for a huge dogfight and I am not confident that he will come out on top in the end. Tiafoe is dangerous because he is playing on his own turf and can also bring physicality to a match, which against Federer, if Federer had a huge match with Wawa can play a role. His next opponent could be potentially easier than Nadal's, but by that time he might not be there or extremely vulnerable, if Cilic plays well.
Nadal has Schwarzmann, who can play a physical game, but he has no weapons, and Nadal is in great physical shape to be concerned for the later rounds. Then Goffin, who is also lost against a player with weapons (David and Diego are not close only in first names), and he doesn't even have the advantage of great fitness. Isner is a big deal though. He plays on his home turf and his serve does damage even on the slowest surfaces. The thing is that Nadal has a clear strategy there: if he manages to return well Isner has already lost in such conditions.
All in all, Federer has the harder draw, and I expect him to fall before he meets Nadal if his opponents play to their current known level. Nadal will cruise in the earlier rounds, but, depending on how far he wants to go, we might see an "upset" against Isner or a showdown against someone from the other side of the draw.
The big unknown are the young guns, who are very inconsistent in their form and can get hot or just totally disappoint in less than ideal conditions.
