Golden oldies make Aussie Open special

Williams sisters and Federer all make final

The Australian Open may be the Grand Slam that North American tennis audiences pay the least attention to, but this year something very special is going on Down Under.

Early Thursday morning in Canada, Roger Federer advanced to the men’s final, in which he will face either his longtime rival Rafael Nadal or Grigor Dimitrov. Just a few hours earlier, Serena Williams advanced to the women’s final, where she will face her sister, Venus. The youngest of the three is Serena at 35 and time and injuries may dictate that this is one of the very last times we see these matchups in finals again. Federer, who returned to tennis after six months off to recover from back and knee injuries, was extended to five sets by Stan Wawrinka. Federer took the first two sets, but Wawrinka, a fellow Swiss, stormed back to take the next two sets after an injury timeout. That’s when Federer took a timeout of his own, returning after treatment to close out the match 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3.

“It’s real now. I can talk about playing a final for the first time. I’ve been dodging that bullet for a while,” Federer, who will play for his 18th Grand Slam singles title, said in an on-court interview after the match. “I’ll leave it out on the court and if I can’t walk for another five months that’s okay ... I think both of us never thought we’d be here potentially playing in a final.”

Serena Williams can’t say the same, but she had a little extra motivation as she beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2, 6-1. Her big sis, Venus, had already advanced to the final. No matter what, she said, “a Williams is going to win the tournament.”

Venus, as the eldest of the three Aussie finalists, spoke up about her role as a 36-year-old inspiration who has overcome Sjogren’s Syndrome to continue playing and her comments applied to three of the four finalists.

“What I will say about sport, I think why people love sport so much is because you see everything in a line. In that moment, there is no do-over, there’s no retake, there is no voice-over,” she said after her 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Coco Vandeweghe. “It’s triumph and disaster witnessed in real time. This is why people live and die for sport because you can’t fake it. You can’t. It’s either you do it or you don’t.” After beating Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the semifinals, Serena Williams will face sister Venus for the Australian Open title in Melbourne.