Vintage Federer as good as ever: McEnroe
An awestruck John McEnroe believes Roger Federer may be better now than when in his pomp and isn’t ruling out the great Swiss winning the Australian Open at 38.
McEnroe could only marvel as Federer wound back the clock to dismantle Filip Krajinovic for the loss of only six games to surge into the third round at Melbourne Park for the 21st straight year.
McEnroe hailed the Swiss’ silky shot-making as vintage 2008 and, at one point, said ‘‘just shake hands, you’ve got to be kidding’’ after the 20-times grand slam champion produced a ridiculous running forehand pass.
The victory set up a showstopper with home hope John Millman today, with world
No 12 Fabio Fognini the only other seed left in the pair’s otherwise depleted quarter of the draw.
Seven-times major winner McEnroe was asked if he felt Federer was better now than when he dominated tennis more than a decade ago.
‘‘I was just thinking about that. Is he better? Does he move better? He can’t possibly move better but he could possibly be better,’’ McEnroe said.
‘‘He won three out of four, probably three different times (in 2004, 2006 and 2007).
‘‘I don’t know if it is a concerted effort or just a match-up or the situation, but definitely he’s come into this tournament looking very sharp early, which is a good sign.’’
McEnroe said he learnt after watching Federer beat Rafael Nadal to win the 2017 Open in his first tournament back following career-saving knee rehab never to write off the ageless master.
Meanwhile, Australian Ajla Tomljanovic lost a tight threesetter against two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza in the second round yesterday.
The Spaniard won 6-3 3-6 6-3 in a match lasting two hours and 20 minutes.
Swiss sixth seed Belinda Bencic is through to the third round after a straight-sets win over Jelena Ostapenko.
Benic battled through to the last 32 with a 7-5 7-5 win over the 2017 French Open champion.
In other early action, Croatian 19th seed Donna Vekic enjoyed a routine 6-4 6-2 win over Alize Cornet.