Federer reflects on longevity

MELBOURNE: As the tennis world continued to digest the prospect of Andy Murray’s retirement, an evergreen Roger Federer pondered the ‘‘luck’’ of his longevity yesterday ahead of his bid for a hattrick of Australian Open titles.

Murray’s announcement that Melbourne Park could be his last tournament as a professional has made Federer’s (37) career seem even more incredible.

Seeking a 21st Grand Slam title and a record seventh in Melbourne, the Swiss will plough into his 20th consecutive Australian Open today with a firstround clash against Uzbek Denis Istomin.

While suffering an assortment of niggles common to all hardened professionals, Federer’s only major layoff came in 2016, after he tore his meniscus when running a bath for his twin daughters.

It happened a day after losing the Australian Open semifinal to winner Novak Djokovic, but a year later, he was back raising a fifth trophy at the tournament.

While knowing the limits of his body and praising his team for being able to patch him up, Federer admitted fortune had played a part in his longevity.

‘‘I definitely needed a little bit of luck,’’ he told reporters

‘‘If you look at how unlucky things were with the incident here a few years ago when I ran the bath, I guess the knee, that part of the body was ready to go.

‘‘Could have happened easily in the match against Novak, but it didn’t, maybe because I was warmed up. I have no idea what happened. I think you also need a little bit of luck.’’

The 31yearold Murray has been far less fortunate, with major hip surgery a year ago doing nothing to stop the pain that has driven the Scot to the brink of retirement.

‘‘I was disappointed and sad, a little bit shocked, to know now that we’re going to lose him at some point,’’ Federer said of Murray.

‘‘But we’re going to lose everybody at some point. . . I hope that he can play a good Australian Open and he can keep playing beyond that, really finish the way he wants to at Wimbledon.’’ — Reuters