Federer’s perfect comeback
After winning 18th title, Roger says: Keep playing Rafa, please, tennis needs you
MELBOURNE: An emotional Roger Federer wiped away tears and urged Rafa Nadal to stay with him on the tour for years to come after felling his great rival to win his fifth Australian Open yesterday.
Completing a brilliant comeback after six months out of the game, the nerveshredding 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win gave Federer a long-awaited 18th Grand Slam title that many thought beyond the 35-year-old Swiss.
Having endured a decade of Grand Slam heartbreak against Spaniard Nadal, 17th seed Federer roared back from 3-1 down in the tense final set, riding a wave of crowd support at a heaving Rod Laver Arena to mow through five straight games.
Federer sealed the title with a forehand winner on the second championship point but had to endure a nervous wait as Nadal challenged the line call.
The ball was good and Federer jumped in the air, with tears welling up in his eyes, having won his first Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012.
Federer was presented with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup by Australian great Rod Laver, sharing an embrace with the 11-times Grand Slam champion.
“I’d like to congratulate Rafa on an amazing comeback,” Federer said at the trophy ceremony.
“I would have been happy to lose, too, to be honest, (my) comeback was perfect as it was.
“Tennis is a tough sport, there are no draws but if there was going to be one I would have been very happy to accept a draw tonight and share it with Rafa,” he added.
The win snapped Federer’s six-game losing streak to Nadal at the Grand Slams, with his last major win over the Spaniard coming at the 2007 Wimbledon final.
It made Federer the first player ever to win five titles at three different Grand Slams and at 35, the oldest Grand Slam winner since Ken Rosewall won the 1972 Australian Open at 37.
“Everybody says they work very hard, I do the same,” said Federer, who arrived in Australia full of doubts after coming back from a knee injury.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it here but here I am and we made it.
“Stay on the tour, keep playing Rafa, please, tennis needs you, so thanks very much for everything you do.”
Lefthander Nadal, also returning from injury this year, showed sustained periods of his brutal best from the baseline but was just unable to stay with his rival in the gut-wrenching drama of the deciding set.
The Swiss, for many the greatest player of all time, celebrated with tears in his eyes but his first words were for his old friend and rival.
Nadal, the 2009 champion, was also typically gracious after losing his third Melbourne final and coming up short in his bid for a 15th Grand Slam title.
“It was a great match and I think Roger probably deserved it a little more than me,” the 30-year-old said. “I played a great quality of tennis. “That’s great news for me. “I believe that if I have my body in the right condition, I can have a great year.”
Federer made the slower start to the contest but it was the Swiss who made the first breakthrough, converting the first break point of the match with a forehand ALSO INSIDE Cobras thump Titans, P18 Ghana into semis, P19 Proteas getting better, P18 winner to go 5-4 up.
That was enough to take the opening set but this was never going to be a straightforward win for either player and Nadal was all over his opponent’s serve at the start of the second and grabbed a 2-0 lead.
Federer had two break points in the next game but Nadal fought them off and then broke again as his rival struggled for accuracy under the Spaniard’s onslaught.
Four big forehands gave the Swiss a break back but Nadal held firm to serve out the set and Federer needed three aces to save three break points at the start of the third.
The momentum had swung, though, and Federer stepped up a gear and rattled off the next two games with Nadal left scrambling to fend off a second break in a marathon fourth game.
He was unable to repeat the feat in the sixth game and Federer, his crosscourt backhand causing Nadal all sorts of problems, secured a two sets to one lead with a drop volley.
The pendulum had not finished swinging yet, however, and Nadal broke for 3-1 in the fourth and held under huge pressure in the next game with a brilliant crosscourt forehand winner at full stretch.
Nadal again closed out the set and Federer took a medical timeout before the start of the decider, returning to court only to give up his first service game.
Federer was not prepared to give up easily on a first Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012, though, and upped his aggression to put the set back on serve at 3-3 when Nadal sent a rasping forehand wide.
He needed another five break points on Nadal’s next service game before the Spaniard finally cracked as Federer sealed the title with a forehand winner that Hawk-Eye confirmed hit the line.
“In the fifth set, I didn’t win one serve easily.
“Even if I played great in the break points, I was suffering a lot,” said Nadal.
“He probably remained a little bit more free on points on my serve.
“That’s what I needed in that moment, and I didn’t have.”
With Federer’s contemporary Serena Williams having won the women’s title for the seventh time on Saturday, the 2017 Australian Open is destined be remembered as the retro slam.
Federer gave a reminder that no one is immune to the ravages of time, however.
“Now it’s time to celebrate in a massive way,” he said.
“(But) at 35 years old, I don’t like to say it, but I’m so old and so the body hurts, it aches.” – Reuters