Federer welcomes having new challengers in Chung and Edmund at Australian Open
Roger Federer is happy to see Chung Hyeon and Kyle Edmund make their breakthroughs at the Australian Open to bring fresh blood to the sport.
Chung defeated Tennys Sandren 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 yesterday to follow Edmund into the semi-finals at Melbourne Park.
It is the first time in 10 years that an unseeded male player has made it to the semi-finals of a slam and the first time since 1999 that there have been two unseeded men through.
Federer will play Chung tomorrow after beating Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-3, 6-4. Edmund faces Marin Cilic today for a place in Sunday’s final.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Federer said. “They’ve got to make a move. I find it disappointing when their breakthroughs come at 27, because then we know them for seven years. I like it when we don’t know the guys.
“I hardly know Chung. I’ve hardly spoken to him. I had one Nike appearance once with Edmund over in London. That’s about it. Maybe otherwise I’ve shaken his hand twice and spoken a few words to him.”
It is likely to be a taste of things to come, with the old guard beginning to struggle badly with injuries – Federer aside – and the grand slams reverting to 16 seeds instead of 32 from next season.
“I think next year when we’ll have 16 seeds, it’s going to be quite different. That’s how I grew up with it. It’s nice to go back to that,” Federer said.
“I do believe in some ways it’s going to open some draws, but at the same time it’s going to be some really tough ones from the get-go, which I think is a good thing.
“Those first weeks sometimes have become really dull.”
Chung became the first Korean player to reach the last eight of a slam by beating an ailing Novak Djokovic. He followed that up by showing his class against Sandgren, an even more unlikely quarter-finalist.
“I’m very excited to play Chung,” Federer said. “I thought he played an incredible match against Novak. To beat him here is one of the tough things to do in our sport. I know that Novak maybe wasn’t at 100 per cent, but he was all right. To close it out, that was mighty impressive.
“I think it’s an interesting match for me. I’ll definitely have to look into how I need to play against him because he has some great qualities.”
Federer said afterwards that he sent a message to great rival Rafael Nadal following his withdrawal on Tuesday with injury during his quarter-final clash with Cilic and that the fate of his fellow top seeds had made him anxious.
“I was actually very nervous going into this match tonight, and that’s why I struggled very early on,” he said. “I knew the danger of Berdych. Seeing what has happened to so many other top seeds here in the draw, I was a bit wary.”