UNDER-FIRE FEDERER COMES OUT FIGHTING
BACK to the wall and under fire from a fellow professional, Roger Federer found his inner competitor as he lived to fight another evening at London’s O2 Arena. Aided by the hopelessly inept Dominic Thiem, he kept his hopes alive of making the Nitto ATP semi-finals by winning his second group encounter 6-2, 6-3 in 66 minutes. It had been an uneasy week for Federer, who lost his opening match and was subject of suggestions from retiring French player Julien Benneteau that he receives too many favourable scheduling decisions at tournaments, notably the Australian Open. He responded by backing himself both on and off the court. He briefly tackled the issues brought up by Benneteau, who had pointed to the investment Tennis Australia has made in the Ryder cup-style Laver Cup, which is primarily promoted by the Swiss legend and his management company. According to Federer, it is wrong to say he usually gets to choose when he plays. He said: ‘I get asked, would you like to play Monday or Tuesday sometimes. Sometimes I get asked, do you want to play day or night? Asia wants you to play at night. ‘Yes, sometimes we have our say. But I asked to play Monday at the US Open. I played Tuesday night. Sometimes I get help, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes they ask, sometimes they don’t. ‘But a lot of the facts are not right, just to be clear, from what I heard. Julien is a nice guy, I’ve known him since junior times, I think all of this has been totally taken out of context.’ Another bumper crowd backed up the earlier argument of Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley that Federer’s status makes him a unique draw in the game. The hapless Thiem made 34 unforced errors in a display which showed, partly, why the older generation have survived at the top so long. Federer now meets Kevin Anderson on Thursday, and will most likely need another win to progress. Anderson hammered Kei Nishikori 6-0, 6-1 yesterday. Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares emphatically booked their place in the semi-finals for the third time at this event when they defeated Colombia’s second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-4, 6-3.