Federer still has a ball in old routine

There is the youngest player in the field, 15-year-old qualifier Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. Then there is Australia’s 18-year-old Alex de Minaur, who made Saturday’s final of the Sydney International.

But Federer, the defending champion, is likely to last longer than either of them, even if it feels odd to the man himself that he is expected to go all the way to the final.

‘I play down my chances just because I don’t think a 36-year-old should be a favourite of a tournament,’ the Swiss said ahead of his first round against Aljaz Bedene.

This time last year we would be getting quite excited about that match-up, with Bedene then playing under the British flag before he reverted to his native Slovenia last month, after failing in his attempts to be allowed to play in the davis Cup for great Britain.

But the level of British interest is not the only thing different about the match from 12 months ago. Back then Federer was regathering himself after a six-month break to recover from back and knee issues. As No 17 seed, there were doubts whether he would make the second week.

‘This year I hope to win the first few rounds and get rolling, whereas last year I was just hoping to win a match,’ he said.

‘I thought: “I’m not at 100 per cent, but you never know in a week’s time what’s going to be happening”. If you’re in the draw, you give yourself a chance. That’s what happened for me last year. It all ended up way better than I thought it would’

That is Federer’s usual understatement, and he regards that two weeks as something more significant than his summer triumph at Wimbledon, which took him to 19 grand Slam titles: ‘It was the tournament of the year for me, no doubt about it.’

Federer is only here as favourite because of the unseen work he does, which is responsible for the optical illusion of his play seeming almost effortless. He is keen to point out the reality, and disputes that his more aggressive game style is necessarily easier on his physique.

‘The off-season is tougher than playing tournaments — for me. I work hard in the off-season to create a base that serves me well throughout the season, and then I rework the base time and time again throughout the year. I think that’s very important.

‘I think attacking tennis also has a lot of wear and tear on the body because being highly explosive is something that’s a big challenge.

‘Playing more of a reactive game is maybe more physical in the sense that you play longer rallies, you spend more time on the court, but it’s always pretty much the same. It’s a similar rhythm. There’s not that much sprints going on in this regard.

‘We talk about Murray and djokovic being grinders. I mean, I think they actually play quite aggressive. even rafa is standing closer to the baseline normally than he ever has in the past as well.’

Also key for Federer’s longevity is that he still loves the game and all its trappings. doing everything fivestar and first-class with a coterie of staff obviously helps in maintaining an enthusiasm that he compared to other stages of his career.

‘I loved the time when I was coming up and playing my heroes from TV. It was like a little boy in the candy store,’ he said.

‘When I was No 1 in the world, winning all these tournaments, that was a lot of fun, too. It’s nice that it’s never gone away, the fun aspect of actually enjoying the travel, coming back to Australia.’

of course, not everyone finds the tour as much fun as Federer does. A reminder of that came with the elimination of Bernard Tomic from the rain-delayed final round of qualifying.

So talented that he reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2011 when 18, this year Tomic was denied a wildcard. He lost 6-1 6-7 6-4 to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and, after walking off court, said: ‘I just count money, that’s all I do, count my millions,’ a reference to his previous frank comments about playing the sport for its financial rewards.

For every Federer, there are others who end up finding this a far more arduous life, which is why it pays not to get too carried away by the prospects of youth like Kostyuk and de Minaur.