USA TODAY International Edition
Tennis legends set for showdown Down Under
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will meet in Australian Open semifinals.
For the 50th time in their tennis careers, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will face off, this time in the Australian Open semifinals. If the last time these two played each other in a Grand Slam tournament is any indication, this could be another epic match.
In the 2019 Wimbledon final, they battled through a nearly five- hour match, with Djokovic, the 32- year- old Serb, coming out on top, 7- 6 ( 7- 5), 1- 6, 7- 6 ( 7- 4), 4- 6, 13- 12 ( 7- 3). It was his 16th Grand Slam title as he tries to catch Federer ( 20) and Rafael Nadal ( 19).
Djokovic is playing on his best major court with seven of his Grand Slam titles being won in Melbourne, competing for back- to- back Australian Open trophies.
Despite that, the Djoker still hopes for at least a chance to beat his rival in the semifinals. After defeating Milos Raonic 6- 4, 6- 3, 7- 6 on Tuesday, Djokovic said of 38- year- old Federer: “Obviously tremendous respect for Roger ( and) everything he has achieved. He has been one of the all- time greats and definitely one of my two biggest rivals. And I’ve been saying this many times, I’ll repeat it again: The matchups against Roger and Rafa have made me a player I am today. So I’m grateful I have had so many great matches against those guys. I hope I get to at least one match point in a few days.”
Djokovic leads Federer 26- 23 overall and 10- 6 in Grand Slam matchups.
In his quarterfinal match Tuesday, Federer pulled off a wild comeback victory, beating American Tennys Sandgren 6- 3, 2- 6, 2- 6, 7- 6 ( 10- 8), 6- 3. The 38- year- old Swiss player saved seven match points in the fourth set, which included coming back from a 6- 3 deficit in the first- to- 10 tiebreak.
“You’ve got to get a bit lucky sometimes – I’ll tell you that,” Federer, who struggled as his groin and leg muscles tightened up, said. “I think he played his match. I think I got incredibly lucky today. And then as the match went on, I started to feel better again and all the pressure went away, and I just tried to play. ... So I don’t deserve this one, but I’m standing here and I’m obviously very, very happy.”
In his third- round match against John Millman, Federer was down 8- 4 in a final- set tiebreaker and rallied to win six straight points to win.
At one point in the quarterfinal match, Federer received medical attention from the trainer, which he said he doesn’t like to do because he thinks it shows his opponent a “sign of weakness.”
Federer continued: “I just said, ‘ I believe in miracles.’ There could be rain, there could be stuff. It wasn’t bad enough where I thought I was going to get worse. It was just stiff and tight and whatever you want to call it, and just let him finish me off in style and he didn’t do that, so just incredibly lucky tonight, today, whatever. …
“You do feel better in a couple of days, so you never know again. And with these lucky escapes, all of a sudden you might play without any expectations anymore because you know you should already actually be skiing in Switzerland, not on the way there. … So lucky to be here and might as well make the most of it.”
Djovokic and Federer’s semifinal match at Melbourne Park is scheduled for Thursday morning, which will be at 7 p. m. ET Wednesday ( ESPN).