TURN BACK THE CLOCK
Federer rules at Aussie Open
So here MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA was Roger Federer, down a break in the fifth set in a grand slam final. Across the net was his nemesis Rafael Nadal, the left-handed Spaniard he hadn’t been able to beat in a major final in almost a decade.
The 35-year-old father of four was back in his first tour-level tournament after six months off letting his injured left knee recover, and he hadn’t won any of the big four events in tennis since Wimbledon 2012. Nadal was returning from injury too, and somehow the pair had renewed the Roger-Rafa rivalry in a throwback Australian Open final.
At that moment, an 18th grand slam title didn’t feature in Federer’s thinking. Don’t play the player, he reminded himself, just play the ball. Attack the serve.
With that, Federer recovered the break and seized momentum in a roll of winning 10 consecutive points that helped propel him to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win late Sunday night. His fifth Australian title extended his buffer to four atop the list of all-time grand slam champions. Nadal remained tied with Pete Sampras in second place with 14.
“For me it’s all about the comeback, about an epic match with Rafa again,” Federer said, “…that I can still do it at my age after not having won a slam for almost five years.
“That’s what I see. The last problem is the slam count — honestly, it doesn’t matter.”
Federer had lost six of the previous eight grand slam finals he’d played against Nadal and was 11-23 in their career meetings. His last win over Nadal in a major final was at Wimbledon in 2007.
“It remains for me the ultimate challenge to play against him,” Federer said. “It’s super sweet, because I haven’t beaten him in a grand slam final for a long time now.”
By winning in Melbourne, where he first played in 2000 and where he kicked off his long reign at No. 1 with the title in 2004, he became the oldest man since Ken Rosewall in 1972 to win a slam.
Federer had lost five semifinals in Australia since his title in 2010. He’d lost three major finals since that last slam in 2012. He hadn’t played Nadal in a major final since losing at the French Open in 2011.
After twice rallying from a set down, Nadal was a break up in the fifth but couldn’t hang on to become the first man in the Open era to win each of the four majors twice. Instead, Federer became the first man in the Open era to win three of the grand slam events at least five times (seven Wimbledon titles, five U.S. Opens, five Australian Opens and one French Open).
The long-odds final — No. 9 against No. 17 — unfolded after sixtime champion Novak Djokovic was upset by No. 117-ranked Denis Istomin in the second round and top-ranked Andy Murray, a fivetime losing finalist in Australia, went out in the fourth round to 50th-ranked Mischa Zverev.
“Congratulations to Roger … Just amazing, the way he’s playing after such a long time of him not being on the tour,” Nadal said. “For sure, you have been working a lot to make that happen.”
“I fight a lot these two weeks,” he added. “Today, a great match. Probably Roger deserved it a little bit more than me.”