Holiday hit-up takes on new edge in Aussie final
The last time Roger Federer played Marin Cilic there was no-one there.
Federer and his family had arrived for a holiday on the small islands of the Maldives when, days later, Cilic arrived with his fiancee. The staff alerted Federer to the fact another tennis player had arrived. It was okay – the islands might be disappearing from climate change, but they would not be sunk by the presence of two heavyweight tennis players.
They ignored each other for two days – it was the holidays after all. Besides, it was November last year and only months earlier Federer had clinically beaten Cilic on centre court at Wimbledon. Cilic’s body had stopped him asking if his game was good enough to beat the world’s best.
It was Cilic first.
‘‘When he arrived I didn’t want to bother him. He didn’t want to bother me,’’ said Federer. ‘‘After who reached out
two days, he wrote me ‘I’m here, too, in case you want to catch up and stuff, let me know’. I was like, ‘Sure, let me know if you want to hit’. He was eager to hit because it’s good to stay in the rhythm for both of us. We also met up later for drinks, met his fiancee. We had cake together, my whole family and him.
‘‘We had a good time. It’s not like we’re hanging out all the time, but our paths crossed a few times. We actually went to practice twice for 45 minutes. It’s great fun. No coaches, no nothing, just the two of us on the court. hitting balls. It was just nice and laid-back. To get to know the man behind the tennis player, I guess, even though I got to know him better through the Laver Cup and so forth.’’
There will be more people there when they play next. Federer advanced through to the Australian Open final on Friday night, but did not win through. His opponent Hyeon Chung was forced to retire with severe blisters to his feet when he was down 5-2 in the second set, having lost the first 6-1.
Federer has yet to drop a set and is not complaining that his path has been soft.
‘‘I just need to play a good match. At this point it is not about having to improve anything in particular. I think I have played, done everything pretty well.
‘‘I am just pleased my game has been good from the very beginning of the tournament so far. I have won all my matches without dropping a set.’’
And a 20th grand slam what would that mean?
‘‘Twenty times special. I don’t know what to tell you. It would be amazing.’’
The Age title –
‘‘Until aged 10, I played one or two times a week but I mainly played hockey four times a week,’’ Korda said. ‘‘Then I went to the US Open in 2011 and loved the atmosphere over there and decided, when I came home, that I wanted to only play tennis.
‘‘I was nothing. I played my first tournament when I was 11 or 12 years old. I would just have fun out there and maybe go out once every two weeks just to hit a couple of balls with my dad.’’
Sebastian wished his father a big happy 50th and revealed it was also his former professional tennis-playing mother’s birthday next week after ensuring a triple celebration following his emotional Open triumph.
Despite his father initially hoping his son wouldn’t follow in his footsteps, the former world No 2 never really stood a chance once Sebastian started watching videos of his dad winning the 1998 Australian Open.
‘‘Every once in a while, on a video when I need inspiration,’’ Korda said.
‘‘I’ve watched a lot of his matches. He was so smooth when he played. I try to be like him.
‘‘I try to model my game on him as much as I can.’’
Korda’s victory denied Taiwan a rare double after En Shuo Liang earlier yesterday defeated France’s Clara Burel 6-3 6-4 in the Australian Open junior girls’ singles final.
- AAP
He was so smooth when he played. I try to be like him. Sebastian Korda
I’ll put a little