Will Stan be next victim of Roger’s revival?
ROGER FEDERER, his wife and four children have been in Australia since before the new year, and the stay is lasting longer than any of them expected.
The Swiss master, now 35, is two wins away from something that would be extraordinary even by his high standards — winning an 18th Grand Slam in his first official event since Wimbledon.
Now he is having to do some negotiating with his two sets of twins: ‘They told me many times, “Please don’t lose, Daddy, we want to stay here longer”,’ he recounted after setting up a semi- final meeting with Stan Wawrinka.
‘For the first time today, one of my daughters said, “I’m happy to go skiing now”, and I was like, “Give me one more match”. Maybe I can hang around for a couple more days. I think she’ll be all right with it.’
Federer has not lost his knack for public relations. Nor has he forgotten how to dissect opponents.
Against Mischa Zverev, the man who overran Andy Murray at the net in the previous round, he showed just how to deal with the problems the German poses.
Zverev was not as sharp as against the Scot, but then this time he had to deal with Federer’s viciously dipping return groundstrokes as he rushed in.
The result was a 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 defeat, and an unlikely berth for Federer in his 41st Grand Slam semi-final after missing the second half of last season with injury. Even Federer is surprised how far he has gone.
‘Winning back-to-back matches in best-of-five-sets against quality players — for me that’s been the big question mark, if I could do that so early in my comeback,’ he said.
‘I felt as the tournament progressed, maybe I’d fade away with energy. Now I’m in the semis, feeling good, that’s a huge surprise.
‘If someone had told me I’d play in the semis against Stan, I never would have called that one. It was just too unrealistic.’
His relationship with fellow Swiss Wawrinka is complex — that of pupil usurping master over the years. The barrel-chested baseliner has won all three of his majors since Federer’s last at Wimbledon in 2012.
‘I remember giving Stan advice on how he should play certain guys. Stan was a great learner. Then the day came when he didn’t call me so much. He created his knowledge, had his team. I was happy that he was able to go on his own path.’
The pair have also had falling-outs, notably at the O2 Arena in 2014 when they nearly came to blows.
Wawrinka is not a man to back down easily. After the first set of yesterday’s straight- sets win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the pair had a slanging match from their chairs after the Frenchman initially accused Wawrinka of giving him evil looks.
Federer’s 18-3 win record over Wawrinka is largely irrelevant. Wawrinka, 31, won the US Open in September and if he wins here he will rightfully enter any conversation about who is the world’s best.
Looking back on their early meetings, Wawrinka said: ‘Now I’m more confident. When I step on the court, doesn’t matter who I play, I know what I have to do. Against Roger it’s always special. He’s so good. He has an answer for everything.’
Some bookies were quick to make Federer favourite for the title. Perhaps they are relying on punters’ short memories about the underrated Wawrinka, and their long memories when it comes to Federer.