Battle-weary Federer predicts ‘miracle’ win over old nemesis
“I believe in miracles,” said Roger Federer, after saving seven match points in the Australian Open quarter-final. It is a good thing that he does, because at 8.30am today (UK time), a little over 48 hours later, he will stride back on to Rod Laver Arena to face a daisy-fresh Novak Djokovic.
The toughest challenge in tennis, for the past decade and a half, has been beating Rafael Nadal on Court Philippe Chatrier. But on the evidence of the past few days, you might prefer a fast and gory execution on the red clay to being slowly ground into Melbourne’s blue Plexicushion by the relentless Djokovic.
There are so many reasons to back Djokovic. Not only is this effectively his home court – thanks to his seven Australian Open titles, if not his nationality – but he has spent only 10hr 42min on court this fortnight, and is yet to drop a set.
Federer, by contrast, has taken such a scenic route to the last four that he probably passed Ayers Rock on the way. Having edged past John Millman in five sets on Friday, he then burned another get-out-ofjail card against Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday, in a quarter-final that left him needing treatment on his groin.
So, just to put the scale of Federer’s task in context, he is going out to play his personal nemesis while tired and possibly broken, all on the
sort of slow, hard court that Djokovic will probably ask St Peter to point him towards when he arrives at the Pearly Gates.
He might be tempted to pencil Djokovic into the final already. Fortunately, Federer does not agree. His eternal optimism is part of his genius. Federer pointed to November’s
ATP Finals as a reason to be hopeful. That was the tournament where he blitzed Djokovic in just 73 minutes to end a run of five straight head-to-head defeats.
“In every way, it helps me, does me good,” said Federer. “It showed me he is beatable. Obviously, I have to do several things well. But it always does me good to know that, at my age, I can prove that from time to time I can beat Rafa and Novak and win tournaments.
“It gives me a little extra confidence and helps me forget Wimbledon [where Federer lost to Djokovic in five sets last summer, after holding two Championship points].”
The weather forecast is for a hot change arriving in Melbourne just in time for the match, which starts at