AFTER six months out with injury and contemplating a clash with fifth seed Kei Nishikori, Roger Federer at first said he would be the underdog when they meet in the last 16 of the Australian Open today. And then he changed his mind.
There was a smile and then an attempted explanation but what came through above anything else is that the 17-time Grand Slam champion believes anything, even what would be a miraculous title win here, is possible.
It was during Federer’s straight-sets demolition of Tomas Berdych in the previous round that he really started to believe and when he plays Nishikori this morning, he will fancy his chances.
“Yeah, sure, he’s the favourite,” Federer said, before adding. “Maybe. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I still have to play Kei. Whether he’s the favourite, I’m the favourite, I don’t know. He’s definitely played better and more tennis in recent months. But then again, it’s a new season. We’ll see what happens.”
It might be five years since Federer won the last of his Grand Slams and this is his first official tournament since returning from six months out with a knee injury.
But the Swiss said he was looking forward to testing himself, mentally and physically against a man who reached the final of the US Open in 2014.
“I’m a big fan of his game,” Federer said. “He has one of the best backhands out there. I love how he can crush it down the line or cross-court. He has wonderful second-serve returns. He’s fast on his legs, strong in his mind. I know how tough he is as the match goes along. He finds his range and his rhythm, he’s tough to stop.
“We had a great match at the World Tour Finals a bit more than a year back. I’ve lost to him a couple of times as well. I’m aware of the big test for me. This one’s going to be completely different to Tomas. Not so much just serving, serving, serving, but there are going to be more rallies, even though the surface remains fast. I said it at the start of the week, it’s not easy to control the ball. When you serve well, it pays dividends.”
Having been a bit slow out of the blocks in his first two matches, Federer began brilliantly against Berdych and never let up, maintaining a high level throughout.
“It’s a big relief,” he said. “But like I said at the beginning of the tournament, any result was going to be a good result for me, just because I can test myself in a match situation against professional players. That’s what it’s about for me this week.
“I was ready for a battle, five hours, something big. It had it all written over it. I was able to come through it in 1 hour 20, 1 hour 30, however long the match was. It’s a great feeling. I’ve definitely had this feeling before, where you feel like you’re probably not going to lose this one if you keep being focused.
“I think the top guys have done a great job of always protecting the lead. I’ve done it [against Berdych], like I’ve had to do so many times in my career.
“What’s nice about this one is it was unexpected for me, unexpected for a lot of other people apparently as well, and it was against a fellow top player.
“I did get nervous at the end. I still believed there will be that hiccup, it has to happen. It didn’t happen and I’m here now and it’s good.”
Nishikori said he expects nothing less than a tough match.
“For sure it’s not going to be easy,” he said. “It’s always great to play Roger. It’s a big challenge for me.
“I’m just happy to play him because I think we needed him on the Tour. I’m happy to see him back to 100 per cent.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here