Even the most optimistic Roger Federer fan would not have anticipated what happened in January 2018, at the Australian Open.
When Federer won Wimbledon in 2012, most fans like me would have come to terms with the fact that the heydays were over and we would have to resign ourselves to sporadic results or even worse, a retirement. With Novak Djokovic, Any Murray, and Stanislas Wawrinka in the mix, on top of Rafael Nadal, the future looked grim.
- The shot-making and angles from both Federer and Nadal were amazing …
- Federer’s backhand, the gorgeous single-handed one, was hit through with tremendous pace and you could see Nadal scramble a lot to retrieve them. The “loopy high-bouncing heavy-spin forehand to Federer’s backhand” had been Nadal’s go-to move. Because of the court and Federer’s strategy, the go-to move was not a huge success in this match …
- The few times Federer ventured to the net, he had a high success rate …
- Federer’s comment during the post-match press conference: “If there was a draw possible, I would be happy to share the trophy with Rafa” was a nice gesture …
- Rafael Nadal’s fighter instincts are legendary. To come back from 1-3 down in the 5th set, against Nadal … Anyone who watched the emotional Federer loss (to Nadal) in 2009 Australian Open would have thought: “I have seen this before …” when Nadal broke early in the 5th set 🙂
- Federer wins a Grand Slam after a gap of 17 slams. Boris Becker had a gap of 19 slams between his Australian Open win in 1991 and his Australian Open win in 1996 …
- Winners > Unforced Errors & Net win percentage of 73%. Both great numbers against Nadal …
- One could note the crowd having a blast … When Federer broke back at 2-3 in the 5th set, the crowd went wild
- To me, Federer is an artist. Hitting machine-like ground-strokes over 5 sets (like Novak Djokovic) is not his strength
- Now Federer has won at least 5 times at 3 Grand Slams (Wimbledon, US Open, and Australian Open)
- Side Note: What’s up with Novak Djokovic??? He has truly hit a mental block after winning the 2016 French Open …
- Grand Slam Finals Statistics
Roger Federer: 18-10 (Win-Loss). 64%. The 10 losses (AUSTRALIAN-1, FRENCH-4, WIMBLEDON-3, US-2)
Rafael Nadal: 14-7 (Win-Loss). 67%. The 7 losses (AUSTRALIAN-3, FRENCH-0, WIMBLEDON-3, US-1)
Novak Djokovic: 12-9 (Win-Loss). 57%. The 9 losses (AUSTRALIAN-0, FRENCH-3, WIMBLEDON-1, US-5)
- Nadal and Djokovic are finding out 1st hand how difficult it is to achieve the various Grand Slam streaks Federer owns. E.g. Consecutive Grand Slam Finals, Consecutive Grand Slam Semi-Finals Etc.
Adios!