The experienced Melbourne traveller knows all too well what to expect in the Grand Slam metropolis on the Yarra River – including Roger Federer.
In the worst-case scenario, what the locals themselves summed up in the legendary sentence:”Four seasons in a day”.
The first week of the Australian Open 2018 hasn’t been that much of a frenzy so far, but there has been a sharp turnaround – from moderate, early autumn weather to the heat of the Grand Slam on Thursday,”At the Melbourne tournament you’ll always have at least two opponents. The one facing you in the square. And the weather,”says former tournament champion and current TV expert Boris Becker. This applies, of course, and also to the globetrotter and Grand Slam record holder Roger Federer, but the deserved tennis hero also enjoys certain indisputable privileges. And as a rule, only those who do not have them complain about privileges.
In short: On the fourth day of the competition, Federer was on the right side of the game board, i. e. he worked in the reasonably bearable evening air on the Centre Court, in the “only” 33 degrees Celsius Rod Laver Arena. Where the dear colleagues sweated and worked hard in the hellish heat of the day, at temperatures of up to 40 degrees in the shade, the Maestro took his hurdle against the German Jan-Lennard Struff with considerably less energy loss. 6:4,6:4 and 7:6 Federer won in the duel with the aggressive 1.96-meter giant from East Westphalia, it was an often fought fight. That was an ordeal,”said Federer,”but on the other hand, each of us knows how things can be done here. He himself, Federer, in his second home on the Gulf, in Dubai.
Federer, who hardly anyone from the tennis nomadic caravan can demonstrate athletics and fitness, will now meet a good old acquaintance – who is at the same time one of his favourite opponents – after the two evening performances he has won. This is Richard Gasquet, the sleek and elegant Frenchman who won against Federer for the last time seven years ago. But almost always Gasquet left the court as a loser when he met Federer, 2:16 is the disgraceful head-to-head balance,”and yet: you must always be warned about Richard. He’s a great player,”says Federer,”and he’s one of the dying species of one-handed backhanded players, which makes the matches always exceptional” The last Grand Slam match against 31-year-old Gaul, ranked 31st in the world ranking, won Federer 2015 at the US Open in three sets, last year he beat Gasquet clearly, in the quarter-finals of the mast.
Many had thought before this tournament day that the exciting duel between Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils would be set for the evening session. But then the official schedule revealed Federer’s appearance among the floodlights:”There are certainly dozens of players who want to play in the evening. I too, of course,”Federer said when asked,”but I’m not the one making the decision,” but it could be, adds Federer with a wink,”that it’s more important when I ask.”