The magical title number 20 for Roger Federer is perfect:”It’s unbelievable that I can still win these titles,”says the genius who never stopped wanting to improve.
At the very end of this long day in Melbourne, Roger Federer lost after all. But only against Roger Federer himself. The greatest tennis player of all time would not like it if his feelings on the public stage played a trick on him, he himself once said that it was “kind of embarrassing for him”, but in one of the greatest moments of his already very big career it was finally all about his control and control, and that was also a good thing.
Because what 15,000 spectators in the Rod-Laver-Arena and hundreds of millions of spectators around the globe watched late at this historic 28. It was not only the record-breaking hunter Federer, who celebrated his outstanding 20th anniversary. Grand Slam title won 6-2,6-7 (5-7), 6-3,3-6,6-1 win over Marin Cilic. They saw unadulteratedly the emotionally touched Federer, the feather dissolved in tears, the radiant and howling Federer.
The man who still means half the world to tennis, besides his even more important family life with wife Mirka and four children. It’s incredible that I’m still here,”said Federer, the very likeable Roger Nimmersatt,”to the man who can still be as happy about title 20 as he was about title number 1, which he won on a patch of grass in southwestern London in the summer of 2003, before a little eternity.
Many years ago, Federer’s former coach Tony Roche once said about Federer:”The more big titles he wins, the hungrier he gets. For Federer, nothing has changed in this truth, he can’t help but chase after the trophies – with an intensity, ambition and a burning passion that the younger and youngest in the travelling circus can use to cut a slice.
“I still love the challenge, I have fun every day I go on the pitch,”said Federer at the end of this Australian Open, the oldest Grand Slam champion since the days of Ken Rosewall in 1972. It’s almost “a bit unreal and incredible”, the fact that he defended his title in Melbourne at the age of 36, says Federer:”I’ve wished for all of this, and I’ve dreamed about it too. But did I expect that, too? Certainly not.”
It was a Grand Slam tournament that once again showed Federer’s exceptional position in his professional world in all its force. This was due not only to the new best performance of 20 major victories, but also to his professionalism and impressive physical appearance at an advanced age. He is often praised on the Centre Court for his genius, magic and imagination, but Federer is also an extremely hard worker.
He gains his lightness and ease from many strenuous hours of training. I play tennis no matter how good tennis is, because I’ve been practicing more and more effectively in the last few years,”says Federer,” I’m not the kind of person you have to force into training,”in fact, he never stopped trying to get better in any hour or minute.
He has now won every tenth Grand Slam in modern times, 20 out of 200 majors. His journey has been amazing, has remained amazing. Federer has reinvented himself countless times over and over again, he has only come to grips with his youthful impatience, his violent temper, his wildness. And then withstood the pressure that has been weighing on him, the giant talent, since childhood. The first Wimbledon victory was the decisive breakthrough, the initial spark. After that Federer was released, he kept saying that he could have slept well until the end of his life with a Grand Slam success.
But Federer slept even better with more and more titles, he is also a man who knows the history books – and who loved to rewrite them. It was a moment when I really did make my peace with the tennis,”he said in Melbourne,” it was a milestone,”and also an appeasement for his ego, for his own highest aspirations. After all, he thought he could only be considered a “complete player” if he had won all four majors at least once.
And now the next milestone, already 20 important titles for the man who scores the big points like no other. And who in his late years can again intimidate the opponents as much as in the years of absolute dominance, in the mid-zero years. Federer frightens them all because you don’t see his age, because nothing in his playing indicates the unfashionable, the outdated or even the dusty. Quite the contrary: Federer has adapted the speed of the current game, as none of the NextGeneration boys can fool him.
If one of tomorrow’s stars plays fast-paced, Federer plays fast-paced. The power tennis of Cilic, the 29-year-old Croatian, also cushioned Federer to a large extent effortlessly in the final. Until the finals Federer had walked through the tournament, hadn’t given up a set – and when he was really tested for the first time, he also had the better end and powerful closing words for himself in the to-and-fro match. Federer experienced that his set lead was equalized twice. But he pulled himself together, increased the tempo in set 5, put pressure on him, tried to make the decision – and didn’t wait for the other’s mistakes. Typical Federer.
It won’t get boring to win this tournament,”joked Federer, the six-time Grand Slam King of Melbourne. Where will all this end with him, the Maestro? Nobody knows, not even Federer. But Melbourne, title number 20, could also remain a stopover. Federer’s dream journey is yet to be extended.