“I don't know how it feels to play 1000 matches,” Roger Federer
said with a slight smile. “I'm only at 999, right?”
On Friday at Australian Open 2012, Federer tallied another in
the win column – his 813th victory
in 998 matches – by beating big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (6) 7-5 6-3.
On Sunday he’ll play his 999th match
on the ATP World Tour against the winner of Aussie Bernard Tomic and world
No.13 Alexandr Dolgopolov.
“I feel good. I feel healthy,” Federer told the press after his
win. “I don't know if I can play another 1,000, but I feel like it's a lot of
tennis. I would like to play a lot more, but it's quite a number. I'm aware of
that.”
Among those 998 matches, Federer and Karlovic have faced off 11
times, the No.3 seed winning 10 of those encounters, which have included 28
total sets. On Friday, they played just one tie-break – in the first set –
Federer winning after an acrobatic lob saved set point at 5-6 down.
“[R]unning up there, I didn't know what to do [with the ball]
anymore,” Federer explained. “Probably left and right, going to go too slow and
he's going to slam it home. [I thought] ‘Let me try the lob,’ even though
that's not what you're supposed to do against him. I got sort of the angle
right and was able maybe to surprise him, we're that close to each other, so
it's hard to kind of react quick maybe up. I don't know. It kind of worked, and
then I had a great return after that. I was almost home.”
Federer continued his march “home” in the latter two sets, where
the three-time Australian Open champion won going away, breaking in the 12th
game of the second set and again in game four of the third. It was a
demonstrative affair for the Swiss holder of 16 Grand Slams as he plays his 49th straight major championships.
As questions have continued to be pressed on the 30-year-old as
to what his future is in tennis, he seems to be drawing on his past to continue
to live in the present. Such a mindset was on display against Karlovic on Rod
Laver Arena after having three full days off following a walkover in his
second-round match.
“I think it was important to face throughout the whole three
sets just the pressure of facing a guy like Ivo who can serve his way out of
trouble,” Federer said of his return to the court. “[He] keeps you on your
heels the whole time. You're not quite sure what's going to happen.”
While 2011 marked the first year since 2002 that Federer had not
won a major, the former world No.1 ended it with a spark: he won titles in Basel,
Paris and the ATP World Tour Finals in London, stringing together 15 straight
matches and winning 10 matches against top 20 players during that run. It was
the kind of flash that could save a year marked by disappointment.
And as Federer marched through the finish of the year, his
new-era foes of Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could barely limp
through it. The health of Federer has become of the utmost importance to him
and to his camp.
“You don't want to enter a tournament on painkillers, in a lot
of pain, knowing it's going to take two weeks.,” Federer said before the
tournament commenced. “Best‑of‑five‑set matches don't normally allow you to
come through that way.”
Two weeks ago when Federer felt a twinge in his lower back in
Doha, he pulled out of the event he was playing there and opted to rest for the
impending Australian Open rather than try and play through the pain. It was
that sort of decision that has allowed Federer to play in 49 straight Grand
Slams. This year marks his 13th straight
trip to Melbourne Park.
It was in 2000, his first trip Down Under, that Federer lost 14
games to Michael Chang in his first-ever win here. He lost the same number of
games to Karlovic on Friday.
“He's a tough man to play against really. He creates a lot of
pressure by the way he serves and the way he plays from the baseline,” Federer
said of his No.57-ranked opponent. “I'm happy I found a way today. [The] first
set was crucial, like I said. [I’m] happy to be through in straight sets.”
Of his 998 matches, only 227 have been pushed to a deciding
third or fifth set, and when the Swiss father takes the court on Sunday against
Tomic or Dolgopolov, he’ll have history once again on his side: he’s won over
60 matches in Melbourne. Tomic and Dolgopolov combined? Eight.
“I’ve had my share of tough losses and also my great wins,”
Federer said, smiling as he reflected on the milestone. “Many, thank God,
good and bad.”
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