MELBOURNE – Federer won a crazy semifinal clash with Stan Wawrinka, who probably left the court with many regrets. Roger is now hoping to see Dimitrov across the net in Sunday’s championship match; although a final success over Nadal would be far more fulfilling. Venus and Serena will add another chapter to their fairytale, while the big loser of this year’s Australian Open is the WTA.
The fairytale continues in both the men’s and women’s events at this year’s Australian Open. On Thursday the women’s semifinals produced the results that everybody was hoping for with Venus Williams – truly a sentimental favorite – joining sister Serena in all-Williams final showdown. Truth be told, all of the 27 battles between Venus and Serena had very little appeal in the past and lacked the exceptionally competitive spirit that usually makes a big match extra special and splits the crowd into two groups of passionate supporters. Nevertheless a final between two legendary sisters is always a beautiful page in an incredible life story full of adversity and triumph. Venus will be 37 in June and currently holds 7 Grand Slam titles while Serena will celebrate her 36th birthday in September and has a staggering 22 titles to her name. No matter what happens on Saturday, the Williams’ family will have 30 major titles, which is quite an impressive achievement for a black family that has been dominating a predominantly white sport for almost 20 years.
Also the first men’s semifinal produced the result that almost everybody wanted, including the 15,000 spectators that flooded Rod Laver Arena, several tens of millions of TV viewers, members of the press that were looking to tell the most fascinating story and all of those casual fans that barely follow the sport of tennis but certainly know who Roger Federer is. On the other side of the net, the match featured Stan Wawrinka, who not only is Federer’s countryman but is also one of the most accomplished Grand Slam champions of the last three years with titles at the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open. Despite being the most decorated male champion in Grand Slam history with an astonishing 17 titles, Federer’s last major win occurred at the 2012 Wimbledon. Title No. 18 would be a colossal achievement for the Swiss star and an absolutely captivating story that could truly materialize against all odds at this year’s Australian Open. In most of his post-match press conferences, Federer himself explained how this magical run caught him by surprise. He certainly didn’t expect to play so well so soon after his long hiatus.
Roger will have more chances in a potential final with Grigor Dimitrov rather than with his nemesis Rafael Nadal. Federer never lost to the Bulgarian while he did lose 23 of the 34 matches that he played against the Spaniard. It also important to mention that this year’s Australian Open proved that every match is a new chapter with its own narrative and implications that can easily refute what happened in the past. First and foremost, we will never know if each player is physically at 100%. Wawrinka has been complaining about a troubled knee since the beginning of the tournament, but how big of a problem was his injury? In the fifth set of Thursday’s semifinal, Roger complained about a groin niggle, but we will never know whether his problem was minor or significant. Both players called for medical timeouts at different stages in the match when the score-line wasn’t in their favor. Despite the fact that none of the two Swiss champions ever gave the impression to abuse this type of rules throughout their entire careers, Federer explained how those breaks can mentally change the dynamic of the match: “You go in the locker room, have a little chat with the physiotherapist, relax and maybe take your mind off the task at hand.” The medical timeouts definitely influenced the final outcome of the match. When Roger came back on the court, Wawrinka had two break points in Federer’s service games at 1-1 and 2-2, but missed an extremely easy backhand on the second opportunity. That was a crucial mistake that gave Federer new life after Roger looked in big trouble both physically and mentally. Stan started spreading balls left and right and also double-faulted on break point handing Federer the decisive break of the match.
At the beginning of the tournament, Federer’s fans were certainly worried about Roger’s physical condition in five-set matches; instead their idol ended up winning two marathons against top class players such as world No. 5 Kei Nishikori and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka. En route to his 17 major titles, Roger had won multiple five-set matches in the same tournament once at the 2009 French Open, when he defeated Juan Martin Del Potro and Tommy Haas.
I honestly expected better entertainment from Thursday’s semifinal; both players could have performed at a higher level, but looked quite nervous especially at the beginning of the match. Despite the fact that this was Federer’s 41st Grand Slam semifinal and Wawrinka’s 8th, Roger was probably afraid that a six-month hiatus from tennis could eventually hinder his performance in the latter stages of his first major tournament back, while Stan had never beaten Roger outside of the clay-courts and also had to battle against an entirely pro-Federer crowd.
The general feeling was that Wawrinka was playing an overall better match until “I made a cheap break when Stan perhaps deserved more,” Federer said with great honesty after the match. Stan the Man will definitely have big regrets for not capitalizing on a very good opportunity to “downsize” the psychological influence that his first mentor still has on him.
In conclusion, I am hoping that the 28th meeting between Venus and Serena will not only be the oldest final in history, but also a great match. The Williams’ sisters will once again end a Grand Slam tournament sitting on top of the world with Serena most likely clinching her 23rd title and surpassing Steffi Graf. On the other hand, women’s tennis is ending this Australian swing in the worst possible way with a disappointing outcome for all of the next generation stars. In fact, it wasn’t just one of them that fell short, most of them did.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com)
