Federer means business
World No.2 Roger Federer sent out a warning to his rivals on the tour with an unbeaten run at the Hopman Cup. The Swiss 36-year-old was impressive during all of his singles matches. Recording wins over Yuichi Sugita, Jack Sock and Karen Khachanov in the group stages. Then in the final, he dropped the opening set against world No.4 Alexander Zverev before winning 12 out of the next 14 games.
“There is just a lot of positivity. It was a great week as a team, but also personally in singles I played great. I just have to pace myself in the lead up to Melbourne and I’ll be ready,” stated the reigning Australian Open champion.
“I’m just excited to go back to Melbourne, where I had my fairytale 2017 run.
“It’s great to be the defending champion, but I will go about it the right way, I won’t be putting any extra pressure on myself.”
Teaming up with Belinda Bencic, Federer won the exhibition tournament for the first time since 2001.
“After all these years I can’t believe I’m here again,” he said. “It’s absolutely amazing. I’ve lost count of the years, I’m thrilled to win the Hopman Cup again with Belinda, it’s been a pleasure to partner you this week, well done.”
With his rivals still enduring battles with injury, Federer heads into the Australian Open as the title favourite. He is bidding to become the first man in history to win a 20th grand slam title in singles competition.
