The most significant shot of the impressive three-set win that booked Roger Federer a quarter-final against Andy Murray at the 2014 Australian Open might have been the final one: a running forehand volley past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga that left the Frenchman rooted to the spot.
All night during their fourth round match, the Swiss had pressed Tsonga. He went to the net 41 times – and 34 times he won the point. Ten of those visits came in the concluding set, as he tightened the grip on the match to win 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 52 minutes. He came in behind his serve eight times, and six times he won the point.
If there was any doubt that Federer’s new association with Stefan Edberg, one of the most accomplished net raiders from another era, had changed his tennis, it was there for all to see in the Rod Laver Arena, where the world number six will meet Murray on Wednesday, in a rematch of the 2013 semi-final, which the Scot won.
“I’ve had fun,” a relaxed Federer said. “It’s been a good ride. Against Jo, you’ve got to bring your best game. I dictated a lot of the play tonight. Jo makes you play an aggressive game because if you don’t, he will. Still it’s tough. I thought the tactics worked well. We spoke about it beforehand. I don’t go into matches unprepared like I used to. Tonight was one of the better days.”
Murray was unsure, though, how much influence Edberg would be able to exert in the short time he has been with Federer. “They’ve been working together for a week,” he said. “I think he arrived just as the tournament was starting. They’d only really done five or six days together. You’ll see how much the coaches have helped the players and the things they’d been working on in three, four, five months’ time. Right now, it would be hard to say.”
Federer said: “He took care of his draw and here we are again. It’s the same draw as last year, only one round earlier. Then, it was back-to-back five-setters against Jo and Andy. I’m looking forward to playing Andy and I hope he is recovering well from his back surgery. We’re both coming into this match with a good feeling but with doubts. From what I’m hearing, he’s fine. It’s good to see.”
Federer had his own back problems in 2013, when he won only one tournament. In four matches here, he has looked reborn, playing with the sort of freedom that has made him such a special player. It is as if, at 32, he is playing tennis for fun again.
Murray, back on the tour after four months recuperating and rebuilding following his operation in September, also is moving with renewed vigour – although there were moments during his fitful four-set win over the 33-year-old Frenchman Stéphane Robert when anxiety crowded out his enthusiasm for an early kill.
He won 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 in two hours and 42 minutes when he might have got the job done more quickly had he not rushed some of his shot-making. He was frustrated enough with blowing four match points in the third set to smash his racket – and that is a rare spectacle.
“He is a fun player to watch but not to play against,” Murray said of the gambler and philosopher, whose $135,000 cheque for reaching the fourth round beat his earnings for the previous two years. (Robert said later he would not be leaving any of it at the local casino).
Murray is relishing his match with Federer – and there will be memories for both of them of a minor spat in the fourth set last year, when they exchanged glares after a disputed call.
“It’s always going to be special playing against him. Yeah, I’ll look back at the semi-final. All of the matches I’ve played against him, it’s experience. Last year is pretty relevant because it’s on the same court and it will be under the same conditions but, in an individual sport, anything can happen.”
Pointedly, he was circumspect when asked if Federer is the same player as when at his peak. “Four or five years ago, he was losing, like, three matches a year. It was ridiculous, his record across all of the slams and on the tour. The last couple of years, he’s lost a little bit more. Last year you could see at periods he was struggling with his back. If he’s fully fit, I’ve said all along, he’s always going to be there or thereabouts in the majors and he’ll give himself opportunities to win more because he’s that good.”
Murray got an unexpected lift at the end of his match against Robert when two old school friends from Dunblane were introduced from his box, standing alongside his mother, Judy. “Great to see you could make it,” he said. A long way from home, those moments matter.
In the other quarter-final on Wednesday, Grigor Dimitrov – who has been in excellent form, although he took four sets to beat the unseeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut – will play Rafael Nadal, who struggled to get past the 16th seed, Kei Nishikori, in three tight sets that took three hours and 17 minutes. Nadal admitted: “I was in trouble. I was close to losing every set.”
Guardian Service
