Melbourne: Roger Federer, considered the greatest player ever to a grace a tennis court, Sunday won the Australian Open with a five-set win over arch-rival Rafael Nadal in a memorable finale to annex his 18th Grand Slam trophy here.
Federer won 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to lift his fifth at Melbourne and the first Major after the 2012 Wimbledon. The final point came with a deep serve and crushing forehand follow-up shot that needed a review. As soon as it was shown in, an emotional Federer burst into tears of joy.
When the fifth set started, Nadal, an undisputed ‘King of Marathon Matches’ could definitely give himself a good chance of going for the kill. So a 2-0 lead to Nadal meant that the writing was on the wall.
But at the twilight of his career, the world’s most revered and loved sporting icon would not have let it go without a final thrust. It came in the sixth game as he broke his archrival back to make it 3-3 and then held on to his serve to make it 4-3.
A bigger drama awaited as Federer dug the deepest into his reserves to make it 5-3, serving for the match. Federer broke Nadal’s serve in the seventh game of the first set and then clinched it at 6-4 with an ace.
However, Nadal broke Federer twice in the second set to take a 4-0 lead. It was difficult to make a comeback from there as the Spaniard won the set at 6-3.
It took some time for Federer to hold on to his service game at the beginning of the third set. It was a 10-minute first game. However, he broke Nadal’s serve in the next and just like the preceding set, did a reverse on Nadal to get a double break winning it on a canter at 6-1.
But Nadal was again back in the fourth with renewed vigour breaking Federer’s serve early. There were some unforced errors by Federer as the backhand at crucial junctures went awry allowing Nadal to take the fourth set at 6-3 to take it to the fifth set.
And the rest as they say is history.
PTI
