It would be premature and disrespectful to suggest another enforced lay-off is imminent for Roger Federer, but, going on his stiff movement towards the end of his three-set win over world No200 Noah Rubin, it is fair to say the prospects of the four-time champion reaching the second week of the 2017 Australian Open are not great.
“I’ve played out here many, many times,” the 35-year-old Swiss said courtside after beating the US Open boys champion 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in his second Tour match after a six-month break to recover from knee surgery. “But he’s been around a couple of years and I’ve seen a little bit of him. I think my serve got me out of trouble today.
“I wasn’t feeling as good as in the beginning, that’s for sure. I got lucky in the third set, but it was good to fight through. There were a lot of difficult moments out there and that’s what I need to progress in this tournament.”
Federer has always reached at least the third round, and this was his 82nd win in Melbourne in 95 matches. He next plays Tomas Berdych on Friday.
“It’s not an easy draw,” said Federer. “He [Berdych] has beaten me in New York, at Wimbledon and at the Olympics. He’s a great player, I like Tomáš’s game and I’m sure it’s going to be another tough one.”
In the third set on Wednesday, the American, 15 years Federer’s junior and playing with the wide-eyed freedom of youth, spotted a growing uncertainty in his opponent’s sideways movement on the forehand side and broke for 4-2. But Federer served his way out of trouble in the eighth game and, going for high-risk winners in nearly every exchange (which has long been his forte, obviously, but usually out of choice rather than necessity), he broke back when Rubin served nervously for the set, then levelled for 5-all.
A mix of desperation and an urgent desire to get the job done in three sets had lifted him above the fatigue that seemed to be invading his legs after just under two hours on a mild afternoon. Although his first-round win over Jürgen Melzer went four sets, that match lasted only a little over two hours, so this was not the most exacting return to tennis.
Federer told Lleyton Hewitt at a pre-tournament function, “I won’t know how my body holds up at least until Indian Wells and Miami [which are in March].” On day three, after a total of little more than four hours of tennis in the first week, it wasn’t holding up that well.
Kei Nishikori, who had a breezy three-set workout against Jeremy Chardy, is in the same quarter as Federer and Murray, and said the Scot and Novak Djokovic – who is in the other half – are the two obvious players blocking his path to a first slam title. “Those two guys are still dominating the Tour, like you saw last year,” he said after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win. “But I hope I can sneak in there.”
The fourth seed Stan Wawrinka went into the third round for the ninth consecutive year after a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over the American Steve Johnson having laboured through the first round. The win over Johnson was far more straightforward and he will now face Victor Troicki.
