Roger Federer joins Lleyton Hewitt on a huge Australian Open record
The 107th edition of the Australian Open (the 51st in the Open era) is just around the corner, with the first Grand Slam of the season kicking off at Melbourne Park on Monday. The two-time defending champion Roger Federer is preparing for his 75th Grand Slam tournament in a career, leading the Open era list ahead of Fabrice Santoro who stayed on 70 and seeking more big records if he manages to go all the way and lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup for the record-breaking seventh time. At the age of 37 years and five months, Federer is bidding to become the oldest Open era Grand Slam champion ahead of Ken Rosewall and also the first player in the Open era with five titles after turning 30, sharing the current record with Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.
Besides, the Swiss will enter the record books once again when he steps on the court for his first-round encounter against Denis Istomin on Monday, becoming only the second player in the history of the tournament with 20 Australian Open appearances, joining his great rival and coeval Lleyton Hewitt on this unique feat. With a jaw-dropping 94-13 score and six Melbourne titles under his belt, Roger Federer stands as one of the most successful player of this event together with Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson, never losing before the third round and advancing into the last four no less than 14 times in the previous 19 travels to the land of down under.
Roger was beaten in the final of the Australian Open only in 2009 following that epic loss to Rafael Nadal and he suffered no less than seven semi-final defeats, always against the most powerful possible rivals that prevented him from adding more trophies by his name. Roger made his Australian Open debut in 2000 at the age of 19 and the home favourite Lleyton Hewitt was already among the dark horses in Melbourne, entering the tournament for the fourth time after competing there for the first time in 1997 at the age of 15! The Aussie never managed to win the home Major, finishing his career there with a mediocre 32-20 score in 2016 when David Ferrer toppled him in the second round. Interestingly, Hewitt is still active in doubles but will stay on those 20 Australian Open singles appearances, giving Roger a chance to pass him next year and top the list with 21 Melbourne main draw campaigns.
Players with the most Australian Open appearances in the Open era:
20 - Roger Federer / Lleyton Hewitt 18 - Fabrice Santoro 17 - John Alexander / Feliciano Lopez / Mikhail Youzhny 16 - Tomas Berdych / David Ferrer / Ivo Karlovic / Fernando Verdasco 15 - Phil Dent / Novak Djokovic / Brad Drewett / Guillermo Garcia-Lopez / Tommy Robredo / Mark Woodford
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2D8QW6V
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