Roger Federer: 'Novak Djokovic and I had some memorable matches at..'

Ahead of their first clash in Monte Carlo 2006, no one could have predicted 50 Tour matches between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic! The Swiss won that one against an 18-year-old but it was only the beginning of what turned out to be one of the biggest rivalries in the world of tennis, with two legends playing against each other 49 times so far. Djokovic has a 26-23 advantage so far ahead of their milestone 50th clash in the semi-final of the Australian Open, with two dominant players at Melbourne Park (13 titles combined since 2004) battling for the place in the final.

Novak is the favorite in this one, with the defending champion playing well in the previous five matches while Roger having to endure two tough obstacles against John Millman and especially Tennys Sandgren. Against the Aussie, Federer survived a tough match tie break where he was 8-4 down, working even harder versus the American who had no less than seven match points in the fourth set before Roger performed a comeback and set another Djokovic clash. Nonetheless, the Swiss suffered a groin injury in the previous encounter and it should be interesting to see if he can raise his game and stand a chance against the Serb who toppled him in the last five Major meetings. 

"It is nice seeing Milos Raonic playing super well again; he played a great tournament. He defeated me at Wimbledon 2016, which still hurts very much, and I want to see him doing well. He has reminded everyone he belongs up there in the rankings and not around the 50th place. On the other hand, Novak Djokovic likes to play here, he is a multiple champion and we had some memorable matches in the past and I better feel better than today if I'm going to have a chance of beating the next opponent. Otherwise, I'm actually really going skiing."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2S3SS6C