Roger Federer Reveals His Revered Moments From Australian Open 2017 Final

“Tennis is a tough sport. There are no draws, but if there was, I would have been happy to have one tonight and share it with Rafa,” this was the emotion which Roger Federer delivered on Rod Laver Arena after snapping his five-year-long Slam-less streak in 2017. The epic five-set battle at Australian Open 2017 final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had resonated the tennis followers worldwide.

The Swiss ace, Roger Federer returned from a six-month-long hiatus from tennis. During his layover, he revamped his backhand both down the line and cross court, which he believes to be the major weapon for his victory against Nadal in the Melbourne major final.

Roger Federer feels, the Australian Open 2017 final was one of the best matches he ever played in his career. The Swiss ace was 1-3 down in the fifth set and he pushed himself in the crucial moment and lifted up his 18th Grand Slam crown. Other than his resonating comeback in the deciding set, Roger Federer revealed more instances from the match which are close to his heart. 

“Some friends wanted to spend a special night to see the match again, but I said, No thank you. I already saw millions of times the highlights, with music, without music, with live comments in all the languages, with the reactions. But the last points, the match point, the speech with Rafa after the match; those images will forever be in front of my eyes”, said Roger Federer.

The knee injury compelled Roger Federer to take a break from tennis in 2016, it gave him a title-less season for the first time since his first season since 2000. Also, he toppled outside the top ten rankings for the first time in fourteen years. In a nutshell, tennis officials began speculating the demise of his tennis, but undeniably, the Swiss legend proved all of them wrong. 

“The first feeling was that one: relief, total wellbeing,” Roger Federer continued. “Everything was perfect. And not hearing the “Will you win a Grand Slam title?” question again makes me feel good. I never turned negative, but I am really happy not to have heard it for a while.”

His surgery, hiatus, and low ATP rankings, everything was certainly a blessing in disguise. His break gave him some substantial time to introspect, work upon his game and he believes the knee injury fine-tuned his life.

“The break was good. I was able to rest and think. This injury re-calibrated my life. I had to undergo surgery and the success of this surgery did not depend on me. There was a short time where, for the first time, my career was not in my hands. Everything happily went well and I saw it as a second chance. I did not want to waste it,” Roger Federer said.