“I Killed His Confidence”- Marat Safin Blames Himself For Roger Federer’s Struggle Against John Millman

Published 01/27/2020, 10:58 AM EST

During the late-night Friday encounter on the Rod Laver Arena which concluded at 12.48 a.m. local time on Saturday morning, Roger Federer narrowly scraped his third-round victory against John Millman. The Swiss legend recovered from 0/3 and 4/8 deficits in the fifth-set tie-break at Australian Open 2020.

Following his victory, the two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin held himself accountable for Federer’s striving game against Millman. Before the match, Safin and Federer hit some balls together during Federer’s warm-up session.

“I worried at the end of the day because we warmed up before the match. Apparently, I killed his confidence at the practice and he almost lost against Millman, I felt a little bit guilty, I’m gonna say sorry to him. I’ll do my job better next time,” Marat Safin mentioned.

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The Swiss maestro jolted upon winning the final point of the match and so were his fans. While speaking to Jim Courier in the post-match interview, he was stammering and was unable to believe what just happened.

He stated that he had a bit of luck on his side. That aided him to win six consecutive points at that crucial moment and it was unbelievable.

“I was getting ready to explain myself at the press conference. The demons are always there, they’re always lurking. But anyway, what a match, John sure deserves half of this one,” said Federer.

In his match against Milliman, Federer slammed 62 winners, including 16 aces. However, his 82 unforced errors left him in a labyrinth.

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Recent five-set matches of Roger Federer

That day Roger Federer snapped his three-match losing streak in fifth sets. Previously the Swiss surrendered to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2019 US Open quarter-finals, Novak Djokovic in 2019 Wimbledon final and Kevin Anderson in the 2018 Wimbledon quarter-finals in the five-set matches.

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His most-recent best of five-set match victory before Australian Open 2020, was pulled off in the Australian Open 2018 finals against Marin Cilic.

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.

“I Killed His Confidence”- Marat Safin Blames Himself For Roger Federer’s Struggle Against John Millman

Recent five-set matches of Roger Federer

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