I'm very happy. It's nice to be back here in Australia. Sorry, I missed the ATP Cup, it looked fun on TV. Stevie told you looked rusty in the first round. I was like ha no, not really, I felt really good. It was a really good first round for me. I trained really hard in the offseason, obviously needed some vacation too, toured South America a little bit at the end of the season which was so much fun, incredible people over there, great crowds and atmosphere. Then I needed a rest and I trained really hard like I always do, happy I had no setbacks, almost like every offseason I never have setbacks, that sets you up really nicely for the season, regardless of how it goes here you know you have that block in you and I'm happy I played well, felt good in practice, so I'm happy it showed on the court as well.
I'm very happy, it's a great start to the season so far, I'm feeling really relaxed out on court. You train hard and hope it pays off and not that it was all for nothing this week so I'm happy I'm still going. Looking forward to the next round and hopefully another good match.
At 0-40, 5-1 I thought it wasn't a 100% fair that he played three and a half hours yesterday and me zero, but the rain helped me so you have to take the win when they fall that way. I do feel a bit sorry but you have to take advantage of it.
He had a very high first-serve percentage, it was very high from him to only get a handful of second serves and it wasn't just like he was kicking them in. Nowadays guys have easier power, they make more first serves than ever. Back in the day, 60% was good when I was coming up, 55% was the norm, now everyone is serving 65, 70, 75% sometimes even higher so it's pretty crazy. But the surfaces are slower, so I was able to get the ball back into the rally and figure it out from there so you have to win them differently nowadays.
John is a great guy, I practised a lot with him, I almost passed out when I played him in New York it was so hot He had no problem with it, he's from Queensland it's normal stuff. I played him two other times, once in Brisbane I almost lost that one too and once in Halle. He's a super good guy, unbelievably tough opponent, there are not many guys fitter than him out there, and those are the guys I respect the most actually because they get the most out of the game. I hope it's going to be a great match with some great rallies and I hope you guys enjoy it.
Oh God, it was tough. Thank God it was a Match Tie-break, otherwise, I would have lost this one. Where to start? I think John played a great match. He is a great fighter, a good guy and it came down to the wire at the end. A bit of luck maybe goes one way. I had to stay so focused, take the right decision. He was doing all that stuff at the beginning of the Match Tie-break, coming up with the goods and I thought Okay, I guess I tried. I didn’t play too bad after all and I was getting ready to explain myself in the press conference. What a match and John deserves over half of this one.
I had to figure out a way to get him in trouble on his serve. He’s not known to be the best server. He’s got a good serve, but it is not like the tall guys coming in super fast and everything. But he was doing such a nice job of not making many mistakes and I was struggling in the forehand crosscourt, backhand crosscourt. He was dominating both sides, so I think for me it was a matter of holding my own serve, figure out a way and give myself time and chances…
I never really felt comfortable and I thought John did a great job of keeping me on my back foot. I couldn’t always step in, until the last shot. I went for it. He picked the wrong side. It was tough… John made it so difficult for me tonight.
It was a tough start, I thought Marton played clean. I guess it was the rest of the Millman match, that guy gave me a beatdown from the baseline, so maybe it took my confidence away a little bit and I think it just took some time. I was looking to mix it up a little bit more. It gets really slow in the night time, especially when it is cool like this, so I just had to figure it out and I finally found a way, I had a good start to the second set and from then on, things got a little bit easier.
“For most of the time there, I thought that was it,” said Federer. “Of course, there's little sparkles where maybe not, then you're like, no, it is over. Only maybe when I won that fourth set did I really think that maybe this whole thing could turn around.
“Honestly, when they told me seven [match points], I was like, ‘What? I thought it was three.’ It's such a blur at some point.”
“You go through a lot of different moments,” admitted Federer, who left the court for a medical time out due to a groin strain at 0-3 in the third set. “I figured the way I came back from the injury time-out, still being a little bit worried how things are, that didn't help. You hope sometimes you can solve things with a medical timeout, but that was not really the case.
“That third set was halfway gone anyhow, so it was just a matter of coming to terms with what do I have, what don't I have in my game. I figured in the fourth set, somehow things could go quickly or maybe I'll hang around for a bit, [or] eventually he'll get the break, because he was playing very well.”
“I can get through a match like this, through a match like [John] Millman, yes, you do believe. I only believe it over once it's over. I shake the hand of the opponent, that it's over, that it's fine.”
Roger Federer lived to fight another day on Tuesday, mightily relieved after reaching the Australian Open semi-finals for a 15th time.
The six-time former champion thought his time was up at Melbourne Park, when American Tennys Sandgren held seven match points in the fourth set, but the Swiss held on for a 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 win over three hours and 37 minutes.
“For most of the time there, I thought that was it,” said Federer. “Of course, there's little sparkles where maybe not, then you're like, no, it is over. Only maybe when I won that fourth set did I really think that maybe this whole thing could turn around.
“Honestly, when they told me seven [match points], I was like, ‘What? I thought it was three.’ It's such a blur at some point.”
Federer saved three match points when serving at 4-5 in the fourth set, then recovered from 3/6 and 6/7 in the tie-break. He’d also previously saved seven match points to beat Australia’s Scott Draper in August 2003 in the Western & Southern Open first round in Cincinnati.
“You go through a lot of different moments,” admitted Federer, who left the court for a medical time out due to a groin strain at 0-3 in the third set. “I figured the way I came back from the injury time-out, still being a little bit worried how things are, that didn't help. You hope sometimes you can solve things with a medical timeout, but that was not really the case.
“That third set was halfway gone anyhow, so it was just a matter of coming to terms with what do I have, what don't I have in my game. I figured in the fourth set, somehow things could go quickly or maybe I'll hang around for a bit, [or] eventually he'll get the break, because he was playing very well.”
Federer hopes his groin went tight through spending 12 hours and 44 minutes on court in five matches, but he’ll find out the full extent of the problem on Wednesday. “I started to feel it about midway through the second set,” he said.
“I can get through a match like this, through a match like [John] Millman, yes, you do believe. I only believe it over once it's over. I shake the hand of the opponent, that it's over, that it's fine.”
Federer will next play second seed and seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in their semi-final on Thursday.
“This [Grand Slam championship has] definitely been tough in many different ways. Then again, I didn't feel like I wasted too much emotional energy out there today because I came to terms quickly that things weren't exactly the way I wanted them to be. Instead of dwelling over them, I felt like I'll just play with it, see what can be done, see if he can put me away or not.
“When I got to the fifth set, I was like, ‘Oh, it's already fifth set’. I don't feel physically exhausted like against Millman. I recovered very well from that match [in the third round]. I'm also hopeful because I feel like I didn't get spent completely today. I'm hopeful that I can recover actually.”
Well, I thought I was going to make it to be honest. I went for a scan that same night and it was alright. After that, we just didn't push it. I didn't practice, I took a day off and then today I really rested it until the last possible moment. I didn't have any pain in the daily stuff that was a positive sign. Also, the way I felt in the fifth was in someways encouraging compared to second and third in the match, I had with Sandgren.
So I felt like I was always going to make it the timeout is something that needed to be done I thought to prevent any further problems. Once in the match, I felt like I was able to finish which is a good thing. I was playing with nothing to lose obviously, I was trying to take big cuts at the ball. Trying to keep the rallies to a minimal. Make sure I keep him off guard and mix it up as well as I can. I think I returned very well in the beginning and I got some really good conditions. Unfortunate I wasn't able to serve it out, I feel like I should have found a way to do that but wasn't able to do. We know how tough he is especially when you give him too any second serves and he was better on the way today, no question about it.
Overall I guess I am very happy. I think this was the maximum to go in the tournament, especially after the Millman and Sandgren match. Today was horrible to go through what I did, nice entrance, nice send-off but in between it is one to forget. Just because you know you have a 3% chance to win, you go for it, you never know but once you can see it coming that it's not going to work any more it's tough. But at the end of the day, I am happy. Overall I played alright, I know I can play better, but I can play much worse as well and with no tournaments beforehand it's a very good result.
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