Roger Federer added another chapter to his phenomenal career on Sunday when the Swiss superstar captured his 20th Grand Slam championship crown to retain his Australian Open title with a thrilling 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Marin Cilic in the night-time final. Twelve months on from beating Rafael Nadal in a pulsating five-set final, the 36-year-old once again drew upon his great skill and ingenuity to build upon his legacy as the greatest player in tennis history by winning a record-equalling sixth Australian Open crown (with Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic), coming through a draw that respected observers thought would be problematic. "I'm so happy, it's unbelievable,” said an emotional Federer, with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup trophy...
Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Croatia’s Mate Pavic saved one championship point in the Match tie-break to capture the Australian Open mixed doubles title on Sunday. Fifth seeds Pavic and Dabrowski scraped past India’s Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos of Hungary, the eighth seeds, 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 in 68 minutes under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena. The tournament’s organisers had enforced the extreme heat policy as the temperature neared 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The victory comes less than 24 hours after Pavic partnered Oliver Marach to the men’s doubles title, with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. [ALSO LIKE] “It feels pretty good, I have to say,” Pavic said of his two...
Roger Federer beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win his sixth Australian Open and 20th overall Grand Slam title after three hours and three minutes on Sunday night. In a match of multiple momentum shifts, Federer joined Australia's Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic of Serbia as a six-time champion in the 50th Open Era edition of the Australian Open. Federer has become just the third man, after Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver, in the Open Era to win four or more Grand Slam titles after becoming a 30-year-old and now moves just 155 points behind World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the ATP Rankings. Federer improved to 9-1 lifetime against Cilic in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series,...
Roger Federer and Marin Cilic were both in The Maldives on vacation at the end of November, following the 2017 ATP World Tour season. “I didn't want to bother him. He didn't want to bother me,” Federer recalled following his semi-final on Friday. “After two days, he wrote me: ‘I'm here, too, in case you want to catch up and stuff, let me know’.” Photo Credit: Marin Cilic The pair practised twice for 45 minutes and even got together for drinks with their families. “It's great fun. No coaches, no nothing, just the two of us on the court hitting balls,” Federer said. “It was just nice and laid back, to get to know the man behind the tennis player.”...
Legends of tennis including Goran Ivanisevic, Mats Wilander, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert discuss who they believe will win the 2018 Australian Open final between defending champion Roger Federer and 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic.
