Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A15

January 15, 2018

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Tennis

Federer insists Nadal, Djokovic are favorites

Source: AP | 00:01 UTC+8 January 15, 2018 | Print Edition

Roger Federer prefers to think of Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic as the favorites for the Australian Open title, despite entering as defending champion and coming off a worry-free preparation.

“I play down my chances just because I don’t think a 36-year-old should be a favorite of a tournament,” Federer said on the eve of the year’s first grand slam tournament. “It should not be the case. That’s why I see things more relaxed, you know, at a later stage of my career.”

The 19-time major winner can afford to relax slightly longer, given the half of the draw that he shares with Djokovic doesn’t start until day two. Top-ranked Nadal will get under way tonight against Victor Estrella Burgos on Rod Laver Arena, where he lost the final in five sets to Federer last year.

All four singles finalists were 30 or older last year in what became a tournament for the ages, and three of them are back.

Last year’s finalist Venus Williams is seeded fifth and has a challenging opener against Belinda Bencic. She’s 4-0 in career head-to-heads against 20-year-old Bencic, who reached a career-high No. 7 ranking in 2016. She helped Federer win the Hopman Cup title for Switzerland earlier this month.

At 37, Venus Williams is among the top contenders at Melbourne Park. Simona Halep is the No. 1 seed.

Federer returns in contrasting circumstances to his appearance in 2017, when he was coming off a six-month break for an injured left knee and had low expectations about ending a grand slam title drought that dated to Wimbledon in 2012.

“This year I hope to win the first few rounds and get rolling hopefully, whereas last year I was just hoping to win,” a match, Federer said. “It was more of a ‘let’s see what happens’ kind of tournament, maybe similar to what Novak or Stan (Wawrinka) or others are going through this year.

“Rafa, with the year that he’s had, and Novak with the six titles he’s had here, even if it’s unknown how he’s feeling, they could very well be the favorites, too,” Federer said. “If you’re in the draw, you give yourself a chance. That’s what happened for me last year — all ended up way better than I thought it would, as you know.”

Tennis



 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend