As if Roger Federer didn’t already hold enough records and titles to be widely considered to be the greatest tennis player ever, he added a host more during his fourth round encounter with the Argentinian Del Potro.
The Swiss player took the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, and has booked himself a semifinal match with Nadal, who beat Tomas Berdych earlier. By turning up to the match, Federer reached his 1000th ATP Tour Match, and this was just the beginning. The first set he won was the 2000th he’d won, and when we went on to claim the next two with ease, he qualified for his 30th grand slam semifinal.
It was also Federer’s 9th consecutive Autralian Open semifinal, which is 4 more than the next nearest rival for this record. And to cap it all off, it keeps him on track to obtain his 5th title in Australia, and could be his 17th grand slam win, although there are the formidable barriers of Nadal, and perhaps Murray or Djokovic to beat before that happens.
Federer remained fairly humble in the midst of all this record-setting, saying “I’ve either been around for a long time or I’m lucky,” though no-one takes this very seriously. He paid tribute to his Argentinian opponent after the fourth round match, and knew that if he didn’t play his best tennis, the giant Del Potro has plenty of firepower to punish him with. “I know how Juan Martin plays, he knows how I play,” Federer said.
“We’ve played some big matches against each other so I was just hoping that I would get off a good start.” He now has the opportunity to play Nadal before the final for the first time in 7 seven years due to their respective positions of 3rd and 2nd in the rankings, and has to be one of the best tennis bets around.
“It’s a nice change,” said Federer, “I think all the top guys are playing really well at the moment and it’s going to be a tough end to the tournament, as it should be.”