At 36 years and 173 days, Roger Federer is still lapping up Grand Slam titles. For his age, he is not expected to but for his resurrection post 2017 he cannot NOT be a favourite going into a slam. Federer is defying the logics and make the predictors eat their own words.
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| Federer tweeted this pic after his AO'18 triumph. Pic Credits: Google Images |
AO 2018 was expected to bring some change over the Federer Nadal dominance of 2017. Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka were all scheduled to return after an hiatus of almost 6 months; and were expected to apply some brakes to these oldies (if you say). The expectations of a fairytale return didn't pan out for any of them.
Andy Murray withdrew from the tournament, thankfully this time before the draw was announced and avoiding the mess he made at USO'17. Sadly, his hip injury did not heal from rehabilitation and he had to undergo surgery. He will return sometime this year hopefully; but the more pertinent question is will he be able to sustain his level of play post surgery. The scenario is not very hopeful.
Novak Djokovic's condition is only a little better than Murray since he has avoided surgery so far. The question is - how long? He lost to the up and coming Hyeon Chung in the Round of 16 where his elbow pain resurfaced. He is trying a new serve but does not seem in a healthy place.
Stan Wawrinka returned from knee surgery only to lose second round in straight sets to Tennys Sandgren (mostly a challenger level player who went till QF's here).
And when all expected a Fedal final once again, the Spanish bull was was dumped out by Marin Cilic with some ferocious hitting and some injury (yes, again). Nadal then decided to call out ATP for their scheduling citing injury to so many top players.
Where does it leave the ATP tour? Of course, in the safe and experience hands of Roger Federer. Federer outdoes his younger opponents - he sustained the pressure Cilic generated with his heavy hitting in the finals and took home the trophy for a record 20th time. He is now in the coveted company of Margret Court, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams for having 20 or more Grand Slam titles. He has been lucky for sure but pouncing on a presented opportunity is also a hallmark of a great champion. As for now, and for a long while now, Roger Federer is the Greatest of All Time!
Andy Murray withdrew from the tournament, thankfully this time before the draw was announced and avoiding the mess he made at USO'17. Sadly, his hip injury did not heal from rehabilitation and he had to undergo surgery. He will return sometime this year hopefully; but the more pertinent question is will he be able to sustain his level of play post surgery. The scenario is not very hopeful.
Novak Djokovic's condition is only a little better than Murray since he has avoided surgery so far. The question is - how long? He lost to the up and coming Hyeon Chung in the Round of 16 where his elbow pain resurfaced. He is trying a new serve but does not seem in a healthy place.
Stan Wawrinka returned from knee surgery only to lose second round in straight sets to Tennys Sandgren (mostly a challenger level player who went till QF's here).
And when all expected a Fedal final once again, the Spanish bull was was dumped out by Marin Cilic with some ferocious hitting and some injury (yes, again). Nadal then decided to call out ATP for their scheduling citing injury to so many top players.
Where does it leave the ATP tour? Of course, in the safe and experience hands of Roger Federer. Federer outdoes his younger opponents - he sustained the pressure Cilic generated with his heavy hitting in the finals and took home the trophy for a record 20th time. He is now in the coveted company of Margret Court, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams for having 20 or more Grand Slam titles. He has been lucky for sure but pouncing on a presented opportunity is also a hallmark of a great champion. As for now, and for a long while now, Roger Federer is the Greatest of All Time!
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