Roger Federer's MAGIC 20

Roger Federer having not lost a single set in the 1st 6 matches of the Australian open 2018 looked to be the strong favourite in the final. On the other hand, Marin Cilic having had his bit of struggles and a lucky win against Rafa(retired from QF 5th set due to hip injury) was the underdog!

Federer, wasting no time raced away with 2 consecutive breaks in the 1st set to a 4–0 lead and then winning the 1st set 6–1. Enough to break the confidence of any player with that score and the approach and aggressive way of tennis by Federer in the 1st set. 2nd set had some fight by Cilic having 2 set points but couldn’t convert and then Federer forcing a tiebreaker but Cilic capitalized on the 3rd set point to win the tie break 7–5. Cilic looked pumped but Federer steamrolled Cilic in just 29 minutes to take away the 3rd set. Having a 3–0 lead in the 4th set it looked Federer all the way but then Cilic bounced back like a tiger and fought a match of his life to break Federer twice and won 6 games in a row and thus sealed the 4th set and took the match to a Decider.

But it was not just Cilic v. Federer. If you saw the match you will see Cilic v. Federer + the crowd. Federer had a huge support from the crowd whenever he was winning the points but Cilic hardly got any cheer for his points. It was a strong start for Cilic in the 5th as he was hitting winners and playing aggressive ground strokes. He had a break point in the very 1st game Federer serving but Federer somehow escaped winning that game. Federer was quite fortunate with the line calls but not Cilic as most of his strucked balls were in but called out and when challenged, the ball was in but he had to replay the point. That’s a little unfair. If you remember Federer v. Kyrgios - Miami 2017 SF final set tie break, Kyrgios was leading 5–4 and then someone from the crowd made a line call which was disruptive and Kyrgios brain faded thought it was a call by the umpire and eventually lost that point. at 5–5 Kyrgios with his usual problem of mood change in between the match couldn’t take it and from there he lost the match losing the tie break 7–5. But yes the crowd was very demotivating for Cilic as he hardly got any crowd support. I mean come on he is world no.6(world no.3 now) and he has been in top 10 for quite a long time now. The 2nd game of the 5th set was the confidence breaker for Cilic and from there he lost the match. Before the match i thought 90 minutes and 3 sets Federer but Cilic was not a complete underdog having thrashed Federer in the US open 2014 SFs in straight sets. So he had the ability and the experience.

Have to give credit to Federer’s immense level of fitness to win grand slams and play 5 setters at 36. Something unimaginable and its completely magic to win a grand slam at 30+. After winning the AO 2010 he said his ultimate goal would be to win 20 slams but that started looking a big deal once we saw the rise of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. He didn’t win a slam in 2011 but won the wimbledon like a king in 2012. People started questioning his fitness and age when he couldn’t win any slams in 2013. In 2014 lost wimbledon final to Djokovic in 5 sets. In 2015 he showed some massive signs of returning to world no.1 in the 2nd half after reaching finals of wimbledon and US open but couldn’t win. Djokovic edged him though for the Year end no.1 in 2015. 2016 was an unlucky year for Federer as he was out of action for most of the year and shut his season after wimbledon. Federer with a perfect plan of which tournaments to play and which not who knows if he surpasses Serena’s record of 23 slams? :)

#RogerFederer #RafaelNadal #MarinCilic #AustralianOpen2018 #20GrandSlams