MELBOURNE: Andy Murray’s bid to become the first man in the open era to back up his maiden grand slam triumph with the title at the next major comes up against the considerable obstacle of Roger Federer in Friday’s Australian Open semifinal.
Victory over Federer in a best-of-five-sets match at Wimbledon in the final of the London Olympics last year will have given Murray confidence he can break his grand slam duck against the Swiss on Friday.
“I feel probably a little bit calmer maybe than usual,” the 25-year-old said on Wednesday. “But I still have an understanding of how difficult it is to win these events. With the players that are still left in the tournament, it’s going to be a very tough few days if I want to do that.”
Federer’s quest, if there is such a thing for a man who already has 17 grand slam titles under his belt, is to become the first man in the open era to win five Melbourne titles.
The Swiss came through a tough five-set examination from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the semis and is relishing the opportunity of testing himself against Murray again.
“I always enjoyed the matchups with him because it gets to be very tactical,” said the 31-year-old. “He would make you doubt and play very different to the rest of the guys.” (Reuters)