Too old to be favourite: Federer
AUSTRALIAN OPEN Swiss defending champ feels putting the tag on others makes him relaxed MATCHES TODAY
MELBOURNE: Roger Federer prefers to think of Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic as the favourites 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-yearold should be a favourite of a tournament,” Federer said on the eve of the year’s first Grand Slam, “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 Monday night 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 here last year in what became a tournament for the ages, and three of them are back.
Serena Williams beat her older sister Venus Williams in the final to capture an Open erarecord 23rd Major here last year but decided against defending her title because she didn’t have enough time to recover from health issues after a complicated childbirth in September.
Venus Williams is seeded fifth and is second match sched- uled on centre court to get her 77th Major underway with a challenging opener against Belinda Bencic.
She’s 4-0 in career head-toheads against 20-year-old Bencic - who reached a career-high No. 7 ranking in 2016 and who helped Federer win the Hopman Cup title for Switzerland earlier this month — but is coming off an abbreviated preparation that included a loss in the second round to eventual champion Angelique Kerber at the Sydney International last week.
At 37, Venus Williams is among the top contenders at Melbourne Park.
Only two men can hold the top ranking in the first week of February - Nadal or Federer - regardless of what No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov or No. 4 Alexander Zverev or anybody else does in Melbourne. MELBOURNE: Continuing his good form from the last season, Yuki Bhambri qualified for the Australian Open with a come-from-behind win but Ramkumar Ramanathan missed out on his maiden Grand Slam appearance. The 25-year old Bhambri overcame a first set lapse to tame Canadian Peter Polansky 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the third and final qualifying round in one hour and 55 minutes. It will be third Australian Open men’s singles main draw for Bhambri who had lost in the first round in 2015 and 2016 to Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych respectively.
Meanwhile, Ramkumar had a break chance in the fifth game of the decider but could not convert and even- tually lost his third round match 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 to Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
At Grand Slams, it is Ramkumar’s best show, reaching the final qualifying round. Bhambri had won Australian Open boys singles tile here in 2009 and has played only at this Grand Slam in the main draw since turning Pro.
Bhambri said, “Maybe the conditions suit me or I am just familiar with it because I have played here before.”