As if crushing his Wimbledon dream wasn’t enough, now Novak Djokovic has warned Roger Federer that Rod Laver Arena is his house ahead of their Australian Open semi-final blockbuster in Melbourne.
It’s the 50th clash of the two titans on Thursday night – but their first meeting at a major since the super Serb rose from the canvas to deliver the great Swiss a devastating knockout blow at the All England Club last July.
Federer has treated tennis’ most hallowed centre court like his own back yard in piling up an unrivalled eight Wimbledon titles from 12 finals since landing the first of his 20 slams at London’s SW19 in 2003.
But in fighting back from successive match points down on Federer’s serve to steal the trophy from him in the epic 2019 final, Djokovic crippled his rival’s hopes of ending as the most successful player in history.
And the owner of a record seven Australian Open crowns was happy to remind Federer who’s boss at Melbourne Park after setting up the 17th instalment of their 14-year grand slam rivalry.
“In the end of the day, this is my favourite court – the court where I had the most success in my career,” said Djokovic, who hasn’t dropped a set since the first round and is unbeaten in 11 hardcourt matches in 2020.
Djokovic’s Wimbledon triumph, in the first-ever deciding fifth-set super-tiebreaker, extended the Serb’s mastery over Federer at the majors to five matches and seven years.
Still, the reigning Open champion retains the utmost respect for the 38-year-old world No.3.
“I know that whenever we get a chance to play each other, we understand it takes a big effort and it’s required from us to come up with the best game in order to win against each other,” Djokovic said.
“Wimbledon last year, he had two match points, he was one shot away from winning that match. It’s not like I’ve been dominating the match-ups.
“I’ve had success against him in grand slams, in particular, but Roger is Roger.
“You know that he’s always going to play on such a high level, regardless of the surface.
“He loves to play these kind of matches, big rivalries, semis, finals of grand slams.
“That’s probably the biggest reason why he’s still competing, to be able to compete at the grand slams against the best players in the world.
“He’s still playing such a great tennis and proving that he deserves to be up there. He’s a great fighter.”
That much was evident as Federer fought off seven match points to scrape through his quarter-final against American Tennys Sandrgen on Tuesday.
But the third seed’s second five-setter of the tournament took a huge toll on his battered body, Federer conceding he’d need round-the-clock treatment to be ready for Djokovic.
Seeking to become the oldest grand slam champion in history, Federer needed a medical time-out against Sandgren and was unsure how his suspect groin would pull up.
“It’s just pain and problems,” he said, hoping the 50-hour turnaround would be enough.
“You have an extra day, adrenaline, there’s a lot of things. Two good nights of sleep, doctors, physios.
“Hopefully we’ll find out that it’s actually nothing bad, that it was just the groin that went really tight from playing a lot, who knows what, from nerves. I don’t know.
“I’m hopeful.”