In an interview to the Sunday Age, recalled his epic 2017 Australian Open title. During the tournament the Swiss defeated four top ten players, including Kei Nishikori in the fourth round and Rafael Nadal in the final in five sets.
On the championship clash against the Spaniard, in which Federer was down 1-3 in the fifth, the 20-tiem Major winner said: Honestly for me, it will go down as a top three most epic matches and tournaments, maybe my favourite tournament ever besides the French Open or my first Wimbledon final.
It was that epic. Federer headed into the match thinking to just play the ball, not Nadal, his toughest rival in career. And I wanted to play in a way that it felt that way, the 37-year-old said.
Because I played great against Nishikori and also Stan. So I felt like I had the game in me. You know, the questions like was the body OK after those two five setters already and the good thing is maybe also Rafa also went through an epic five setter against Grigor [Dimitrov].
So from that stand point, I also felt like that was square. And he also had come back from injury. You never know how the other guys feels, even though we both pretend maybe we were totally fit totally OK, we might have been half broken.
So you have to keep believing that youre fitter than the other guy and you have to keep believing that being on the offensive is a good thing … its not always easy staying on the offensive, but I think Ive proven throughout my career that being on the offensive is a good thing. ALSO READ: Rafael Nadal: Worse players than David Ferrer won a Grand Slam title
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