Federer wins 20th Grand Slam title At The Australian Open

Roger Federer celebrated with tears as he kissed and hoisted the Australian Open trophy after winning against Marin Cilic in the men’s final. This was Federer’s 6th Australian Open title and his 20th Grand Slam victory.

Federer came out strong and intense in the opening set that had Marin Cilic have to fight hard. However, while the Croatian held his ground, ultimately he fell to defeat with Federer winning 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6 and 6-1.

For Federer, the success was sweet being that the Swede had not won a major title in four years before last year’s Rafael Nadal. The Australian Open has been good for Federer, having won three titles in the last five years.

Commenting, Federer said,

“I’m so happy. It’s unbelievable. Of course, winning is an absolute dream come true — the fairytale continues for us, for me, after the great year I had last year, its’ incredible.”

The occasion set a record making Rodger Federer the first player to ever win twenty majors. As he was handed the trophy, he took time to thank Rod Laver, considered one of the best in the history of the sport, who was on hand to witness history in the making, saying “I love you guys. Thank you”

Australian Open TV

Federer is the second oldest to win a Grand Slam title, being 36 years of age. The only tennis player older than Federer to win a Grand Slam was Ken Rosewell in 72.

For Cilic, who was graceful over the loss said,

“Big congratulations to Roger and his team — it’s amazing what you guys do,” Cilic said. “It was an amazing journey for me to come here to the final. I had a slight chance at the beginning of the fifth, but Roger played a great fifth set.”

The crowd at Melbourne Park clearly was in support of Federer, evident by the sea of red and white, the colour of the Swiss flag. Supporters of Federer dawned Swiss t-shirts, hats or waved Swiss flags. Federer was swift to get the set off to a rapid start scoring service breaks in the 1st and 3rd games and forcing Cilic to get a new racket just twelve points into the first set. Federer only gave up two points in the opening set, one that lasted twenty-four minutes and due to the heat, was played under a closed roof. However, Cilic came back in the second managing to tie the match.

The third set was won by Federer after twenty-nine minutes of play, but Cilic turned things around again to level out the match. As Cilic fought back, Federer’s serve percentage dropped by more than 50%. Cilic failed to capitalise on breaking Federer’s serve during the fifth set due to errors. Cilic then twice double-faulted and this gave Federer the lead and ultimately the title win.

Cilic’s record against Federer is one that is sure to haunt the Croatian who, in the last eight meetings, has lost to the Swede. His only success was at the 2014 U.S Open, which was his first and only major title.

The win was not without a degree of controversy after organisers, who had chosen to close the roof for the mixed doubles final, chose to do the same for the men’s final. This saw commenters mentioning that they had seen days where temperatures were hotter and the heat policy not put in place, hence the controversy.

The Australian Open heat policy allows for tournament referee’s to have the roof closed if temperatures hit or exceed 40 degrees Celsius. The controversy related to temperatures being 38C before the men’s final.

Tennis Australia stated that,

“With no dramatic reduction forecast, the referee exercised his discretion and called for the roof to be closed. At no other time during the event this year has the WBGT reading reached the threshold.”

For Federer, the controversy will be forgotten as he continues with the season with hopes of winning more titles and setting new records. Whether Federer will add more titles to his record before he retires will be seen, but for bettors, it is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of free bets with tennis sportsbook sites that will certainly have odds favoring the swede.