A supremely confident Federer is still not the favorite for Australian Open

Roger Federer won all four of his singles matches at the Hopman Cup to claim his “hat trick” title for Switzerland, looking very relaxed and fit going into the Australian Open.

Roger Federer was in dominant form throughout the Hopman Cup tournament, finishing with dramatic fashion by clinching a record third title in Perth. Federer also became the first successive champion of the unique event, which features mixed doubles in the deciding match between nations. It was Federer’s conclusive serve game that gave him and his teammate Belinda Bencic the winning point that decided the outcome against Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber from Team Germany.

“I am very happy for these records, although I didn’t come here for that,” Federer said afterwards.

“Winning it back-to-back years, what a thrill it was, not just the match point but the whole week.”

It was Federer’s serve that Serena Williams mentioned as an “underrated” weapon in their charming interview after the Swiss team beat Serena and her partner Francis Tiafoe. In fact, all of Fed’s weapons were on display all week long, from his serve, to incredible winners, and boundless energy. He looked a far cry from the weary player nursing a slight wrist injury last fall.

“We saw what he can do this year,” said ‘Sascha’ Zverev, who also lost to him in straight sets in the singles match between Germany and Switzerland. “He is still playing great, he played much better than me today and I still have a lot of work to do but it’s good to see him like this.”

Zverev seemed to be the man to beat coming off of a phenomenally successful end-of-year achievement of winning the ATP Finals. If there’s one man who can succeed the Big Three (Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic), this 21 year-old German has been the one everyone has pointed to for the last year or so. The ATP Final was the biggest vindication of the predictions about the young talent. However, Zverev had a difficult time getting past Federer in Perth, producing errors and finding it challenging to convert break points when facing the world No. 3.

2018 ATP NextGen Finals champion Stefanos Tsisipas came close, but again the elder statesman prevailed, winning both tie break sets.

“I enjoy playing against these guys. They bring something different and something I have never seen today. As you can see I am still breathing heavily and I am not getting any younger. It was good fun and I really enjoyed myself,” said Federer afterwards.

What does all this mean? Fed’s still finding the energy to beat the young promising players on the Tour and the reigning Australian Open champion seems every bit in prime condition to defend his title in Melbourne. The 20-time slam champ is looking for a record 100th ATP title, which would make him only the second male player to own ATP wins in triple digits (behind Jimmy Connors’ 109). Another AO win would be a record seventh. He is currently tied with Novak Djokovic at six for most Melbourne titles.

Ranked No. 1 (Djokovic) and 3, and with Nadal’s (No. 2) participation still in question due to a slight thigh injury, the quest for achieving the record Down Under is between these two. Federer says that the Serb is the man to beat. Djokovic is coming off a phenomenal comeback year, but went out early recently at Doha. Fed just won at Hopman, however a title there may have less pressure than fighting through an ATP singles tournament.

“No doubt about it, Novak is the favorite,” Federer said at the Hopman Cup, according to Tennis.com.

Federer spoke about Nole’s resurgence last year. “With his class, once he gets his groove back, he’s hard to beat.”

Both men have arrived in Melbourne and are on the practice courts at the Australian Open, having skipped the warm-up events in Auckland and Sydney.

The Australian Open kicks off on January 14.

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