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Six years after his last appearance at Melbourne Park, where he won six of his 20 Grand Slam titles, Roger Federer returned to the iconic venue on Thursday. Former doubles champion Todd Woodbridge described the visit as a “hello and goodbye” for the Swiss maestro, who never got the chance to properly bid farewell to the Australian Open when he last played in 2022.
On his return, Federer addressed the media and offered his views on the current generation of stars, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, whose rivalry is shaping the post–Big Three era.
Federer said he sees more of himself in the way Alcaraz approaches the game than in Sinner’s style. “When I watch Carlos, I feel there are more similarities in when we choose to hit a drop shot, when we come to the net, how offensive or passive we decide to be. I think we like to play on our own terms, so I put myself more into Carlos’ mindset when I watch him,” Federer said.
Although the 20-time Grand Slam champion admitted he is “very happy” being a spectator three years after his retirement, he recalled one rare Sinner moment that made him imagine himself back on court. It came during Grigor Dimitrov’s fourth-round match against the Italian at Wimbledon last year, where the Bulgarian was forced to retire injured despite leading 6-3, 7-5, 2-2 against the eventual champion.
Owing to the similarities between his own game and Dimitrov’s, Federer, who was watching from the stands at SW19, said the match made him think about how he would have approached a contest against Sinner had he still been an active player.
“At Wimbledon when Grigor (Dimitrov) was playing against Jannik and I was sitting there, that made it easy to think how it could have been because Grigor plays very similar to how I played,” he said.
“That was one of the first times I thought how would it have been to play Jannik in a match situation.
“When I saw Jannik play against Novak (Djokovic) in Shanghai, I didn’t feel that way, I was just watching great tennis because they both play very different to how I played.”
Federer also reflected on the growing rivalry between Sinner and Alcaraz, revisiting what he described as an “unreal” final at Roland Garros last year. In that match, Alcaraz saved three championship points in the third set before prevailing against his rival. Sinner responded weeks later by beating the Spaniard in the Wimbledon final, only for Alcaraz to bounce back with victory in the US Open title clash in September.
“The rivalry with Alcaraz and Sinner is a great one,” Federer said. “They play incredible tennis. That French Open final was unreal. I think the game — not that it needed it — but it was great that we had it. For a moment, it felt like the sporting world stood still and watched what was happening in Paris, especially in that epic fifth set, because it could have ended much sooner for Jannik.
“Then all of a sudden it finished in the most crazy fashion. Maybe one of the greatest matches we’ve ever had in our sport. It’s good that we’re still living off that momentum. They backed it up by playing each other in all those other finals. Everybody else is trying to keep up, and they’re trying to pull away. What we’ve seen in their progression over the last few years has been wonderful. I’ve practised with them a little — they’re incredible ball strikers, and there’s obviously more to come.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have shared all eight Grand Slam titles over the past two years and will look to extend their dominance at the upcoming Australian Open. The 22-year-old Spaniard heads to Melbourne aiming to become the youngest man to complete a Career Grand Slam, while two-time champion Sinner will be chasing a rare three-peat.
