Supreme 16 the jewel in Fed's crown
01/02/10 10:15 AM
World number one Roger Federer has hailed his Australian Open victory over Briton Andy Murray on Sunday night as one of the greatest performances of his spectacular career.

The Swiss great took out his fourth Australian Open title and the 16th grand slam of his career with a thrilling 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11) straight-sets triumph over Murray, who was in hot form on the road to the final.

Federer said with the depth of talent now in men's tennis, he struggled to remember when he had played a better match.

'"[There are] guys serving well, but there was always a weakness you could go to," he said.

"Today that doesn't exist anymore.

"I think that's also thanks to guys like Murray.

"They've made me a better player, because I think this has been one of my finest performances in a long time or maybe forever."

Federer said after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals that Britain had waited "150,000 years" for a grand slam title, but he played down any suggestion he was engaging in "psychological warfare".

"I think it got exaggerated. The on-court interviews, I don't take those seriously anyway," he said.

"So if you think it was a mental thing it was not the case. If you ask me a question I'll give you a straight answer.

"It's not an easy thing to do to win your first grand slam, that's not trying to screw with his head.

"It's just a tough thing and the next one not going to get any easier."

But he said Murray winning his maiden slam is only a matter of time.

"His game is so good I'm convinced he will win one," he said.

"I thought he did really well ... because conditions were tough, but I thought I played a good match and someone's got to win. I'm glad it was me."

Rollercoaster of emotions

The Swiss star was in dominant form early in the final and broke Murray's serve late in the first set to take a 6-3 lead.

Another break of serve was enough to secure Federer the second set, but the Scot hit back to move to a powerful 5-2 lead in the third.

But he could not serve out the set and despite five set points in an enthralling tie-break, Federer took the breaker 13-11 with his third championship point.

Federer says the match ended so quickly it was difficult to celebrate.

"This felt similar to the Wimbledon victory in a way, because all of a sudden it was over and it hit me," he said.

"Before I made the drop shot and I think I won, [it] might have been much more emotional.

"But then after losing that point I'm thinking 'my God, he just grabbed the trophy out of my hands and I might end up losing this thing'.

"Three points later, I'm the winner after all, so it was very much a rollercoaster with the emotions.

"You just try to stay focused, and when match point was over I was like 'oh my God, this it it."

Putting in work

Federer is now level with Andre Agassi, Jack Crawford and Ken Rosewall with four Australian Open wins.

He says there are no secrets or mysterious methods behind his record.

"[I'm] definitely a very talented player," he said, to the amusement of assembled media in Melbourne last night.

"I always knew I had something special [but] I definitely had to work extremely hard so I would pick the right shot at the right time."

Source: ABC