Old is Gold as Federer bags 20th Grand Slam

MELBOURNE: A tearful Roger Federer surged home to beat Marin Cilic in five riveting sets and win his sixth Australian Open and 20th Grand Slam title in Melbourne on Sunday.

The Swiss defending champion dropped his only sets of the tournament before completing a 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over the sixth seeded Croatian in 3hr 3min.Federer, playing in his 30th Grand Slam final, joined Novak Djokovic and Australian great Roy Emerson as joint top for the most Australian Open men’s titles.

Age certainly has not wearied the Swiss master as he was the oldest man at 36 to play in the Australian Open final since Australians Ken Rosewall (37) and Mal Anderson (36) faced each in the 1972 final.

The result is that he stretched his lead on the all-time major-winners’ list to 20 — four ahead of Nadal, six in front of Pete Sampras and eight more than Djokovic.Only three women — Steffi Graf (22), Serena Williams (23), and Margaret Court (24) — have been crowned champion at more Slams.

In an endless list of records, he also holds the all-time men’s record of 332 Grand Slam wins since playing his first in 1999, with career earnings of more than US$115 million.Saturday’s victory was also his 96th career title as he closes in on Jimmy Connors’ Open-Era mark of 109.

Federer, who spent a record 302 weeks at number one and was inside the top 10 from 2002 until 2015, saw his ranking slide to 17 — his lowest since 2001 — after he spent six months out in 2016 with a knee injury. But it has been all upside since last year’s classic five-set final win over Nadal at the Australian Open.

Despite his latest endeavour, Federer will remain world No.2 behind Nadal — for now. “I’m so happy it’s unbelievable. This is a dream come true, the fairytale continues for me,” Federer said at the presentation. “After the great year last year, it’s incredible,” the 36-year-old added as he broke down in tears. “This is what you live for, to one day experience these moments.

“This one tonight reminded me more of 2006 here when I beat Marcos Baghdatis in the final and had a great run to the final and was a huge favourite going in,” he later explained. Federer added to his already imposing win-loss record in Melbourne and is now 94-13. His overall his Grand Slam mark stands at 332-52. Despite his latest triumph, he will remain world No.2 behind Nadal, with Cilic moving to a career-high three.

Federer now leads Cilic 9-1 with his only defeat coming in the semi-finals of the 2014 US Open. The roof was closed over Rod Laver Arena as the tournament’s heat policy was implemented amid enervating evening temperatures of 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit).