For those who have an intimate relationship with tennis, it seems that they have found the past twelve months more than interesting. In what seems to have been a glitch in time, Roger Federer went on to dominate the scene of men's tennis. A year after the fairytale started in that 2017 Aussie Open final at Melbourne Park, the Swiss Maestro was back in the final aiming to complete the circle. His opponent was Marin Cilic, 2014 US Open champion, and 2017 Wimbledon runner-up. The Croatian was seeking some revenge after a disappointing display in last summer's final on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
Witnessing a jam-packed Rod Laver Arena, today's two gladiators delivered a highly-entertaining match with Cilic pushing Federer into a deciding fifth set. As drama and tension skyrocketed, the Croat lost some traction allowing Federer to successfully defend last year's triumph.
Roger Federer keeps the fairytale alive, he extends his legacy
Always seeking improvement and growth to his tennis output, last year, Federer came back from the brink of retirement to impose his own domination once more. He went on to clinch the opening set in about half an hour. The second act saw Cilic raising his level and it all came down to a tie-break where he managed to steal the set away from Federer. Seemingly unrattled by the course of the events, Federer went on to pressing the pedal to put his name on the third set.
The environment became a bit dicey during the fourth act as Cilic started to deliver some of his finest tennis. In a blast of five consecutive games, the Croat outplayed Federer from to force a decider.
As he did so many times in the past, the 36-year-old Swiss bounced back to crush Cilic in the fifth thus becoming the second oldest Aussie Open winner after Ken Rosewall's success back in 1972.
Federer has leveled the score with Djokovic by winning his sixth title in Melbourne and the 20th Major overall.
How things will evolve for the rest of 2018
Defending his title means that Federer has sneaked up closely behind the current world No. 1 Rafael Nadal. If the mojo remains in its place and Federer encounters further success during the Sunshine Double he might as well prepare for another sojourn at the summit of the ATP ranking.
Given the current state of the men's tour, Roger Federer can go for more Grand Slam glory in 2018. Of course, Wimbledon has to be on his list while the US Open will mostly depend on how things evolve up to that point of the year. In the past, he has won back-to-back Australian Open titles only once (2006-2007). More than a decade later, he has done it again.
