Wow, just wow. What an ending that was — to the third-round match in the Australian Open, with Roger Federer (38) playing Australian John Millman (30).
They had played ferociously for 4 hours, and the match was now in its death throes: the fifth and final set’s super tiebreaker. (First to 10, lead by two).
Soon Federer found himself down 4-8, two points away from defeat. Right then, he must have thought ‘Never say die’. He shut out Millman from winning even one, of one-two-three-four-five-SIX points in a row, going to 10-8 for the win.
Final score: Federer beat Millman 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 [10-8]. Go Federer!
Here is match point. In this video still it looks as if Millman (far side) is about to win the point, smacking it down the line from the other side, but no. Federer got to it and hit a cross-court winner to clinch the match. P.S. Commentator Brad Gilbert called out unsportsmanlike conduct from Millman afterwards: when he was serving, Millman turned his back on the umpire and rolled/ rubbed the ball as long as he could, on his soaked shirt. What does that do? It makes the ball heavier and unbalanced, so that it bounces a little less true on the other side, making it a little harder to return. [Video still from Federer-Millman match highlights at ausopen.com]
