BRISBANE, Australia — Roger Federer recalled the celebrations and the festive atmosphere of his 1,000th match victory on tour as soon as he returned to the Brisbane International to fine-tune his preparations for the Australian Open.
He achieved the milestone in the final here last year, when he beat Milos Raonic and shared the podium with some of the players he revered from a previous era.
His first practice was positive, he said, then he picked up an illness from one of his four kids — the whole family had it — and his attempt at a title defense was shaky for a while.