MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer, with his 17 Grand Slam singles titles, is playing for gravy. Tomas Berdych is still chasing the main course.
But no matter how much the powerful Berdych might want to change his lot in tennis, no matter how many new coaches and consultants he hires, there were higher forces at work in Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
The reasonable expectation when Federer and Berdych clashed in just the third round of the Australian Open was that Federer would have to dig deep to have a chance after his six-month break from the game and his sometimes scratchy performances in the opening two rounds.