World number two Roger Federer is first to admit that his upcoming Australian Open 2013 fourth round match against Milos Raonic of Canada is not going to be an easy one.
Federer and Raonic have played against each other three times in the past and while Federer had won all of those encounters, he had to work hard to seal the victories, as evidenced by the scores.
“I’ve had some tough matches with him in the past,” Federer said.
“All of them went the distance. Some of them I should have lost, maybe one or two. Indian Wells, I felt like I was more in control than the other two. In Madrid I was in a lot of trouble. Halle was extremely close.
“We’ll see this time around how it’s going to be. He’s obviously got one of the best serves in the game. Up-and-coming. So you always feel, especially after an off?season like the one we’ve just had, he’s maybe improved again a few things or he’s worked on a few things. So you would expect maybe some more unexpected stuff that he didn’t do last time around. We’ll see how it goes. I’m excited about the match, anyhow.”
As for Raonic, he said that he should have that belief in himself in order to make it through the match, and even have the chance to win.
“The thing, I think, is staying calm and staying very flat-lined throughout a match is very important for myself, from the mental side,” he said.
“I have to go out there and do my job. Take care of my serve is number one. Really dictate or try to dictate as much as I can and go for it, not get in too much rhythm. Sort of similar to today. I think he deals much better with that. But not give him too much rhythm. Sort of sink my teeth into the match as much as I can. Not just go for it out there, give it my all, stay aggressive as much as I can, try to get ahead in as many points as I can,” he added.
Watch Roger Federer vs Milos Raonic Australian Open 2013 Live Match Video
