Dad Federer fired up by fatherhood

MELBOURNE: Doting dad Roger Federer is fired up for his first Australian Open as a father, saying having children has given him extra hunger to win Grand Slams.

The Swiss superstar, who has missed playing in only one of the past 18 Grand Slam finals, is in Melbourne with wife, Mirka, and six-month-old twin daughters, Myla and Charlene.

He gets his tournament underway tomorrow against Russia's Igor Andreev and said he was feeling better than ever despite now mixing babysitting duties with his tennis preparations.

"With the hunger, there's always going to be speculation when you have a family. They look at the history and see some players didn't win when they had family," he said. "But the hunger is still there. I'm working as hard as I have been.

"I haven't been just baby sitting, you know. I also like to go out in the morning, put in the big hours.

"I feel my game's really where it's supposed to be. I can only put in the best effort I can and hope that the results will follow."

Bookmakers have again made the Swiss legend, a three-time winner here, the favorite to capture his 16th Grand Slam in the season's opening major tournament after a year in which he continued winning the ones that mattered.

He finally broke through at Roland Garros, clinching the French Open at his 11th attempt and followed up with a sixth Wimbledon crown in seven years.

Federer became the all-time Grand Slam leader in men's tennis in the process, passing the 14 won by American Pete Sampras and retrieved the world No 1 ranking off Rafael Nadal after a period of 46 weeks.

Now 28, he is as excited as ever at the start of a new season, with his fitness back in contrast to this time last year when he was coming off a series of injuries and indifferent form.

"A new start to the season is in a way always refreshing and exciting," he said.

"Everything sort of starts at zero, except the rankings which is a good thing, thank God.

"Most importantly, I'm focused on my game. I think I put in a lot of work last year trying to get back to No 1.

"Also in the off season I try to work extremely hard. I'm back where I want to be.

"On top of that, on the personal note that I was able to handle everything at the same time was quite fascinating for me as well."

AFP

(China Daily 01/18/2010 page24)