:00:36. > :00:41.Hello, the Australian Open has reached the semifinal stage and the
:00:42. > :00:47.Swiss are on a roll. Roger Federer, winner of 17 Grand Slam titles,
:00:48. > :00:50.takes on compatriot Stan Wawrinka, who has three majors to his name.
:00:51. > :00:58.For one of them, another place in a Grand Slam final weights. Tennis,
:00:59. > :01:04.like life, is all about timing. -- a place in a Grand Slam final weights.
:01:05. > :01:14.Time and time again... COMMENTATOR: Back in the big time.
:01:15. > :01:23.True tennis greatness. The third Swiss to win a major. At times, this
:01:24. > :01:33.performance was genius. He can absolutely batter the ball. Pure
:01:34. > :01:35.delight for the whole of Switzerland. What a time to do it.
:01:36. > :01:43.The greatest of all time? We can expect precision timing over
:01:44. > :01:49.the next hour. We have that match coming up. Before the two Swiss
:01:50. > :01:55.greats came unto God, we went back in time to honour one of the greats
:01:56. > :02:10.of the past, Australian Rod Laver. The only player to have one tennis's
:02:11. > :02:20.Grand Slam twice was honoured with the order of Australia.
:02:21. > :02:30.Federer has had the better of their meetings, he has won all 13 of their
:02:31. > :02:34.hard court meetings. They will see their own pictures along the
:02:35. > :02:42.corridor as they make their way out onto court. 20 Grand Slam between
:02:43. > :02:49.them and Federer has the lion's share, with 17, but Wawrinka's three
:02:50. > :02:52.have all come since Federer's last one.
:02:53. > :03:06.Your commentators are Andrew Castle and John Wood.
:03:07. > :03:13.COMMENTATOR: I'm not sure there's any future in trying to take a high
:03:14. > :03:19.ball on the backhand side. There are many times he struggled with Rafael
:03:20. > :03:24.Nadal on that one. If there is any area of weakness, even a marginal
:03:25. > :03:29.one, it could be up high on the backhand side.
:03:30. > :04:04.You can see how early Federer is trying to take this ball in the
:04:05. > :04:08.rally, he is trying to get ahead of his opponent quickly in these
:04:09. > :04:13.points. The timing has to be absolutely precise. He has missed
:04:14. > :04:18.two backhands in this game in trying to do that.
:04:19. > :04:29.As soon as he has lost that point, though, at 0-15, 15-30 can he
:04:30. > :04:34.serve-volleys. It's all very aggressive at the moment. Watching a
:04:35. > :04:38.35-year-old Roger Federer with all his talent and records, watching him
:04:39. > :04:47.trying to find a way against this US Open champion, it's quite thrilling.
:04:48. > :04:52.There have been so many years when it came so easily for Federer,
:04:53. > :04:58.everybody dismissed with a wave of the magic wand of his right hand.
:04:59. > :05:02.But now you sense that he is hanging on and he wants another major
:05:03. > :05:07.highlight, but he has got trouble here. As the camp Luxon, a break
:05:08. > :05:40.point at a time to Wawrinka. I mean, that is virtually a
:05:41. > :05:45.half-volley on a break point down! Yes he was moving onto the ball and
:05:46. > :05:49.it was short and Wawrinka will be disappointed, but to take that ball
:05:50. > :05:51.on, to get your opponent on the run, as Federer did, break point down...
:05:52. > :06:14.Courageous. He may not have age on his side,
:06:15. > :06:20.Federer, but he has a record on his side that Irene Coe will be aware
:06:21. > :06:41.of. Federer has won 13 and lost none against Wawrinka on hard courts.
:06:42. > :06:51.UMPIRE: Federer is challenging the call on the right baseline. I
:06:52. > :06:56.thought Wawrinka might have challenged earlier on on the second
:06:57. > :06:59.serve actually, but he didn't. This ball was moving quickly. It went
:07:00. > :07:03.through the air fast and landed either on the line or just behind.
:07:04. > :07:09.Federer has stopped the rally, and he was right to do so. And that is a
:07:10. > :07:59.well held game. 6-5 Federer, first set.
:08:00. > :08:08.And he has threaded the ball down the line, Federer, who saved a break
:08:09. > :08:16.point in the previous game. By correctly challenging a ground
:08:17. > :08:21.stroke by Wawrinka on his own baseline, he might have stopped this
:08:22. > :08:43.rally earlier. Threads the line, beautiful.
:08:44. > :08:55.Oh! That is a great response from Wawrinka. Not an easy poll, John.
:08:56. > :09:03.Heavy forehand from Federer. Again, this aggressive mode he is income
:09:04. > :09:16.coming in. Took that just early enough to be able to dip its down
:09:17. > :09:26.low, create that winner. LINE JUDGE: Out!
:09:27. > :09:32.UMPIRE: The ball was called out. Mr Wawrinka challenging the call. Both
:09:33. > :09:39.players came in absolutely ready. Federer had beaten Berdych and
:09:40. > :09:40.Nishikori in five sets. Wawrinka has felt the fire, he beat Martin Klizan
:09:41. > :09:53.in five sets in the first round. So, these are the moments that
:09:54. > :10:27.decide a match. LINE JUDGE: Out! This is a vital
:10:28. > :10:33.challenge, this one. Federer looked a little bit unsure himself, from
:10:34. > :10:44.his reaction after this ball. This is big.
:10:45. > :10:48.Having saved a break point in the previous game, Roger Federer with a
:10:49. > :11:11.set point. Cheeky slice down the line, changing
:11:12. > :11:17.direction and changing the spin! Federer has nicked the first set and
:11:18. > :11:20.that is what it was, 50 minutes and seven games to five in this
:11:21. > :11:24.committee 's 41st Grand Slam semifinal. The old man is doing
:11:25. > :11:29.well. STUDIO
:11:30. > :11:35.First blood to the four-time champion Federer. How will Wawrinka
:11:36. > :11:54.react? Here he is 3-2 down on serve in the second set.
:11:55. > :12:02.Well, it was close. Federer so aggressive on that serve, four feed
:12:03. > :12:10.inside the baseline taking that second serve. Yes, court it -- he
:12:11. > :12:27.caught it. CHEERING
:12:28. > :12:32.That is amazing. It's hard to believe, looking at this match, that
:12:33. > :12:37.Roger Federer could sort of bully someone like Stan Wawrinka, but that
:12:38. > :12:40.is what his game plan has been, to be extremely aggressive, take the
:12:41. > :12:45.ball on early, serve and volley, mix it up and not give Wawrinka time to
:12:46. > :12:53.breathe, and that is what has been happening so far. It is a 99th match
:12:54. > :13:00.at the Australian Open for Roger Federer. Only Jimmy Connors has
:13:01. > :13:07.played 100 in a slam, in fact he did it at Wimbledon and the US Open. He
:13:08. > :13:12.has been around a bit, Roger Federer. And this vast wealth of
:13:13. > :13:16.experience, and we've been talking about that slice and that chip
:13:17. > :13:24.backhand from Federer, the slice down the line just changing the look
:13:25. > :13:27.to Wawrinka, it won him the first set and now it has brought him to
:13:28. > :13:46.break at a key moment. Stan Wawrinka on a 12 match winning
:13:47. > :13:53.streak at these Grand Slam championships. The last man to beat
:13:54. > :14:00.him at a slam, Juan Martin del Potro at Wimbledon in the second round.
:14:01. > :14:16.So, the reigning US Open champion under the cosh, second point.
:14:17. > :14:24.And the racket takes a hammering and you can understand why. Wawrinka now
:14:25. > :14:28.a set and they break down and the dream lives on for Federer. Six
:14:29. > :14:35.months away from the game coming into this. What a story Roger
:14:36. > :14:38.Federer is creating here. We didn't know whether he could win
:14:39. > :14:45.back-to-back matches over five sets against the big guys. But the
:14:46. > :14:50.victory over Berdych in straights and then Nishikori in five has got
:14:51. > :14:59.Federer believing. There's a bit of eight, whatever the substance is,
:15:00. > :15:05.holding that together. It's an automatic warning. It's a bit of a
:15:06. > :15:12.silly system for me. He hasn't harmed anybody, apart from the
:15:13. > :15:17.racket. I could do that, titanium knees, no problem!
:15:18. > :15:26.APPLAUSE I'm not sure there's ever been a
:15:27. > :15:33.better front runner in the game than Roger Federer. Just hitting the
:15:34. > :15:54.surface and zipping into the back fence.
:15:55. > :15:59.He has just tapped his knee there, I'm not sure if that was the knee he
:16:00. > :16:13.used to break that racket, but... Federer only played seven tour
:16:14. > :16:20.events last year. He injured his knee a day after the semifinal of
:16:21. > :16:27.the Australian Open, so a year ago, he had arthroscopic knee surgery in
:16:28. > :16:32.February and carried on until Wimbledon, the semifinal for him.
:16:33. > :16:38.Then he called it quits. So, six months without hitting a ball. Most
:16:39. > :16:43.people would take three or four weeks, or even months, to get back
:16:44. > :16:52.to winning ways. But he just slotted straight back in. Incredible.
:16:53. > :16:57.Well, how can BOOING
:16:58. > :17:06.-- how can Wawrinka respond to this? For consecutive games for Roger
:17:07. > :17:09.Federer, a set and 5-2 up in this semifinal. Akram Byas seats quickly,
:17:10. > :17:11.please, thank you. UMPIRE: Seats, quickly, please.
:17:12. > :17:29.Thank you. Stan Wawrinka, who has won all three
:17:30. > :17:35.of his Grand Slam championships since Roger Federer last won is,
:17:36. > :17:41.which was the 2012 Wimbledon, the match against Andy Murray, where
:17:42. > :17:45.Andy cried at the end, you remember? Stan has had such great success, he
:17:46. > :17:52.will rise to number three in the world by the end of this tournament.
:17:53. > :18:32.But he has a mountain to climb here. A set and 5-2 down.
:18:33. > :18:40.Federer is just charging in where ever he feels like! I thought he had
:18:41. > :18:48.no chance there and he actually should have made that volley. The
:18:49. > :18:53.easiest folly he has had in this match, he has lobbied superbly other
:18:54. > :19:02.than that one. He just needs to keep concentrating. It's almost as though
:19:03. > :19:06.he has just taken his foot off the gas and he is preparing for the next
:19:07. > :19:17.service game. Some players approach the match in that way, Jimmy Connors
:19:18. > :19:18.never used to. But Federer constructs his matches in a slightly
:19:19. > :19:29.different way. It can be dangerous to just see the
:19:30. > :19:36.momentum to the other player in this situation -- to just cede momentum
:19:37. > :19:44.to the other player. So Federer will be pleased he won that point. Former
:19:45. > :19:45.world number two there and an Australian Open semifinalist in
:19:46. > :19:59.2000. He has done a fantastic job with
:20:00. > :20:08.Stan Wawrinka, but they might need to work on the rallies! He is
:20:09. > :20:17.forcing himself to come in a bit more now, Wawrinka, to try to take
:20:18. > :20:25.the net away from Federer. It's not a place he's very comfortable with.
:20:26. > :20:48.It was in 2000 where his coach, Magnus Norman, made the semifinal,
:20:49. > :20:53.and Federer picked up his first Grand Slam win, at this tournament,
:20:54. > :21:03.17 years ago. But he wants to forget all about that now and concentrate
:21:04. > :21:48.on what is at hand, the chance of going to sets to love up.
:21:49. > :22:09.Wawrinka's parents and agent, as well as coach, there.
:22:10. > :23:01.Amazing! A hold to love, two sets to love now for Mr Federer.
:23:02. > :23:06.Wawrinka really up against it now and also struggling with a knee
:23:07. > :23:11.injury and having a medical time-out at the end of the second set. Let's
:23:12. > :24:13.join it with Federer two sets to love up and serving at 1-2.
:24:14. > :24:23.APPLAUSE Well, three break points! How
:24:24. > :24:32.quickly it turns around. Something for the Wawrinka box to get stuck
:24:33. > :24:49.into, here. Had those break points in the first set.
:24:50. > :25:24.CHEERING And that's it! Game on in this third
:25:25. > :25:32.set. First break to Wawrinka. And Wawrinka broke again to wrap up the
:25:33. > :25:39.first set -- the third set 6-1. We rejoin the action in the fourth at
:25:40. > :25:42.3-4 with Wawrinka serving. STUDIO
:25:43. > :25:48.COMMENTATOR: Two games from the final, you could say. This is a
:25:49. > :26:03.risky challenge. UMPIRE: Federer has two challenges
:26:04. > :26:28.remaining. It stays struck, doesn't it, when he
:26:29. > :26:34.hits it, Stan? Strength in the core. And the legs as well.
:26:35. > :26:53.APPLAUSE A bit fortunate, there. Both players
:26:54. > :26:58.on their second serves in this set. It has been better in this set. It
:26:59. > :27:13.has been pretty consistent throughout.
:27:14. > :27:23.APPLAUSE Back to 30-0, aided by that
:27:24. > :27:33.magnificent overhead, yes, but the net cord, the previous point.
:27:34. > :27:41.Wawrinka could be heading out the exit more ways than one in a moment.
:27:42. > :27:49.One of the umpires there on the right, he does such a -- such a
:27:50. > :27:59.great job over the years with this tournament, to build it.
:28:00. > :28:21.He's not a choker, Stan Wawrinka. He has won too many big matches for
:28:22. > :28:55.that. That slow, sliced ball staying low
:28:56. > :29:01.has given him all sorts of troubles today. Not enough players play it.
:29:02. > :29:04.Federer used it on the backhand side to win the first set with that poke
:29:05. > :30:15.down the line. First-class hold. Stan Wawrinka is a
:30:16. > :30:20.man that you have to beat, he's not going to give it away, not at this
:30:21. > :30:22.stage in his career, with the periods he has got as well. So that
:30:23. > :30:32.was excellent -- with the experience he has got as
:30:33. > :31:24.well. So now the pressure reverts, as is the nature of this sport.
:31:25. > :31:36.That so good. Thrust out forehand from behind the baseline. Clean
:31:37. > :31:38.winner. Further in trouble. That was deep. Further not expecting that
:31:39. > :32:05.kind of reply. -- Federer. Superb, isn't it? What a test. 4-4,
:32:06. > :32:10.fourth set, 0-40. It can all happened so quickly. A little
:32:11. > :32:15.opportunity in the previous game that may have offered him I thought
:32:16. > :32:52.of the winning line, now he's under pressure.
:32:53. > :33:06.APPLAUSE Handy serve.
:33:07. > :33:22.Easy hit, he would be thinking he should have blocked it. He's got it!
:33:23. > :33:28.Federer should have done more with a backhand volley really. Wawrinka
:33:29. > :33:37.kept his eye on the ball and just used his own wonderful hands to
:33:38. > :33:44.guided crosscourt. -- guide it. Now Wawrinka will serve to take us to a
:33:45. > :33:50.fifth set. For the second time in this fourth set of the stream Open
:33:51. > :33:56.semifinal, Wawrinka has a break of serve, the other time was away
:33:57. > :33:58.earlier in the set, the first game. -- Australian Open semifinal. This
:33:59. > :34:47.time he's serving for the fifth set. This is an absolute demonstration in
:34:48. > :34:53.mon Stan Wawrinka has become. A very hard man to beat. And the very
:34:54. > :34:59.biggest tournaments. In the lower down tournaments he can show up or
:35:00. > :35:01.not but in these big tournaments, he's the man right now. US Open
:35:02. > :35:22.champion. And that's it. We are going to a
:35:23. > :35:29.fifth and deciding set. Wawrinka strong in the last two sets. Winning
:35:30. > :35:34.6-1, 6-4. He has never beaten Roger Federer on a hard court. If he does
:35:35. > :35:36.so now, he'll go through to play the winner of Nadal and Dimitrov. It's
:35:37. > :35:45.all on the fifth. STUDIO: The Stirling matches going
:35:46. > :35:49.into fifth and final set, Federer took a medical time-out for
:35:50. > :35:51.treatment on his leg before the decider, lets pick it up at 2-2 with
:35:52. > :36:05.Federer serving. Brilliant return of serve. Must say
:36:06. > :36:08.congratulations to Andy for winning the quad doubles again, the fifth
:36:09. > :36:45.time for him. Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewitt
:36:46. > :37:00.involved still in the final of the doubles competition.
:37:01. > :37:04.Yeah, Rod Lever clapping that. I used to do that every ball! Serve
:37:05. > :38:17.and volley. anything short, anything in that
:38:18. > :38:23.area around the middle of the court, just beyond the service line and
:38:24. > :38:36.bouncing up just gets dispatched. Wawrinka, who was two sets down. Can
:38:37. > :39:04.he bridges in this game? 2-2, fifth set.
:39:05. > :39:46.85-90 mph return. That's a lot of pays to generate.
:39:47. > :39:57.Those rallies, those rallies. That's a Wawrinka pattern in this point of
:39:58. > :40:01.the match, approaching three hours. But what can Federer do to stop it
:40:02. > :40:07.becoming that? He's getting bludgeoned off the court. Magnus
:40:08. > :40:16.Norman, former world number two, brilliant coach of Wawrinka.
:40:17. > :40:35.Surprising. Did not expect to see that.
:40:36. > :40:59.Normally handles that height so well on the backhand.
:41:00. > :41:07.Remember him winning Wimbledon against Philippoussis with an
:41:08. > :41:22.overhead similar to the second one. More a high volley.
:41:23. > :41:30.Break points saved again. Roger Federer, the legend hanging by a
:41:31. > :41:40.thread. Pulling on all his resources. For all his years, this
:41:41. > :41:43.is quite something. 3-2, fifth. There are so many statistics in
:41:44. > :41:50.tennis, you can bandy them around all like but it comes down to heart
:41:51. > :41:56.and soul and how to produce Europe best and magnify your strengths and
:41:57. > :42:04.get out your opponents's weaknesses. Often forgotten it's a one-on-one
:42:05. > :42:08.contest. You have to be flexible to find your way through these matches.
:42:09. > :42:29.Federer has always been a thinker, a lot on his plate but he's 3-2 up.
:42:30. > :42:35.Federer is ranked number 17 in the world at the moment because he took
:42:36. > :42:49.those six months. Fell out of the top ten in November.
:42:50. > :42:57.He'd been in the top ten until November last year for a consecutive
:42:58. > :43:25.734 weeks. Return there, short backswing.
:43:26. > :43:28.Federer adjusted to the pace of Wawrinka's serve. Little opening
:43:29. > :44:00.here. Federer, who has had to fight off
:44:01. > :44:02.break points in two of his service games now has a couple of break
:44:03. > :44:21.points to get ahead in this fifth. Pressure tells. What a poor service
:44:22. > :45:08.game there. Well, we talk about the
:45:09. > :45:10.single-handed backhand of Wawrinka being a thing of beauty, that wasn't
:45:11. > :45:57.bad. What a serve. Second serve. Two
:45:58. > :45:58.firsts to go 30-love up and a second there and the return after you
:45:59. > :46:38.break. That's how to consolidate. There's the reaction. Probably the
:46:39. > :46:43.first tournament since they'd been married, probables and expecting
:46:44. > :46:50.much in these two weeks. -- probably wasn't. Amazing.
:46:51. > :47:21.Remembering Jimmy Connors in 1991 in the US Open as a 39-year-old going
:47:22. > :47:27.to the semifinal. 35-year-old Roger Federer hasn't played for six
:47:28. > :47:30.months. Played the Hopman cup but that's an unofficial event. Hasn't
:47:31. > :47:36.played since losing to Raonic, the Marin Cilic at Wimbledon in the
:47:37. > :47:47.semifinal. Disappointing! He's come here having not played. A game away
:47:48. > :47:52.from the final. Absolutely staggering performance. The
:47:53. > :48:01.accumulation you felt right now he'd be feeling it. Played some great
:48:02. > :48:09.sense so far, still got to close it out but Wawrinka is not going to go
:48:10. > :48:19.away easily. You think he's nervous ahead of the next game, serving for
:48:20. > :48:22.a place in the final? No. Bet he isn't. He's done it too many times.
:48:23. > :48:29.Not lately. That's true. That's away. 41st Grand Slam
:48:30. > :48:51.semifinal. That's ten years plus. He's won 27 of those semifinals, so
:48:52. > :49:29.he's done it all before but this is unexpected.
:49:30. > :49:42.OK. Well done Wawrinka, his previous service game put him in this
:49:43. > :49:47.position. A couple of errors. He, himself on this Grand Slam match
:49:48. > :49:54.winning streak. He won the US Open and now what?
:49:55. > :50:02.Glorious reception. Federer steps to the line serving for a place in the
:50:03. > :50:57.final. Fought and won- two punch that was
:50:58. > :51:02.on the second serve. You kidding? And how was this would work for
:51:03. > :51:07.moving back out to the left? He was virtually in the tramlines when he
:51:08. > :51:11.hit that forehand. Absolute perfection so far on these two
:51:12. > :52:06.service points. CHEERING
:52:07. > :52:09.The word rape is bandied about too often but this is a great sportsman
:52:10. > :52:31.and this is a great story. Top-class tournament from Stan
:52:32. > :52:36.Wawrinka but it's all about Roger. And his 100th match at the
:52:37. > :52:46.Australian Open will be the final having not played for six months. At
:52:47. > :52:50.35 and it just might be against Rafa Nadal would be just too delicious
:52:51. > :52:53.for words and even if it's against Grigor Dimitrov that would be just
:52:54. > :53:01.fine as well. Fifth set, done a couple of break
:53:02. > :53:08.points, tell us how you escape that and turned it all around. I don't
:53:09. > :53:13.know how many break points I saved. Just two. It was tough I felt Stan
:53:14. > :53:16.had the upper hand on the fifth in the baseline and he was reading my
:53:17. > :53:22.serve well, something about him maybe being more relaxed, I knew I
:53:23. > :53:25.had to stay in it somehow but if I played aggressive and connected on a
:53:26. > :53:29.few returns all of a sudden it could turn round. I feel like he gave a
:53:30. > :53:34.bit of a cheap break, not like I really deserve the that moment and
:53:35. > :53:38.after that I did well and got it home and I couldn't be happier right
:53:39. > :53:45.now. Sounds like you're not the only one who's happy. You're into your
:53:46. > :53:48.sixth Australian Open final. After the six months off, what does this
:53:49. > :53:53.mean to you to be back in a Grand Slam final again? And, following
:53:54. > :54:01.everything happened so quickly at the end. It was disbelief, I had to
:54:02. > :54:06.check the score. It's all real, I'm doing the interview. It feels
:54:07. > :54:12.amazing. I never in my wildest dreams thought I was 20 becoming
:54:13. > :54:14.this far here in Australia. Here I am, got a couple of days. It's all
:54:15. > :54:21.happening. A record extending 28 Grand Slam
:54:22. > :54:26.final for Roger Federer on Sunday. We'll find out tomorrow who his
:54:27. > :54:29.opponent will be, will it be his old rival Rafa Nadal audible Grigor
:54:30. > :54:31.Dimitrov strike a blow for the younger generation? The second
:54:32. > :54:42.semifinal is on tomorrow. Either way it's going to be a dream
:54:43. > :54:46.final on Sunday, Andrew and John are with me. What a comeback this has
:54:47. > :54:49.been for Roger, you just kept thinking, has he reached its peak
:54:50. > :54:53.early in the tournament? He seems to get better and better. The big test
:54:54. > :54:57.for him after Wimbledon last year, we didn't see him at all, six months
:54:58. > :55:01.away from tournament tennis. Most normal people forget how to play.
:55:02. > :55:04.He's been hitting a few balls underrating us but to actually be in
:55:05. > :55:09.a match situation and think clear enough and to get the job done is
:55:10. > :55:13.fantastic. He wasn't sure whether he could play back-to-back best of five
:55:14. > :55:15.set matches and here we are, the six matches, including the one against
:55:16. > :55:20.Nishikori which is demanding and this one as well. It's a fabulous
:55:21. > :55:23.story, one of the sports stories of the year and were not even out of
:55:24. > :55:27.January yet and he hasn't won yet but for me to see this man who has
:55:28. > :55:31.transcended the sport in so many ways still playing with youthful joy
:55:32. > :55:35.and with exuberance, even if you don't love tennis, just watch this
:55:36. > :55:39.because when he's not here any more were certainly going to look back
:55:40. > :55:42.and say it was one of the greatest if not the greatest. Treasure him
:55:43. > :55:47.when his, physically it was incredible but mentally, two sets
:55:48. > :55:51.up, felt his back in the locker room and having to go to a fifth set,
:55:52. > :55:54.mentally he did well. The first two says he was so aggressive, had a
:55:55. > :55:58.game plan, coming in a lot more than we had seen him and Wawrinka has
:55:59. > :56:02.that eighth minute time-out for the injury and he lost his way a bit was
:56:03. > :56:06.that he loses the third and fourth and you think... Then he goes right
:56:07. > :56:09.back to being aggressive again, a couple of little chance is Wawrinka
:56:10. > :56:13.had but Federer got at him and he went back to his old plan again and
:56:14. > :56:18.came back to be aggressive and took chances. It's remarkable. Six months
:56:19. > :56:22.out, he's in the final of the Australian Open at 35. It's
:56:23. > :56:27.staggering. You'll be happy to have a couple of days off, warranty? And
:56:28. > :56:31.will be useful just spent some time with the kids, all of whom are now
:56:32. > :56:36.ready to go skiing. They inform them mother and dad said give me a couple
:56:37. > :56:41.of days, keep watching the tennis. Certainly been a wonderful turn of
:56:42. > :56:44.comebacks and surprises, ended women's semifinals, yet another
:56:45. > :56:49.wonderful storyline. Venus Williams at the age of 36 is true to her
:56:50. > :56:55.first Grand Slam final for eight years, she beat fellow American Coco
:56:56. > :56:59.Vandeweghe. You can see just how much it means to her. In the final
:57:00. > :57:12.Venus will need a familiar face, sister Serena who beat Marianna
:57:13. > :57:16.Baroni. The Croatian would be to -- won't be too disappointed. It's an
:57:17. > :57:19.all Williams Grand Slam final for the ninth time on the first since
:57:20. > :57:32.2009. That's on Saturday. It is an incredible storyline, John.
:57:33. > :57:34.Probably expect Serena to be there but for Venus to be back in the
:57:35. > :57:39.grand slam final. We expected with Venus that she was
:57:40. > :57:44.capable of winning some good matches but to be in the finals of another
:57:45. > :57:47.grand at her age. Identikit was possible and once again she's just
:57:48. > :57:53.proved she still great, great player. Coming through injuries,
:57:54. > :57:56.illness, so much, shows the love of the Williams sisters have for the
:57:57. > :58:01.game. In their mid-30s and loving it as much as ever. The average age of
:58:02. > :58:06.the semifinalists was 32.5, the average age of the finalists is
:58:07. > :58:10.35.5. The two have been such dominant figures, none more so than
:58:11. > :58:13.Serena who rises to the challenge every time. Angelique Kerber out
:58:14. > :58:17.quite early on, everybody talking about Johanna Konta and Sarinah
:58:18. > :58:20.dismisses her for the loss of five games and I thought Baroni would go
:58:21. > :58:27.down the same way. Serena is the present. I think she just wonderful
:58:28. > :58:31.player. Only thing in Venus's favour is that she's putting her sister and
:58:32. > :58:36.maybe a little more generous at times. They had close matches, she
:58:37. > :58:40.respected Venus much but when Serena starts, she's heavy favourite. I
:58:41. > :58:48.give very much, it's been one fairy tale story at another after another
:58:49. > :58:51.in Melbourne. The Williams sisters in the final and Roger Federer going
:58:52. > :59:00.for grand slam title number 18. To break someone physically... Agh!
:59:01. > :59:07...is not a problem.