Australian Open 2018: Federer cherishes Rosewall’s letters

That he has the abiding admiration of Ken Rosewall tells you all you need to know about Roger Federer.

At 36, Roger Federer enters the Australian Open with the best wishes of Ken Rosewall who was 37 when he won the Open in 1972. Picture: Getty Images

Ken Rosewall writes a heartfelt letter to Roger Federer at every Australian Open. Just a short note on a single slip of paper. He slides it into an envelope, puts Federer’s name on it in his neatest handwriting, walks to the locker room at Melbourne Park and politely leaves it with the doorman. The message is simple enough. Can you give this to Roger for me?

Federer cherishes these letters. The greatest tennis player in history is a keen student of the game. He knows everything about Rosewall’s achievements, how he helped push the sport into the professional era, how he did it with an old-fashioned elegance that ­Federer himself has brought to the modern era. Rosewall has revealed that Federer can expect another letter via the doorman at the Open, which starts today ... but the ­19-time major champion will have to win a few rounds to receive it. Rosewall isn’t scheduled to arrive in Melbourne until Friday.

“My accreditation pass doesn’t allow me to get into the dressing room,” he told The Australian. “I don’t want to invade his privacy or bother him at all so I just figure I’ll write him a note. I’ve met Roger several times and would probably like to see more of him but obviously his time is pretty well taken care of. He’s admired by millions of people, including me. He’s been winning major championships for a long time. Now he’s 36 and still doing it. Now he’s still carrying himself the way he does. He’s done an amazing thing for tennis. He deserves his recognition. He deserves his popularity. He’s been a gentleman.”

Rosewall won the 1972 Australian Open as a 37-year-old. Federer is defending the title as a 36-year-old. “I think Roger really understands where the game has come from,” Rosewall said outside the stadium named in his honour at the Sydney International tournament. “Maybe a lot of the younger players who have come into the game don’t really know much about how the game was played or organised in the earlier days.

Oldest winners of Grand Slam titles

“For some of us oldies, we can’t be too critical about that because it sounds like we’re crying over spilt milk. But a lot of us who have gone, and a lot of us who are still around, we can probably appreciate how important it is for the leading players to serve the sport as well as Roger does. I just write a simple half-page.” Good luck. Hope the family’s well. That’s the extent of it.

Asked why he doesn’t pull rank as a legend of the sport, an eight-time major champion, and walk into the locker room to deliver the letter to Federer in person, Rosewall said: “Oh, I don’t want to do that. The guys doing security on the door are just doing their job. A lot of them probably don’t know me from Adam. It’s pretty hard to push your weight around, even if you wanted to ...

“I suppose if I waited long enough in the players’ restaurant, he might come in there before a match. But I don’t want to bother him. Just a short note is all the time I want to take of his.”

Federer said of the 83-year-old Rosewall: “I think he’s a wonderful man. We don’t speak about him enough. I love that generation of players with Tony Roche, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson ... I know Ken’s a few years older, but I know he had a tremendous career. So to be in the same break as these guys, it’s a great feeling. I love these guys.”

Federer’s career revival last year was a bolt from the blue that started with his incredible two-week run at Melbourne Park and ended with his epic five-set victory over Rafael Nadal in the final.

This year the old man looks like being the last man standing as Nadal, Novak Djokovic and most of the leading male players ­stumble into Melbourne with injuries of varying seriousness.

“It’s definitely a lot more difficult,” Rosewall said of winning majors on the creakier side of 35.

“I wasn’t playing the full circuit at that stage and Roger isn’t quite playing a full schedule either. You have other things to think about. You have family, you have to work harder to keep your body in shape, you probably have to pick and choose the tournaments you are really going to concentrate on. If he’s the favourite to win another Australian Open, and if he does go on to win another Australian, well, I’ll be pretty happy for him.”

Federer opens his Australian Open campaign tomorrow against Slovenian Aljaz Bedene, ranked 51 in the world.

Nick ­Kyrgios, will play his first round match today, against 100th-ranked Rogerio Dutra Silva from Brazil, while Ash Barty, will take on Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka tomorrow.