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For many years Roger Federer has formulated his own plans, his own schedule, his own route to glory.
At 38 years of age, the Swiss maestro has had to adapt in every way to maintain competitive in the upper echelons of the sport with a younger pack of players desperate to dethrone him. In the latter stages of his career, his plans come with the occasional surprise.
This past off-season, the 20-time Grand Slam champion raised a few eyebrows by playing a five-match series of exhibitions across the globe against Alexander Zverev.
After the ATP Finals in November the duo wielded their racquets in Santiago, Mexico City, Quito, Buenos Aires and Hangzhou, ending on December 29 in China. Now that isn’t exactly slowing down, taking it easy.
On top of that, whilst the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal set the ground running in 2020 with captivating competitive action at ATP Cup, Federer landed Down Under without a lead-up bout to his name.
Within the talk of favourites and routes to the Australian Open 2020 final, six-time champion Federer has been featured less than usual. In some circles, he was even counted out.
Federer is pretty pragmatic about his approach in 2020, with “calm” the buzz word.
“I just haven't played proper matches in many, many weeks, and a lot of guys, probably 95 per cent of the guys are coming here with matches. So I'm not one of those guys. Now I have one,” said Federer after his opening-round AO2020 victory over Steve Johnson on Monday.
MORE: Federer kicks off 2020 season with ease
“For me, really the first three rounds are key to get going, to get used to the pressure, stay calm, when to save break point or 30-all points or whatever it may be. Just to stay calm if you're down a set and a break or whatever it might be.
“This is sort of the unknown that can be a little bit scary at times. But today (against Johnson) there was none of that because I broke early each set and was able to get on a roll, play freely after that. Anything I was doing, I felt like I had the game under control.
“That might not be the case in the next round, so I just think I have to be careful. Round-by-round, point-for-point mentality.
“I know other guys that are playing extremely well right now, so I think it's just important to stay very calm about things.”
If Federer’s legion of fans were worried their hero might be slow out of the blocks in Melbourne, fear not. Monday’s performance was razor-sharp.
Thirty-four winners launched off his racquet to blast away any talk of rust in an opening round 6-3 6-2 6-2 passage past the determined Johnson.
“He kind of suffocates the court,” lamented the world No.75 American of Federer. “A lot of points are won and lost on his terms.”
It was an archetypal Federer performance, full of finesse and swagger.
One standout feature was the Swiss’ serve. It’s not a secret – his delivery has been majestic for 20 years – but on Monday, it was in a zone.
Stats provided by Infosys revealed that when the world No.3 served, he won 53 points, scoring 41 of those within short rallies (1-4 shots). His laser-like serve registered 11 aces and forced 17 errors from Johnson’s return, alongside hitting eight winners off his third shot.
Short. And sharp.
Federer’s dominance on delivery meant 10 out of 13 service games were marked as ‘easy holds’ by Infosys, meaning either love games or at 40-15.
With such superiority, the third seed could relax on return and apply the pressure on Johnson’s delivery, unleashing his full all-court artillery with serene shot-making.
By breaking Johnson’s first service game in all three sets, the platform was there for Federer to really demonstrate his graceful best, converting five of nine break-point opportunities.
It was a familiar first-round tale. Since a pony-tailed Federer captured his first major on the luscious lawns of Wimbledon in 2003, he hasn’t lost in a Grand Slam first round.
“I guess I created a game which allowed me to manage maybe all kinds of opponents, you know, that were ranked outside of the top 30 in a first round like that even if there is rust or there is nerves and so forth,” he said.
From the outside, there appeared to be little rust, nor evidence of any nerves.
On Wednesday, it’s over to Filip Krajinovic in the second round to try and disrupt Federer’s calm.