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Federer has picked up golf over the last two years and has already taken out Alcaraz in Melbourne. (AP)
Praise over Roger Federer’s biomechanics continued at the Australian Open – first when the legendary Swiss 20-time Grand Slam winner was part of the inaugural opening ceremony and practiced with Casper Ruud, where his characteristic single-handed backhand made its comeback onto Australian shores. And secondly when Spanish World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz was quizzed on his golf session with Federer amid an ongoing attempt to win the season-opening slam.
“It’s as beautiful as the tennis!” Alcaraz said. “I’m not surprised. It’s unbelievable. Everything he does, he does in style, really beautiful. On the golf course, it’s a really beautiful swing.”
Federer, who left the game in 2022 after a persistent knee injury didn’t allow him the farewell to tennis he dreamed for himself, has now been marketed at the 2026 Australian Open as a retirement tour of sorts. It has seen him practice with Ruud, and play in ‘Battle of the No 1s’ where he played a doubles match with Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi and make an eyebrow-raising claim that after watching Grigor Dimitrov take two sets off Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon Round -of-16 in 2025, he found himself thinking about how he would tackle the Italian.
BREAKING: Roger Federer is the 🐐 on the golf course too, as confirmed by our source, Carlos Alcaraz 😜 pic.twitter.com/Ger9UhkZlm
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2026
But for now, Federer has picked up golf over the last two years and has already taken out Alcaraz in Melbourne.
“I think he has been playing for two years now and his level is really good,” Alcaraz said. “I’ve been playing five and he’s already beating me. It hurts, yeah.”
The Spaniard, a six-time Grand Slam winner and has two of every slam, except for the Australian Open, where he has only ever managed to reach the quarter-finals till date and is looking to win and complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 22 – five years before Federer completed his at the 2009 French Open.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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