2020 Australian Open: Analysing Federer's route to the final

Roger Federer would be making his 21st consecutive appearance at the Australian Open in 2020 which would mark a record-extending 79th entry at a Grand Slam tournament.

The record 20-time Grand Slam champion is a 6-time winner at Melbourne Park, with only Novak Djokovic (7) surpassing the Swiss maestro with more titles at the first Grand Slam tournament on the tennis calendar.

One of only two players, the other being Djokovic, to play 7 title matches at the Australian Open in the Open Era, Federer has never lost before the third round at the tournament (2000-01: lost to Arnaud Clement, 2015: lost to Andreas Seppi) and has reached the semifinals on 14 occasions. In 2018, Federer became the oldest player to successfully defend his title at the Australian Open which was also the Swiss maestro's 20th and most recent triumph in a grand slam tournament.

At the 2020 Australian Open, third seeded Federer is perched in the bottom half of the draw along with defending champion and second seed Djokovic. The 6-time winner opens his campaign against American Steve Johnson against whom he holds a 2-0 record, having won at 2017 Indian Wells and 2016 Wimbledon.

If Federer successfully crosses his first round hurdle, he'll face Filip Krajinovic or a qualifier for a place in the third round. The 38-year-old is unbeaten in 3 meetings against Krajinovic, a tally which includes two clashes in Masters 1000 tournaments (2018 Indian Wells, 2019 Miami) and one at a ATP 500 tournament (2018 Basel) where the Serb took his only set against Federer.

Federer's 2018 US Open conqueror John Millman or Hubert Hurkacz potentially awaits the Swiss maestro in the third round. Federer has 2 wins from his 3 meetings against Millman while he won his lone clash with Hurkacz in the 2019 Indian Wells quarterfinals. If Federer wins his first three rounds at the 2020 Australian Open, it would make him the first player to win 100 matches at the tournament. Federer is already the only player to win 100 matches at a tournament in the Open Era, which he accomplished at 2019 Wimbledon with a win over Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals.

For a place in his 15th quarterfinal in Melbourne, Grigor Dimitrov or 2019 Paris Masters finalist Denis Shapovalov could lie in wait. Federer has a 7-1 head-to-head record against the Bulgarian while his only meeting with the Canadian left-hander resulted in a straight-set win in the 2019 Miami Masters semifinals.

Eighth-seeded Matteo Berrettini is the highest seed in Federer's quarter of the draw. The 23-year old Italian has lost both his meetings against the 6-time champion in straight sets - 2019 Wimbledon fourth round and a round-robin match at the 2019 ATP Finals. Victory in the quarterfinals would set Federer up for a potential grand slam reunion with Djokovic, who famously saved two championship points on Federer's serve in the 2019 Wimbledon final.

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Federer is 1-3 against Djokovic at the Australian Open. After beating the Serb in the fourth round in 2007, Federer has only taken a set off Djokovic in the pair's 3 subsequent meetings in the tournament (2008, 2011, 2016 semifinals). It would be a tough task for Federer to beat Djokovic on the latter's favourite turf even though the Swiss maestro ended a four-match losing streak against the Serb at the 2019 ATP Finals. Federer has lost each of his last 5 grand slam meetings with Djokovic and is 1-7 in the pair's last 8 grand slam meetings, 6-10 overall.

If Federer successfully negotiates the semifinal round, he could lock horns with top-seed Rafael Nadal for the title. Federer is 4-10 against the Spaniard in grand slam matches but has won two of the pair's last three meetings (2017 Australian Open final, 2019 Wimbledon semifinals).

A triumph in the final would take Federer level with Djokovic (7) for most titles at the Australian Open in the Open Era, extend his all-time record Grand Slam title haul to 21 and would also make the 38-year-old Swiss maestro the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title since tennis opened its doors to professionals in the summer of 1968.

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