Murray akan Hadapi Federer ke-21 Kalinya di Australia Terbuka
Murray Faces Federer in Their 21st Meeting in Australian Open
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
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Melbourne (B2B) - Petenis peringkat empat dunia Andy Murray akan berhadapan dengan unggulan keenam dunia Roger Federer pada perempat final Australia Terbuka di Rod Laver Arena, Rabu (22/1) malam.
Duel Andy Murray dan Roger Federer merupakan pengulangan semifinal tahun lalu, kala itu Murray menang lima set dan memperoleh kemenangan Grand Slam pertamanya atas petenis asal Swiss tersebut.
"Saya sudah melawan dia sekitar 20 kali," kata Murray yang unggul dalam head-to-head antar keduanya 11-9. "Anda tahu bagaimana ketika bermain melawan dia dan anda paham taktik yang bekerja dan yang tidak bekerja," kata Murray seperti dilansir laman BBC baru-baru ini.
Federer, petenis unggulan keenam dunia, untuk kali ini meminta saran Stefan Edberg yang pernah enam kali juara Grand Slam.
"Ini hanya perspektif yang berbeda," kata Federer yang menundukkan Jo-Wilfried Tsonga di babak sebelumnya.
"Dia (Stefan Edberg) melakukan sesuatu dengan caranya, saya yakin ada hal yang berbeda tetapi saya masih dapat mengambil begitu banyak hal dari pengalamannya," kata petenis asal Swiss ini.
"Saya ingin mencoba hal yang menjadi kesuksesannya, mencoba beberapa hal yang dia pikir akan berhasil untuk saya," tambahnya.
"Tentu, kami akan membahas itu tapi dia (Stefan Edberg) ada di sini lebih untuk mendukung, membuat saya merasa nyaman, memberi saya saran yang tepat di pra-pertandingan dan pasca-pertandingan, mendiskusikannya dengan pelatih saya," kata Federer.
Federer empat kali juara Australia Terbuka yang baru kembali dari cedera yang menghambat karirnya pada 2013. Kini ia menggunakan raket baru berkepala persegi 98 inci, sebelumnya ia menggunakan raket 90 inci.
"Saya percaya dengan raket ini saya memiliki kekuatan lebih untuk melakukan servis," kata Federer.
"Raket ini juga membantu saya pulih. Saya berharap dengan raket dan tubuh ini menjadi awal yang baik untuk musim ini. Semuanya akan benar-benar baik. Saya sangat senang," kata pemenang Australia Terbuka 2004, 2006, 2007 dan 2010.
Di sisi lain, Andy Murray yang bermain pada turnamen keduanya sejak pulih dari operasi punggung membutuhkan kepercayaan diri lebih setelah duel terakhirnya dengan Federer di tempat yang sama 12 bulan lalu.
"Jelas tahun lalu cukup relevan karena di lapangan yang sama dan akan berada di bawah kondisi yang sama," kata Murray. "Tapi dalam olahraga individual, setiap hari adalah hari baru. Apa pun bisa terjadi," tambahnya.
"Anda bermain 10 persen di bawah performa terbaik, anda dapat tersisih dengan cepat. Apakah taktik saya tepat atau tidak, saya harus memainkan pertandingan yang bagus untuk menang," kata petenis kelahiran Glasgow, Skotlandia ini.
Murray (26) ditenggarai menjadi pusat tren bagi petenis yang bekerja sama dengan petenis besar berpengalaman. Dua tahun yang lalu Murray menyewa Ivan Lendl, petenis legendaris Republik Ceko. Baru-baru ini Federer juga bekerja sama dengan Stefan Edberg.
"Sejauh ini saya tidak paham statistik pertandingan dalam hal bagaimana efeknya setelah ia (Edberg) datang," kata petenis unggulan keempat ini.
"Anda bisa menganggap Edberg sesuatu yang dapat membantu. Dia cukup baik pada masanya, sehingga diharapkan dia mampu membantu Roger," kata Murray.
"Jujur harapan saya tinggi seolah-olah telah bermain selama empat bulan terakhir," kata Murray ketika ditanya soal peluangnya meraih juara.
"Sudah cukup baik bisa sampai ke perempat final Slam ini setelah melakukan operasi, saya senang dengan hal itu. Saya tidak jauh dari gelar juara."
"Siapa pun yang sampai di perempat final dekat dengan juara," pungkas Murray.
Melbourne - Andy Murray is ready to face a rejuvenated Roger Federer at his attacking best in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
The Wimbledon champion takes on 17-time Grand Slam winner Federer in the night session on Rod Laver Arena at 08:30 GMT. It is a repeat of last year´s semi-final, when Murray won in five sets to claim his first Grand Slam victory over the Swiss.
"I´ve played him around 20 times," said the Scot, who leads their head-to-head 11-9. "You know how you need to play against him, and you know tactically the things that work and the things that don´t work."
What Murray can certainly expect is an opponent keen to get to the net at every opportunity, something Federer, 32, has done 112 times in four matches, compared to 54 from Murray.
Federer, seeded sixth, is in the early stages of working with six-time Grand Slam champion Stefan Edberg, one of the game´s great volleyers.
"It´s just a different perspective," said the Swiss, who swept past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the previous round.
"He did things his way back in the day - I´m sure things were different back then - but still you can take so many things from his experience.
"I want to maybe try out a few things that worked for him, try out a few things that he thinks would work out for me this time around.
"Sure, we´ll discuss it, assess it, but he´s here now more for support, making me feel comfortable, giving me right advice, pre-match, post-match, discussing it with Severin [Luthi] my coach."
Perhaps of equal significance are the four-time Australian Open champion´s now healthy back, which hampered him in a disappointing 2013, and a new racquet with a 98-square-inch head - as opposed to the 90-inch frame he used beforehand.
"I do believe I have easier power with the racquet on the serve," said Federer.
"It might help me on the return, as well. I hope it is the case. It´s a great start to the season with the racquet and with my body. Everything is going really well. I´m very happy."
Murray, playing his second tournament since recovering from back surgery, takes confidence from his last meeting with Federer at the same venue 12 months ago.
"Obviously last year is pretty relevant because it´s on the same court and it will be under the same conditions," he said. "But in an individual sport, any day is a new day. Anything can happen.
"You play 10% below your best and you can be off the court quickly. So whether my tactics are great or not, I need to play a great match to win."
Murray, 26, seemingly set the current trend for players to work with great names of the past when he hired Ivan Lendl two years ago, and the early influence of Edberg on Federer has not passed him by.
"I don´t know the stats of his matches so far in terms of how much he´s coming forward," said the fourth seed.
"You would assume that´s something that Edberg would be able to help with. He was pretty good at that, so you´d expect him to help Roger with that."
Despite remaining cautious about his chances of winning a third major title at the weekend, Murray added: "I can´t honestly say my expectations are as high as if I´d been playing for the last four months.
"It´s been a good effort so far to get to the quarter-finals of a Slam this soon after surgery, so I´m happy with that. But I´m not far away from winning the event.
"Anyone that´s in the quarters is close."
