Every time you think Roger Federer is about to make way for the next generation, he rises up and reminds you why he is a 17-time grand slam winner, the player of his generation and greatest of all time.
Federer is back in the Australian Open men’s singles final, a stage where he has won four times, but all before 2010.
The 35-year-old is gunning for his first grand slam title since 2012, which he won on the grass at Wimbledon.
It will be his first grand slam final of any kind since the 2015 US Open.
Federer is nearly always at the pointy end of the Australian Open, having featured in five semi finals since his last triumph.
Still, the question had to be asked leading into the tournament, had we seen the last of Federer in a final at Rod Laver Arena?
But Federer came out and defied the pre-tournament odds, and even his own self-doubts after six months away from the game, to win his way through to the final after an epic 7-5 6-3 1-6 4-6 6-3 semi final victory over compatriot Stan Wawrinka.
There was not a lot to separate these two world class athletes in the opening set.
Federer got the precious break late in a first set arm wrestle to take a one set to love advantage.
He went up another cog in the second set, breezing through in just 31 minutes and leaving Wawrinka frustrated to the point of snapping his racquet in half over his knee.
Wawrinka was pardoned from the court between the second and third sets and took the time to compose himself.
He needed to lift, otherwise his Australian Open dream would be over in a heartbeat.
As you would expect from the fourth seed, Wawrinka turned the match on its head, piling on winner after winner from the baseline.
It took Wawrinka only seven games to wrap up the third set and get the momentum going his way.
Wawrinka broke in the opening game of the fourth set, but a hiccup saw Federer break back straight away.
But Wawrinka’s awesome power at the baseline, which pushed Federer deeper and deeper in the court, would be telling as he took the match to a fifth set.
The fifth set turned a good match into a classic.
The games got longer, holds of serve became harder and the crowd cheered points akin with the same ferocity of a jet plane taking off from Tullamarine.
It would take a critical error from Wawrinka in the sixth game, double faulting on break point, to hand the ascendancy to Federer on a platter.
Federer made no mistake from the point on, closing out the match and receiving a standing ovation from an appreciative Australia Day crowd.
“It was an awkward match,” Federer said. “Always against Stan, it was always never going to be easy. Especially how the third and fourth set went by, I needed to react really, because he had the upper hand from the baseline.
“I thought it was going to be tough in the fifth. I think he gave me a cheap break in the fifth. After that, I never looked back.”
Federer has the benefit of two off days before the final.
He can sit back and re-charge while Rafael Nadal and Gregor Dimitrov battle it out in the other semi final tomorrow night.
Savour Sunday, because who knows if Federer will be back on this stage again.
Though you wouldn’t bet against him, would you?
