Participating at a fifth Olympics featured prominently in Federer's agenda, and the postponement of the Tokyo Games by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic worked perfectly for the Swiss, who would otherwise have missed it due to injury.
5 exceptional players who surprised us at Melbourne.
China's Li Na overcame an attack of nerves and weathered a feisty challenge from Dominika Cibulkova before roaring to a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 victory to win her first Australian Open title on Saturday.
Medvedev moved a step closer to a potential semi-final showdown with Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open warm-up event.
Morocco's Hicham Arazi upset the local favourite 6-2 6-2 6-4 in the fourth round of the Aus Open.
A round-up of all tennis action on Saturday.
The Australian team of Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge teamed up to beat Alex Corretja and Feliciano Lopez in the crucial doubles rubber.
The 20-year-old had refused to play in the tournament since she was knocked out in the first round in 2001.
Nadal said his back was still bothering him against world number 56 Djere
Formula One will have a record 24 races in the season that starts in Bahrain on Saturday.
Serena Williams battled her way into the Australian Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-2, 8-6 win over Israeli Shahar Peer.
Sania and her Chinese Taipei partner Su-Wei Hsieh, seeded second, defeated the Argentine-Swiss combine of Maria Irigoyen and Romina Oprandi 6-2, 6-0 in 48 minutes, while tenth seeds Paes and Raven Klaasen of South Africa beat the American duo of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6(6).
Like a stern headmaster, a clearly irritated Rafael Nadal beckoned Lorenzo Sonego to the net and gave him an earful about the etiquette of tennis in front of 15,000 wide-eyed fans and a global audience of millions.
The Australian Open offers wildcard spots for eight men and eight women for the Jan. 15-28 tournament at Melbourne Park.
Playing in his first competitive singles match on the ATP Tour since August 5, the 20-times Grand Slam champion showed no signs of rust in his second round win against Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis.
Third seed Simona Halep broke her hoodoo against Belgian Yanina Wickmayer with a 6-4, 6-2 win to sail into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday.
It was the first time Verstappen, winner of a record 19 of 22 races last year, has won the first two races of a season. He has also won 19 of the last 20.
Andre Agassi hinted on Tuesday that he and wife Steffi Graf could team up in the mixed doubles at the Australian Open next year.
Agassi clattered former Melbourne Park runner-up Thomas Enqvist 6-0 6-3 6-3 in a breathtaking display at the Australian Open.
The sixth seed was beaten in the first round of the Australian Open by Robin Soderling.
Novak Djokovic is still uncertain whether he will take part in the 2022 Australian Open but will soon make a decision, the World No 1 said after Serbia's 2-1 defeat by Croatia in the Davis Cup semi-finals on Friday.
Top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan came from a set down to beat Martin Damm and Leander Paes 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Australian Open.
Roger Federer will miss the Australian Open in January and is unlikely to return to competition until mid-2022 as he recovers from multiple knee surgeries, the former world number one told Swiss media.
A deflated Novak Djokovic blamed a bad day at the office for his stunning second-round elimination by Uzbek wildcard Denis Istomin which condemned the Serb to his earliest grand slam exit in nearly a decade.
Sergey Bubka lost the match 6-2 7-6, which was no real surprise as Florin is two years older and already one of the best junior players in the world, but nobody was interested in the winner.
The former swept past Svetlana Kuznetsova while Agassi bulldozed fellow-American Brian Vahaly in the first round of the Australian Open.
The Bhupathi-Melzer pair lose in straight sets to Argentine team of Diego Schwartzman and Horacio Zeballos.
Australia Davis Cup captain Hewitt says threatened by Tomic
