Roger Federer is out of the Australian Open. The classiest man in sport may still be better than the vast majority of his opponents but recent history would suggest that Novak Djokovic's dominance is such that it's likely that Federer will be unable to add to his seventeen grand slam titles.
It's always possible and there's not many people who would argue against it, but at 34 his chances are running out. As if to hammer home his advantage, Djokovic raced out to a 6-1, 6-2 lead and it looked like Federer was heading out at the semi-final stage with little more than a whimper.
However, he came back to win the third set 3-6 and although Djokovic duly took the fourth 6-3 to face either Andy Murray or Milos Raonic in the final, Federer still managed to let everyone know that he's not ready to give up on an eighteenth grand slam title.
Just when things were starting to get away from him, Federer finished off a truly incredible rally with one of the most technically perfect backhands you're ever likely to see.
Just beautiful. Djokovic needs to be commended for upping things to the next level of course but as long as Federer's still doing things like this, we'll still be holding out hope that he can get back on top one last time.
