'Hard to watch': Fed's heartfelt gesture to injured Rafa
After delighting the crowds during his straights sets quarter-final victory over Tomas Berdych, Roger Federer had a kind message for injured rival Rafael Nadal.
Scans have revealed the injury that forced Nadal out of the Australian Open, during his quarter-final against Marin Cilic, is a low-grade hip muscle strain.
Luckily for the Spaniard, he'll only miss about a month of action, a short spell relative to other recent injury breaks he's endured.
But still, it's a dagger to the heart of the passionate 31-year-old, who'd only just returned from a knee injury at the back end of the 2017 season.
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And the Swiss maestro certainly understands his good friend's pain, making an effort to get in touch with him despite preparing for his huge showdown with Berdych.
"I wrote Rafa late last night before I went to bed, it was the last thing I did, I was like 'ok I gotta write Raf and see how he's doing,'" Federer said after his victory.
"I hope he was gonna be ok with the scan today and I'm happy that the news was not terrible. But it was not nice to see, a fellow friend and rival go out, so I wish him well."
After booking his 14th Australian Open semi-final appearance, the absence of Nadal for the tournament's big matches certainly clears a path to victory for Federer, who's chasing his 20th grand slam crown.
But that definitely wasn't the 36-year-old's focus as he saw his rival go down against Cilic, saying it was hard to watch Nadal's injury play out.
"We wish him well, it's hard to watch, someone go out in five sets and not be able to finish," Federer said.
"At least if someone finishes and he loses, all credit to the other guy, still I think Marin deserves an amazing amount of credit, because he hung around and he fought really, really hard."
Meanwhile, Federer butted heads with the chair umpire during a feisty opening set against Berdych, but regrouped to claim the 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 6-4 victory in two hours and 14 minutes.
Down 3-5, Federer challenged a Berdych serve but was unable to survey the evidence due to a faulty hawk-eye video display.
Advised that the call had gone against him and he had lost his last remaining challenge, Federer admonished chair umpire Fergus Murphy in a rare display of annoyance from the ice-cool veteran.
Federer conceded in the post-match interview that he was probably wrong and simply needed to let off some steam as the match got away from him to begin.
"I actually thought the call was good and probably he was right taking the (challenge) away," he said.
The incident appeared to light a fire under Federer, who won four of the next five games and saved a set point before storming through a tiebreak to take the first set.
But if it was playing on his mind, it didn't stop him running Berdych ragged with some of his best shot-making of the tournament.
Prowling the baseline and approaching the net with aggression, Federer smashed 61 winners - almost three times as many as his opponent - and won 23 points at the net.
Federer's third-round demolition of Berdych last year on the comeback from injury proved to be a defining moment on his way towards an odds-defying fifth Australian Open triumph.
If the same is to be true this year, Federer will need to get past a dangerous opponent in South Korea's Hyeon Chung in their first career meeting.
"He reminds me a lot of Novak (Djokovic) the way he goes forward and backwards," Federer said.
"I"m keen to play against him. He has nothing to lose. I will tell myself the same and see what happens."