Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki Had Melbourne Surprises

Written by: Staff on 18th January 2012

Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki Had Melbourne Surprises

Switzerland's Roger Federer waves to fans after his match against Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January, 2012. Federer won. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

The second round was almost a first for Roger Federer at the Australian Open, with officials unceremoniously exiling the four-time winner to the back of beyond.

But a timely injury withdrawl form German Andreas Beck with a back problem gave the Swiss a walkover and preserved his record of playing on the main court at the Open.

Federer was to have been sent to the far corners of the riverside complex to face Beck, in a move which created its own bit of tennis trivia history.

When the order of play was announced, experts were sent scrambling into aging records to try and find when the tennis hero last played elsewhere at the venue.

It was actually 2004, six months after claiming his breakthrough major title at Wimbledon and on the cusp of the explosion which would send him into tennis history.

That was 52 Melbourne matches ago.

But the Open didn’t just tell Federer to take a hike, it did the same to women’s top seed Caroline Wozniacki, who played Anna Tatishvili at the same venue, the Hisense arena.

Topics: Caroline Wozniacki, Roger Federer