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Federer could have been an Aussie

MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer is always a crowd favorite in Melbourne, where he’s won three of his record 15 Grand Slam singles titles and reached the semifinals or better for six straight years.

If only he’d been an Aussie, the fans at Rod Laver Arena were lamenting Saturday, they wouldn’t be in the midst of a drought.

Federer has revealed that his parents considered immigrating from Switzerland to Australia when he was a young teen and his father did a three-month work stint Down Under.

“I remember my parents having a debate, are we moving away from Switzerland to come live over here?” Federer said. “And even though it’s lucrative and nice to go to Australia, they love the country ... at the end they decided to stay in Switzerland.”

Federer remembers a long Australian vacation when he was 14 to scope out the country.

“We went on a big vacation here through Melbourne and Brisbane and Cairns and everything to maybe get a better idea of the country,” he recalled. “Beautiful vacation.”

But it didn’t do the trick. Federer returned to Europe and attended a tennis academy, and said he doesn’t regret not becoming an Australian.

“I stayed Swiss and will remain Swiss and I’m happy I chose that way,” he said. “Sorry guys.”

Federer also has South African citizenship, from his mother, Lynette.

Australia hasn’t produced a men’s champion in the national championship since Mark Edmondson beat fellow Australian John Newcombe, a seven-time Grand Slam singles winner.

Lleyton Hewitt has been ranked No. 1, and won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon titles, but lost to Russian Marat Safin in 2005, his only trip to the Australian Open final.

Other contenders since Edmondson have fallen short, too. Pat Cash won Wimbledon in 1987 but lost back-to-back Australian finals in 1987, and ‘88. Pat Rafter, who won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1997 and ‘98 and was runner-up consecutive years at Wimbledon in 2000 and ‘01, never made it past the semifinals of his home Grand Slam.

LATE NIGHTS OUT: It was already another late night at Melbourne Park when French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova walked out on court for her third-round match.

Some players relegated to the late match this week have questioned why they are starting their matches after 10 p.m. Kuznetsova didn’t even start her warmup until almost 11:30 p.m. and finished off victory at 1:43 a.m. Saturday.

“I don’t think even men should play at 2 in the morning because, for me, I grew up in a sporting family and my parents always taught me to wake up at 8 and to go to bed at 10,” she said. “If I’m used to going to bed at 10, today I would go nuts.”

This year is the first time that the Australian Open has followed the same procedure as the U.S. Open in scheduling the more popular match in the first prime-time night session, rather than always beginning with the women.

Kuznetsova’s victory over German qualifier Angelique Kerber followed a four-set match between defending champion Rafael Nadal and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

“I don’t understand why we started to play after men anyway,” Kuznetsova said “We need equality, I know. The men complained, it sounds weird, but anyway it’s tough.”

In past years, some leading male players have argued that as the women were getting equal prize money at Grand Slam tournaments, they should share the late finishes.

Kuznetsova said the late hour almost made her forget that she was actually at a Grand Slam.

“You kind of lose the importance of this big event,” she said. “For Russia, it’s great. Now everybody can watch my match, but for me it’s 2 in the morning.”

Earlier in the week, Australian Bernard Tomic complained about event organizers scheduling his match so late. He lost a grueling five-setter to Croatia’s Marin Cilic, playing nearly four hours and finishing shortly after 2 a.m..

“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said at the time. “Name me any sport you play at 1 or 2 in the morning, except this.”

Veteran Australian Lleyton Hewitt gave 17-year-old Tomic no sympathy. Hewitt holds the record for a late finish: his five-setter against Marcos Baghdatis finishing at 4:34 a.m. in the third-round of the 2008 Australian Open.