“I’m no fixer” – Federer ‘feeling good’

Roger Federer is in love with tennis even after nearly two decades but may not

be that keen to follow his children if they ever turned professional, the Swiss

maestro said after storming into the third.

The 34-year-old overcame some feisty second set resistance from Alexandr

Dolgopolov before he ran away with the match 6-3 7-5 6-1 courtesy of a superb

service game and aggressive groundstrokes in the final set.

He will next play Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in the third round on Friday and

the third seed was so far enjoying his quest for his fifth Australian Open title.

“It’s been going very well for me, and I hope to keep it up as long as I choose

to play tennis,” the 17-times Grand Slam winner told reporters after recording

his 299th victory at a Grand Slam with the win against the 27-year-old

Ukrainian. “The least I expect is to be in the third round of a Slam, so I’m

pumped up, playing well, feeling good.”

Federer said while he was still in love with the sport that had earned him

hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money and endorsements, he may

resist the idea of following any of his four children if they turned professional.

“I think it’s 40 years on the tennis tour that doesn’t excite me, you know,

straight,” he said while laughing when asked to clarify an on-court statement

he made about not wanting to watch his daughters play on Rod Laver Arena.

“As much as I love it now, I’m just not sure what my excitement level will be in

20 years’ time from now.” Federer, who has six year-old twin daughters Myla

Rose and Charlene Riva and twin boys Leo and Lennart, said he had

encouraged his daughters to take tennis lessons for reasons other than

carving out a potential career.

“I think it’s a good thing for them,” he said. “It’s a great sport to learn how to

lose, to win, to figure it out, for friendship, discipline, for hand-eye

coordination. I will support them all the way whatever they want to do, but I

don’t see myself doing that right now. I’d rather support them in another

sport… See them be a super skier.”

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic swept regally into the third round of the Australian Open

before being forced to deny any involvement in the tennis match-fixing scandal that has

dogged the first three days of the Grand Slam.

The Serbian defending champion granted Quentin Halys a 100-minute audience on Rod

Laver Arena before despatching the French teenager 6-1 6-2 7-6(3) but he enjoyed a less

comfortable ride in the post-match media conference. Alerted to a story in an Italian

newspaper suggesting his loss to now-retired French player Fabrice Santoro in Paris in

2007 was fixed, the 28-year-old denied it point blank.

“It’s not true,” he said when told he had been accused of deliberately losing. “What it is

to say? I’ve lost that match. Anybody can create a story about that match or for that

matter any of the matches of the top players losing in the early rounds, I think it’s just

absurd.”

Back on court, Djokovic was joined in the third round by women’s champion Serena

Williams, 17-times Grand Slam champion Federer and Maria Sharapova who all made

short work of their second-round opponents.

The only real shock came when Czech sixth seed Petra Kvitova, twice a Wimbledon

winner, was beaten 6-4 6-4 by naturalised local Daria Gavrilova.