Roger Federer at Australian Open: When the maestro gets tired, calls himself a veteran

New Delhi: He is still the maestro, the artist who happens to play tennis. His clairvoyance, and the beauty with which he plays the sport is unrivaled in the history. And most of the time, the joy that he brings force us mere mortals to ignore the physical and mental aspects of it.

But on Friday, after chalking up 300th Grand Slam match wins, Roger Federer surprisingly admitted that he is not immune to fatigue. In his four-sets third round win over Grigor Dimitrov, the Swiss great spent just over two and half hours on the court. And he was self-deprecation at best, while talking to ever affable Jim Courier.

In his on-court interview with the American great, Federer also referred to himself as a veteran. Surely, another surprise from the 17-time Masters champion. And probably, the 34-year-old from Basel was aware of the age catching up him.

His opponent, Grigor Dimitrov is a decade younger to him, and the Bulgarian -- who is also known as the 'Baby Fed' for their obvious similarities -- tried to take the game to fifth set. But that never happened as Federer won the third and fourth set with relative ease, after losing the second set.

The veteran's 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win was just six Grand Slam wins away from Martina Navratilova's record of 306. And Federer can become the oldest Grand Slam champion in 44 years, if he lifts his fifth title this January.