Federer's present has reconnected with his past in defeating Murray

• It became the received wisdom around the time the man turned 30: "A lot has to go right for Federer to win another Major." (Even that sounded charitable.

Jon Wertheim|

• It became the received wisdom around the time the man turned 30: "A lot has to go right for Federer to win another Major." (Even that sounded charitable. Remember, Federer lost to Lleyton Hewitt a few weeks ago.) Well, here we are with two rounds to go in the Australian Open. Federer has taken care of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Murray. Novak Djokovic has been eliminated by Wawrinka. Rafael Nadal looms next, but Nadal has a hole in his hand. If that's not "a lot," it sure is more than a little. He still has six sets to win, but Federer... well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Published Jan 22, 2014 | Modified Jan 22, 2014

JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat, sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for “60 Minutes” and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor’s in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City and Paris with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.

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