Roger Federer has many motivations for winning the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday night, but one is to avenge his Australian Open loss in January that left him "horribly disappointed".
Federer takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas in Saturday's final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, with the chance to win an eighth championship at the event, which would also give him his 100th career singles title as well, at stake.
But the chance to beat Tsitsipas, who beat him 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 in the fourth round in Melbourne, is also a factor.
It ended Federer's title defence in Australia and hopes of a 21st major and he told reporters of his loss on Friday in Dubai after beating Borna Coric to reach the final: "I was horribly disappointed and upset that I missed as many break points as I did, had all the opportunities I had.
"That match kind of hurt in some ways. But, you know, it's part of the game. He did very well to get out of those tricky situations."
Federer has been impressed by Tsitsipas and his route to the final for the first time in Dubai, and acknowledged he would have to be at his best to beat him.
"Again, he did the same again tonight against Monfils," he said.
"He gets it done that way. It's not the classic one dimensional way. He has many ways to do it. That makes him tough to play, tough to beat. "He showed me that at the Australian Open, how hard he is. I hope I'm going to play well."
The final is scheduled to begin at 7pm.
