Roger Federer: Why FedEx Needs Australian Open Win More Than Anyone

Roger Federer must win the Australian Open. The Swiss icon hasn't won a Grand Slam event in nearly two years and skeptics are proclaiming that the era of Federer is over.

A triumph in Australia will silence all of those overzealous doubters.

The 16-time major champion should have earned the benefit of the doubt by now, but at the first sign of adversity, people have jumped all over him.

That unwarranted criticism fuels Federer's fire more than anything else. There's no doubt that he would love to win Down Under just to shut up all the critics who have predicted he would never win another Grand Slam title.

You might not be able to tell because of FedEx's calm demeanor, but he's the ultimate competitor. Hearing that his days atop the tennis world are numbered has him working harder than ever to illustrate that rumors of his demise are greatly exaggerated (watch some more reasons why below).

Even though he isn't ranked No. 1 anymore, he's still one of the sport's truly elite players and can beat any other player on any given day. There's no reason he isn't capable of blowing through the field and claiming the Aussie Open trophy next weekend.

He made quick work of Alexander Kudryavtsev in Round 1 and received a walkover victory from Andreas Beck on Wednesday. That means he's only five wins away from his fifth Australian Open title.

If you don't think he can string together five wins, you're crazy.

Federer arrived in Melbourne with the look of a man on a mission. He's not there simply to bow out in the semifinals again to maintain his points; he wants to emerge victorious more than anybody can probably imagine.

He's been to the mountain top so many times and now people are telling him he's too old to climb. A legendary champion like Federer isn't going to accept that without a fight.

Look for him to pull off some magic in Australia that we had come to expect from him during his dominant years. He wants to prove to himself and the world that he's still a threat. Given that motivation, it's tough to imagine anybody slowing him down.

As tennis fans have learned over the past decade, what Federer wants, he usually gets. You can tell he wants this title, so don't be surprised when he earns it and reasserts his dominance.