Meeting Roger Federer and facing Jannik Sinner: Luciano Darderi’s memorable Australian Open | ATP tour | Tennis

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Meeting Federer and facing Sinner: Darderi’s memorable Australian Open

Italian gives insight into his new success on hard courts
January 25, 2026

Could Roger Federer be Luciano Darderi’s good luck charm?

Before the Italian reached the second week of a major for the first time at the Australian Open, he met one of the biggest legends in the sport: Federer. The Swiss was a consistent presence on site earlier this fortnight and 23-year-old Darderi approached him for a photo, a moment made more comfortable because his physical trainer, Bernardo Carberol, has long known the 103-time tour-level title contender.

“It was the first time, and he knew how I play, he knew who I am,” Darderi told ATPtour.com with a sense of amazement. “Congratulations,” he said.

Federer is not alone.

Many people are getting to know Darderi, who first broke into the Top 100 of the PIF ATP rankings almost two years ago. Now he is at number 23 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and climbing.

What is surprising is that Darderi’s Slam breakthrough has come on hard courts. When he competed in the Australian Open, he had a record of 9–29 on the surface. Now the winner of three clay-court titles in 2025 is in the fourth round, thanks to victories against good friend Cristian Garin, Sebastian Baez and 2023 Melbourne semi-finalist Karen Khachanov.

“I felt so good. I think we did a good preseason on hard court, and last week I felt very confident in Auckland because I reached my first quarter-final on hard court,” Darderi said. “I think those matches gave me a lot of confidence, and here I started to play very well. Today was a very important match for me in my career, because the second week in a Grand Slam you don’t do [that] every day. I think today was a big opportunity for me and I took it.”

Darderi spent part of his offseason training in Dubai, where one day he practiced against his next opponent: two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner. It will be their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

“We just had a day of practice, but we know each other. He’s a really good guy,” Darderi said. “He is a great player. He is currently number 2 in the world. He has won here in the last two years… But we will try to be focused on my game and do my best.”

Could Darderi carry much of that session with Sinner into their match? The four-time ATP Tour title holder believes that training is very different from a competition.

“Obviously I think he has a very good level on hard courts. So let’s just try to enjoy, play the best tennis and see what happens,” Darderi said. “He does everything very well, so you have to push him in the difficult moments, or just stay close to the court. He serves very well, returns and does everything. That’s why he is now number 2 in the world.”

Darderi has worked hard to play more aggressively on hard courts, which is a big reason for his recent success (he also reached the third round at the US Open last year). The Italian spent 10 days with his father and coach, Luciano Enrique Darderi, and former world number 13, Guillermo Perez-Roldan, in Argentina before the start of the season.

“Were [making] It’s a very good team and I feel really comfortable with them,” said Darderi, before explaining what their focus was. Attacking on hard courts is one of the keys, and much more, for sure.”

About Perez-Roldan, Darderi said: “I think we are very similar. From the beginning he told me the same thing, that he plays like me with forehand, with serving and fighting. It’s quite nice. He is also a real friend of my father, so it is very good to have him in the team with a lot of experience. He was number 13 in the world, so he can bring me a lot of things.”

“We just try to be more aggressive in the important moments, serve really well, serve better than on clay. I think the key is always to play more or play hard, because I played so much on clay. But now that I play on hard, I have confidence, and I think I have a good forehand and serve to play on hard court.”