January 26, 2018 -- Melbourne, Australia

Roger is into the Finals at the Australian Open after defeating 21-year old, Hyeon Chung. After a demanding two weeks, Chung stepped on the court with a bad case of blisters. After such a strong run for the young player, he was noticeably hurting and off his game, which allowed Roger to break several times and win the first set in standard fashion. Chung's movement just wouldn't hold up and he ended up retiring after being down 6-1, 5-2.

"You do take the faster matches when you can because there's enough wear and tear on the body," Roger said. "There's enough tough matches throughout the season that when they happen, you take them."

Roger goes into the Finals without having dropped a set in Melbourne. He will face Marin Cilic in the Finals.

"I never thought I was going to play a bit of a lesser schedule, which actually is quite enjoyable," he admitted. "I always thought, 'I'm just going to keep playing from January to November every single year -- 20-something tournaments.' But I was able to adapt to that. Maybe that's also one of the reasons why I'm still here."