ATP Tour
Meeting Federer & facing Sinner: Darderi’s memorable Australian Open
Italian provides insight into his newfound success on hard courts
January 25, 2026
Luciano Darderi
Roger Federer and Luciano Darderi pose for a photo at the 2026 Australian Open, where the Italian is into the second week.
By Andrew Eichenholz
Could Roger Federer be Luciano Darderi’s lucky charm?
Before the Italian reached the second week at a major for the first time at the Australian Open, he met one of the biggest legends in sport: Federer. The Swiss was a consistent presence on the grounds earlier this fortnight and the 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 titlist.
“It was the first time, and he knew how I’m playing, he knew who I am,” Darderi told ATPTour.com with a sense of astonishment. “Congrats, he said.”
Federer is not the only one.
A lot of people are getting to know Darderi, who first broke into the Top 100 in the PIF ATP Rankings nearly two years ago. Now, he is up to No. 23 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and climbing.
What is surprising is that Darderi’s Slam breakthrough has come on hard courts. Entering the Australian Open, he held a 9-29 record on the surface. Now the winner of three clay-court titles in 2025 is into the fourth round off the back of victories against close friend Cristian Garin, Sebastian Baez and 2023 Melbourne semi-finalist Karen Khachanov.
“I’ve been feeling so good. I think we did a good preseason on hard, and last week I took a lot of confidence in Auckland because I made my first quarter-final on hard court,” Darderi said. “I think those matches gave me a lot of confidence, and here I started playing very well. Today was a really important match for me in my career, because second week in a Grand Slam, you don’t do [that] every day. I think today was a big chance for me, and I took that.”
Darderi spent some of his offseason training in Dubai, where he practised one day with his next opponent: two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner. It will be their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.
“We just practised one day, but we know each other. He’s a really good guy,” Darderi said. “He’s an amazing player. He’s No. 2 in the world right now. He won the past two years here… But we will try to be focused on my game and trying to do my best.”
Could Darderi take much from that session with Sinner into their clash? The four-time ATP Tour titlist believes training is much different compared to a match.
“I think he has a really good level on hard courts, obviously. So let’s just try to enjoy, to play the best tennis and then see what happens,” Darderi said. “He is doing everything very well, so you have to push him into the difficult moments, or just to stay close in the court. He’s serving very well, returning, doing everything. That’s why he’s No. 2 in the world now.”
Darderi has been working hard on playing more aggressively on hard courts, which is a big reason behind his recent success (He also made the third round at last year’s US Open.). The Italian spent 10 days with his father and coach, Luciano Enrique Darderi, as well as former World No. 13 Guillermo Perez-Roldan, in Argentina before the start of the season.
“We’re [making] a really good team and I feel really comfortable with them,” Darderi said, before explaining what their focus was. “The attacks. Attacking on hard courts is one of the keys and then a lot of things, for sure.”
On Perez-Roldan, Darderi said: “I think we’re really similar. Since the beginning, he told me the same, that he plays like me with forehand, with serve, and fighting. It’s pretty nice. He’s a real friend of my dad, too, so it’s really good to have him in the team with a lot of experience. He was No. 13 in the world, so he can bring me a lot of things.
“We’re just trying to be more aggressive on the important moments, serving very well, serving better than on clay courts. I think the key is always to play more or hard, because I was playing so much on clay. But now playing on hard, I take confidence, and I think I have a good forehand and serve to play on hard courts.”
