Gazelle Federer skips neatly past Anchorman

At the end of his first-round match, Roger Federer was asked by actor Will Ferrell whether his game could be described as a ‘silky gazelle’.

Will Ferrell (centre) asked Roger Federer some weird questions. Photo: Getty Images

Brief stories from the third day of the Australian Open on Wednesday:

Funny things happening to Roger

It was all going so well for Roger Federer when he waltzed through to the second round with a straight sets win over Aljaz Bedene - until the post-match interview.

John McEnroe was in charge of the chat when actor Will Ferrell - as his Anchorman alter ego Ron Burgundy - strode onto court and took over. The Swiss master stayed cool and volleyed back the comedy questions in true champion style, and with great humour.

"Roger, tonight you seemed like a gazelle out there on the court. Would you describe your game as like a silky gazelle?" Ferrell asked. "Maybe not. Don't they get eaten at the end?" Federer replied, to roars of laughter from the packed Rod Laver Arena crowd. "Not if they're fast enough," said Ferrell.

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Further probing from Ferrell included whether Federer was a witch or a vampire to be so young at 36 and whether the secret to his Aussie Open success was a diet of wombat meat.

Sweating buckets

When World No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki was drawn to face little-known Jana Fett in the Australian Open second round, one punter thought it was a good chance to make some easy money.

Figuring the risk-reward was well and truly in his favour he placed a USD 20,000 bet at USD 1.02 on the Dane to win, which would pay out just USD 400. To be a fly on the wall when she went 5-1 down in the third set and Fett served for the match, with his USD 20,000 hanging by a thread.

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Wozniacki somehow produced one of the comebacks of her career to stay alive at the tournament and save the punter from a nasty shock.

Mum knows best for Marta

Like most 15-year-olds, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk is never far from her mobile phone. So one of her first thoughts was to check all her congratulatory messages after becoming the youngest player to reach the third round since Martina Hingis in 1996.

"Well I take the phone, and I had to eat at the same time," she told reporters. "My mum told me leave the phone and eat properly. "I was quite hungry - and at the same time I had to check!"

"Once I entered WhatsApp , I had to put (down) the phone, and I think, 'no'. I didn't still reply to a lot of people."