Australian Open: Henry Bernet inspired by Federer to reach boys final 

His idols may be Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, but Henry Bernet has now achieved something that neither player managed in their careers. The 17-year-old made history for Switzerland on Friday as the first player from his country to reach the Australian Open boys final.

“It all started because of my parents and my big brother,” explained Bernet after beating Oskari Paldanius of Finland 7-6, 6-2.

“My parents never played tennis when they grew up, but they were always tennis fans. Then when my older brother started to play, me as a younger brother, I always wanted to do what he did. So I started playing football and tennis.

“And then at the age of 12, I chose tennis over football. Then it all started. I would say from then on I could practice more, played more matches and everything. And then When I was 14 or 15, I went to the federation.”

Read more: "On" inks Swiss up-and-comer Henry Bernet

Just like the Swiss Grand Slam champions that have gone before him, Bernet’s signature stroke is a classic one-handed backend. But it wasn’t always the case:

“Well, it started pretty unexpected too because I always played the two-hander. When I was 10, 11, 12, I don't really remember, my coach kind of made a joke: ‘Yeah, let's just try one-handers’, because I was always struggling to play two-handers with the left hand. And then, I don't know, it just looked natural, felt natural.”

He plays like Federer, indeed he even sounds like Federer in the press room. Has he spent much time with the man himself?

“I've met Roger once, last year at the New York US Open. That was the first time I've met him and I spoke to him for around 20 to 30 minutes and it was very nice. And he was very polite, as I expected!” Bernet laughed.

He was just asking me about who I practice with, what I practice more of. Like the first conversation with him. I was very happy and surprised too that he knew some of my results of already.

“And then with Stan (Wawrinka), I’m with the same agency as he is now. I've practiced with him once and I've met him more, a couple of more times than Federer.

But no, I mean, they are both champions and what they both achieved for a country like Switzerland is not normal. And it's just inspiration for us.

Bernet has his own chance to achieve the unprecedented for Switzerland. He faces Ben Willwerth of the USA on the iconic Rod Laver Arena ahead of the women’s singles final between Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys on Saturday.