The challenger to Roger Federer's crown as king of tennis gets his chance at the Australian Open tonight to prove he can back up the talk with the walk.
Serbian 20-year-old Novak Djokovic marched into a semifinal against Federer confident hehas what it takes to beat the Swiss master - and has spent the past fortnight saying as much.
But Federer says those who are prepared to write him off for the likes of world No 3 Djokovic and the man they are vying to meet in Sunday night's men's final, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, are doing so prematurely.
"Heard it before and don't read it anymore because it's the same thing over and over again," Federer said.
"I'm looking at history, looking at my own game.
"I'm No 1 in the world, so I'm more concentrated on that than the youngsters."
Federer goes into his 15th consecutive grand slam semifinal aiming for his fourth Australian Open title.
But while Federer has been tested at Melbourne Park - most notably in his five-set third round epic against Serbian Janko Tipsarevic - Djokovic has not dropped a set.
Tonight's winner will face world No.38 Tsonga, who was phenomenal in his 6-2 6-3 6-2 pummelling of world No 2 Rafael Nadal in their semifinal last night.
While accepting Tsonga was brilliant against him, Nadal said only if the Frenchman was able to sustain that sort of level would he able to beat Federer or Djokovic in Sunday night's final.
"Federer is Federer. He can play at this level and better. It is difficult to compare but some of (Tsonga's tennis) was unbelievable," Nadal said.
"(Tsonga) was not lucky. He beats good players, he beats (Andy) Murray, he beats (Richard) Gasquet, he beats (Mikhail) Youzhny.
"If he plays like he did today, he will have his chances against both Federer and Djokovic."
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