Not even illness will floor Federer: Courier

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Neither a stomach virus nor a lack of match practice can deflect Roger Federer from a third consecutive Australian Open title, according to former world number one and twice champion Jim Courier.

The Swiss master pulled out of a warm-up event for the January 14-27 slam earlier this week with the illness and has not played a meaningful, competitive match since winning the Masters Cup last November.

Still, though, he will be too good for the chasing pack when the first grand slam of the year kicks off on Monday, Courier said.

"He's giving the other players some hope by coming in a little bit ill, I'm sure they're pleased to see a little bit of a chink in the armor," the American who triumphed in Melbourne in 1992 and 1993 said.

"He's definitely underdone, he'll certainly want some relatively routine matches early in the tournament to get his rhythm. But he's still the clear favorite, there's no reason to believe otherwise. He's that good," he told the Herald Sun newspaper.

(Writing by Ossian Shine; Editing by John O'Brien)