|
August 8, 2006
Relaxed Federer keeps it simple on and off court
By Tom Tebbutt, The Globe and Mail
TORONTO -- Some people do not quite get it with Roger Federer. They
would prefer him to be a more controversial guy, perhaps an athlete
with the cantankerous mien of John McEnroe, the tabloid newspaper love
life of Boris Becker or the inclination to crack racquets in fits of
pique like Marat Safin.
But the Swiss maestro just won't conform. He only plays sublime
tennis while achieving amazing results, all the while serving as a
peerless role model for his sport and the players in it.
For Federer, it is just natural to be civil, relaxed and
accommodating, the way he was when he plopped himself on a couch in the
players' lounge at the Rogers Cup on the weekend.
He could not have been more at ease -- joking with a passerby and
shouting a greeting to another player before settling in for a chat.
His recent Wimbledon win gave him eight Grand Slam titles, more than
halfway to the record of 14 held by Pete Sampras. Asked what questions
he would have for Sampras if they sat down for dinner, he said, "We've
probably been through the same stuff so it would be, 'How did he do the
whole thing?' 'What did he enjoy most?' and 'What were his biggest
problems?'
"He went through it for such a long time, dealing with the pressure
and everything. But in the end, we wouldn't talk so much about tennis.
It wouldn't dominate the evening."
Federer, who plays his opening match at the Rogers Cup tonight
against Paul-Henri Mathieu, speaks four languages -- Swiss-German,
English, German and French. He talked about what bugged him about his
media obligations.
"Doing it over and over," he said. "The worst is when I've won 6-3,
6-4. There's not much to say and I have to go through all the
languages. If the story that day is going to be about [Andre] Agassi,
what's the point in talking to me if he won 7-6 in the third set
against a good player? In that case, give a guy a break."
Probably his most controversial match in 2006 was a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4,
7-6(4) loss in June to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final, a
performance many saw as listless and uninspired. Asked if the unusually
hot day got to him, he replied, "I don't think it had anything to do
with the heat. I think people expected too much. They expected a
five-hour thriller like Rome [in May] -- 6-7(0), 7-6(5), 6-4, 2-6,
7-6(5) for Nadal -- where both of us were very aggressive."
Federer added there was extra hype because of what he said about
Nadal's coach and uncle Toni Nadal illegally coaching him. "It wasn't
five hours and it wasn't fist-pumping all over the place so some people
said, 'What's wrong, what happened?' But I'll admit it didn't live up
to the standard."
Regarding the widely-held view he should have changed his game as Nadal gained the upper hand, he surprisingly said, "I agree."
"I realized that later," he explained, "but it's hard to change
tactics against Rafa because it might end up even [worse]. . . . I also
believed, why should I change after winning the first set? But I wasn't
happy with the way I played."
The conversation then turned to Australian Darren Cahill, Agassi's
coach and a close friend of Federer's first mentor Peter Carter,
another Aussie, who was killed in a vehicle accident in South Africa
four years ago while Federer was in Toronto. With Agassi retiring,
would Cahill be a candidate to coach him instead of 61-year-old Tony
Roche of Australia?
"I doubt it," Federer said. "I've heard he's very involved with
Andre. I just spoke to Tony in Dubai [while vacationing and training
there after Wimbledon in July] and he told me he's ready to do it again
next year. That was very important for me. He's not coming to the U.S.
Open but probably to Shanghai [the year-end Masters Cup event] and then
the Australian Open again."
Federer conceded about Cahill, 40, who coached Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt to No. 1, "he's got a great résumé."
The world No. 1's Mr. Perfect image suffered a slight blemish when,
after losing the French Open final, he was uncharacteristically curt
and confrontational in answering a reporter's question.
There was mild shock in the room, then the relief of knowing even he has bad days.
Today is a noteworthy one, his birthday. "I'm not the kind of guy
who thinks it's incredibly special," he said. "But 25 is a good
number." Who would disagree?
|
