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September 12, 2007
Roger Reflects On Records Realized And Those Still In Sight
By Richard Pagliaro, Tennis Week
The
shiny silverware stationed on the table in front of him sparkled with
the significance of both records realized and those he still strives to
reach.
A little more than 16 hours after Roger Federer
became the first man in Open Era history to capture four consecutive
U.S. Open championships with a 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over Novak
Djokovic, the top-seeded Swiss sat at the head of a table on the second
floor of a midtown Manhattan restaurant with his eyes on the prize
before him and a vision of realizing another well within his reach.
"Honestly,
the U.S. Open has become my second love after Wimbledon," Federer said
as the U.S. Open title trophy sat directly in front of him like a
sizeable Slam sugar bowl. "I struggled with the place at the beginning.
I thought it was some crazy place. I got my ass kicked once against
Agassi [losing 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, in the 2001 fourth round] on center
court. I've had some rough ones, but to come back and win here... you
know I've been spending a lot of time here over the past few years and
the U.S. Open has become really special and so I'm proud to be U.S.
Open champion once again."
In the heart
of the city that never sleeps, Federer — operating on only two and a
half hours sleep after enjoying a late-night celebratory dinner
downtown with family and friends, fielding about 40 congratulatory text
messages from well-wishers including Tiger Woods and Thierry Henry and
an enduring an early morning wake-up call to make the rounds of
national morning shows — took some time out to reflect on realizing his
tennis dreams in this morning's round-table question and answer session
he conducted with a few members of the media on the second floor of the
Blue Fin restaurant at 47th Street and Broadway.
Clad in black
slacks and a black-and-blue striped shirt, the 26-year-old Federer was
still running on the euphoric energy that came from claiming his 12th
career Grand Slam championship, which ties Roy Emerson for second place
on the all-time career major leader list and places him just two major
titles behind equaling Pete Sampras' record of 14 career Grand Slam
championships.
In between
sips of mineral water, the first man to reach all four Grand Slam
finals in a calendar year for two years running, spoke about the
invigorating thrill of the chase that is now his primary pursuit.
"It's
exciting — very exciting," Federer said of closing the gap on Sampras
and seeing the record within his reach. "I used to not like it so much
with people saying 'He is the one who can break it. He will break it.
He's so talented...' and stuff like that. It was so far away and it's
hard. It wears on you. But to have caught up so quickly to Pete is a
big bonus early on in my career, to be honest. And now it's fun for me
to try to get there and hopefully get to 15 [major titles]. It's a big
challenge for me. The focus is becoming more and more the Grand Slams
even though I don't like to say that. For me every tournament counts
and is real important, but for me it's coming down to the majors more
and more."
The
one major missing from Federer's ever-expanding garden of Grand Slam
silverware is the Roland Garros trophy. If he continues on his current
major title pace, Federer could surpass Sampras' record next year, but
in order to complete a career Grand Slam and seize the mythical
Greatest Of All Time title, Federer knows he must win the French Open.
Paris
is the Grand Slam located closest to his home, but Roland Garros
remains the most distant and difficult major to grasp for the man from
Basel. The tournament site is within driving distance from his home,
but Federer has found himself riding into the road block named Rafael
Nadal, who has scored three straight victories over him in Paris.
"The
French Open definitely at this point is a major goal for me," Federer
said. "I'm not going to sacrifice everything for it, but I'm going to
prepare as well as I can. I'm in Europe anyway. I live a few hours
drive from Paris so whenever I want to go hit there I could. I have all
the options, I grew up on the surface so its a big goal for me."
The
prospect of another Roger-Rafa clash in the French Open final may have
some tennis fans salivating more than the lure of a lifetime pass to
the Louvre accompanied by all the champagne you can drink, but with the
exception of his victory over a weary Nadal in the Hamburg final that
preceded the French, Federer has largely come up slightly flat against
the scrambling Spaniard on red clay.
When
the second-ranked Nadal successfully defended his Roland Garros crown
scoring a four-set triumph over the top-ranked Federer in the June,
2006 French Open final it marked the first time the top two seeds in
the men's draw met in the French Open final since 1984. No. 2 was too
good for No. 1 that day as well as second-seeded Ivan Lendl fought back
from a two-set deficit to defeat top-seeded John McEnroe, 3-6, 2-6,
6-4, 7-5, 7-5. Nadal repeated the feat to capture his third consecutive
Roland Garros crown.
McEnroe
has long been one of Federer's greatest admirers, but the the Hall of
Famer said Federer's window for winning Roland Garros is closing.
McEnroe believes Federer probably only has two years left as realistic
contender to capture the clay-court major and complete a career Grand
Slam.
"There's
a small window for him. Last year he had himself set up where
everything had worked in his favor," McEnroe said. "He had lost a
couple of close matches to Nadal and it looked like the next step was
winning it. To me, if he's going to win the French it's going to have
to be real soon."
If there is a sense of urgency to tame the terre battue of Paris,
Federer wasn't willing to reveal it today. Asked if he will
dramatically alter his preparation in an effort to win the one major
that has eluded him, Federer said he doesn't feel that's necessary — he
believes the schedule affords him ample training time.
"Actually,
I don't have to because the French has enough time before — it's not
like Wimbledon," Federer said. "I have four months to prepare from the
Australian Open on so I think I have the right preparation. I've been
in the semis and two finals so I mean that's been very good for me. I
thought I was fit and ready for the long rallies and the best clay
courters in the world. Rafa's a different animal on clay than he is on
other surfaces and he's been the best for the last three years without
a doubt so for me it was important to get him in the final in Hamburg
and beat him on all surfaces. And I hope I can build from that next
year as well. You never know maybe I will play him earlier in the draw
or maybe not at all. I'm saying it doesn't always mean it [the French
Open title] goes through Rafa."
Nadal wasn't around by
the time the final weekend rolled around in New York City, but Federer
still found himself in the unfamiliar position of favored frontrunner
forced to rally from behind a few times during the Flushing Meadows
fortnight. He dropped the first set off successive matches against a
pair of lethal servers — 6-foot-9 American John Isner and Spanish
southpaw Feliciano Lopez —
but dissected both men from the baseline in defeating Isner, 6-7(4),
6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round before denying Lopez, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1,
6-4, in the fourth round. Facing a third straight seismic server in the
form of 2006 finalist Andy Roddick, Federer returned well and produced
pin-point passing shots in winning two tiebreak sets before rolling
through the third. He adjusted to both swirling winds and the whipping
topspin strokes of baseliners Nikolay Davydenko and Djokovic in
sweeping Saturday's semifinal and Sunday's final without sacrificing a
set, but conceded he felt the nerves throughout the second week of
play.
"It's
been a tough Grand Slam," Federer said. "I was nervous at the start of
the tournament just because you never know what's going to happen and I
was playing well and the whole hype around me there was a lot banners —
Gillette, Rolex, Nike — so it just felt like this was a bigger occasion
at this U.S. Open. It was kind of a different U.S. Open for me and I
had to come back from behind many times. I had to face different
opponents and big servers with Isner and Lopez and Andy obviously.
Davydenko with the wind and Djokovic is really rising quickly now.
Isner I broke right away in the first game of the second set, but Lopez
I was down a set and 4-all and Djokovic obviously I was down against
him same thing against Davydenko being down a break and another break
point, Andy I was nervous before that match because I knew the danger
and it was a night match and I knew he was gonna come out strong.
Honestly, I was scared in each match almost except the first two."
Leave
it to the most quirky character in the top 10, Djokovic, the first
Serbian man to reach a major final, to raise the fear factor in earning
seven set points, including three straight while serving at 6-5, 40-0,
in the first set. Reading Djokovic's shaky stat of mind as clearly as
the deep deficit on the scoreboard in front of him, enabled Federer to
exploit his edge in experience and give the tight 20-year-old every
opportunity to implode.
"I
could see that he was becoming nervous only once I got back to deuce at
6-5. First I had to come back to see him make mistakes and that's why
it's so important to hang in there and make him nervous," Federer said.
"You could see it by his body language you know "wooh, wooh' (makes
face). It was windy and stuff and I was struggling with my timing in
the beginning. I shanked some balls and the ones I wanted to play
aggressively I couldn't really do it. At least I was serving decent. It
was tough to play. It was windy at the beginning and that's why I knew
if I keep the ball in play often he will miss and that's exactly what
happened. The thing I didn't understand is how badly he started to
serve at that point in the match because he was serving solid and good.
He had one great serve at 128 and I blocked it back on the forehand
side there and you can just say too good, you know."
So what
exactly were the thoughts rushing through his head when he was facing
seven set points? Federer said his approach was simple: put the
pressure on Djokovic by putting his returns in play.
"Of
course you try not to miss and you're trying to do that every point on
a big occasion like this," Federer said. "You just try to put the
return into play and you just think 'Okay, well now he's got the
pressure. He's got to put me away so the pressure's on him.' And maybe
because of that you can play a little bit more freely sometimes that's
what happens. The worse thing you can tell yourself is: 'It doesn't
seem to be working out for me. I'm in too much trouble now. I'm not
going to come back.' And this is when you're just going to go for a
stupid shot."
Summoning that
sense of strong self belief that comes from contesting 10 consecutive
majors, Federer tapped into his talent to drink in the most
pressure-packed moments of a major match as if it's water to shift the
burden or pressure to Djokovic. Federer did not play his best tennis
throughout the tournament, but made his best decisions when it mattered
most. idiculous racquet work from the man who had turned his
potentially probing shot into a punch line.
"You
always have to have the strong belief that you can come back and this
is what I never lose is the will to come back because I know the
importance of being able to come back and then actually winning the
game or turning it around," Federer said. "And this is exactly what
happened in the first set because not only do you break the game but
you break his will at the same time so this is what is crucial."
Tactical
self-analysis has become part of Federer's pre-match routine out of
necessity. Since parting company with former coach Tony Roche in May
following his shocking setback to Filippo Volandri in Rome, Federer has
been a successful solo performer in singles draws. Federer has reached
the finals of all six events he's entered since splitting with Roche,
winning four tournament titles in that span: Hamburg, Wimbledon,
Cincinnati and the U.S. Open
Rumors have
circulated that Federer is interested in hiring Darren Cahill, who
previously coached the youngest year-end No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt, and the
oldest No. 1, Andre Agassi, as his new coach. Cahill and the late Peter
Carter, Federer's first coach, were close friends, Cahill has watched
Federer at his best, is a diligent worker and is known as a positive
presence who can adapt his style to his players. However, Cahill is
committed to his coaching role with the Australian Davis Cup team and
though Federer said today he has no immediate plans to hire a new
coach, he did not rule out the possibility of it happening.
" I don't
know what to expect, to be honest," said Federer, who continues to work
with long-time trainer Pierre Paganini. "Maybe I'll get someone toward
the [Australian] Open, I really don't know. At the moment, I'd be
surprised. I have nothing in mind — it's as simple as that. I'm happy I
came back strong after the split with Tony. It was a hard decision for
me to make. I can travel on my own — the practice weeks is when it's
always great to have a coach so I had my Davis Cup coach over there [in
Dubai] helping me out [before the Open.]"
Federer's
greatest strength is a lack of a discernable weakness. His one-handed
backhand was once the target for opponents seeking to place the Swiss
stylist on the defensive, but in Sunday's final, Federer's versatility
and confidence in hitting his backhand down the line was a key
component to his victory.
"My backhand
has definitely changed over the years. I used to not be able to chip
the return," Federer said. "I remember always seeing Pete [Sampras]
chip the backhand return and I would always think 'How in the world do
you chip back a return from a serve that comes back at 140 mph or
whatever' because you know the racquet shakes so its kind of hard to
keep contact so I always felt when I became stronger at the net it's a
similar stroke on the return and my backhand passing shot wasn't really
great when I was younger and I worked so much on it and its such a good
weapon now that I can play off it as well as defense I'm amazed at how
far my backhand came because it used to be really a big weakness for
me. For me the backhand return is the more safe return now because you
know I can chip it back whereas the forehand is more dangerous for the
opponent because I might go for more because naturally it's a flat
shot."
The next shots Federer will hit in match play will come later this month when he leads Switzerland into its Davis Cup World Group playoff tie
on a carpet court in Prague against the host Czech Republic, which
features two players — Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek — with career
victories over Federer.
"I'll
go Saturday to the Czech Republic and so I'm looking forward to that,"
Federer said. "I play one Davis Cup tie a year and I love playing for
Switzerland. Obviously [I am] a national hero there so I hope we get a
lot of support even through we're playing away from home. We have a
really tough Davis Cup tie with Berdych, Stepanek and the doubles
players they have so it's going to be interesting because it would be
bad if the number one in the world is in second division."
Completing
his meeting with the media, the World No. 1 walked out into the New
York City afternoon and was soon another face in the crowd watching
women take a walk in the park. Fashion fan Federer accompanied
girlfriend Mirka and Vogue's Anna Wintour to designer Oscar de la
Renta's spring collection show inside the tent at Bryant Park.
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