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April 19, 2001
Monte Carlo TMS Third Round
By ASAP Sports
R. FEDERER/A. Di Pasquale
6-1, 6-2
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER (Through Translation)
THE MODERATOR: First question for Roger, please.
Q. Is it a major surprise to be in the quarterfinals?
ROGER FEDERER: My objective for the clay court season was to
reach at least once the quarterfinals, so it's really nice that it
happened in the first tournament because we never know what will happen
afterwards. The first two tennis matches were okay, but today it was
really a lot better. I felt better, I was missing less, and it worked
out well. Although, Arnaud wasn't feeling very good, I played a very
good match.
Q. In 1999, you won one match on clay?
ROGER FEDERER: No, the last time it happened was in the French
Open. I also made the semis in a challenger in Ljubljana, but not on
the ATP Tour.
Q. How many clay court tournaments did you play in 1999?
ROGER FEDERER: My score was zero wins against eleven losses
with the Davis Cup in Belgium. Otherwise, I had reached the first round
in Monte-Carlo and the French Open, that's it.
Q. Do you have as much fun on clay as you have on other surfaces when you play as well as you did today?
ROGER FEDERER: I am less sure of my game on clay. I must always
be cautious. I'm not completely relaxed. I believe it's normal, when
you break, you're more relaxed. You make more winners, more aces. But
on clay you have to play from the baseline, and I like to finish the
point fast, so it changes a lot for me. But for the time being,
everything is going all right. I am not asking myself too many
questions.
Q. Is it a coincidence that each time you win on clay you go a bit
further? In the French, you won a series of matches, and here, too. It
means that once you become confident, you feel good and you are able to
go further?
ROGER FEDERER: I believe so. Here and in the French I had a
good draw. Of course you have to win the matches, but it's a good thing
to pass some rounds. If it had been another draw, it would have been
more difficult. I'm taking my chances to go further, and normally I
have the opportunity to go further right to the semis. I missed an
opportunity in Miami against Rafter. There was not much I could do, but
what else is there to say?
Q. Tomorrow you will play Grosjean or Gustafsson. Who do you prefer?
ROGER FEDERER: I didn't think about it yet. Both are very
difficult to play on clay. Gustafsson has a lot of experience, although
I beat him on clay during a exhibition match in Houston last year.
Against Sebastien, I never played on clay, so I don't know. Anyway, it
will be a tough match - that's for sure.
Q. Is this the ATP match where you felt the most comfortable in your whole career?
ROGER FEDERER: On clay you mean?
Q. Yes.
ROGER FEDERER: From the beginning to the end, yes, because I
played good matches before but I was not able to finish them. I am able
to play well. In Rome last year I played well against Medvedev, but
afterwards I lost a few games in a row and it was 5-all in the third. I
lost 7-5 in the third although I played well. I was dominating from the
beginning to the end, although from the baseline I was feeling good.
Q. You've been working with Peter for one year now. What are the lessons you draw from this experience?
ROGER FEDERER: It's been three or four years already. But for
us, things didn't change much. It didn't change much between when he
was in the Federation or now that he's my personal coach. We used to
understand each other very well, and now also. It is very important.
Before, I was traveling 30 percent of the time with Lundgren, but now
it's 100 percent. So we knew already how it was going on. It's not new
for us, and everything is okay. It's nice.
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