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Monday, 7 June, 2004
Halle Pre-Event
By Gerry Weber Open Official Site
Quotes of Roger Federer Before his first round match
The past twelve months: Everything has gone wonderful this year. I have won very important tournaments for me.
It will be one of the biggest challenges of my career to stay undefeated
at both grass court tournaments again - but I think it is possible.
Everyting started here so I have a lot of confidence. I gained my
confidence for Wimbledon here in Halle – this was the break-through.
Everything happened so quicky, I won one tournament after the other,
you almost got used to it. You´ve got so little time to reflect and
celebrate. And all of a sudden you´re sitting again in Wimbledon and
Halle and have to defend your titles. The time was very intense and I
have learned a lot. All the media hype now is a new dimension.
Last year I came very early and didn´t talk to the press.
Last year´s semi-final at Halle was one of my best matches on grass and it gave me so much confidence for Wimbledon.
The draw at the GERRY WEBER OPEN 2004:
There are many dangerous players in the draw - Kiefer is always
dangerous and my first-round opponent Johansson, although he hasn´t
played much, will be a tough battle.
Loosing early at the French Open and preparing for Wimbledon:
It was quite easy to get over the loss in Paris although I was even
more of a favourite than I was last year. Kuerten played extremely
well, I never found my rhythm. I need to change my game but couldn´t,
so it was easy to forget about it. This tournament is great and as is
Wimbledon.
The grass court season:
The tough thing about grass is that the season is so short and can
be over very quicky. If you´ve pepared well and make a first round exit
at Wimbledon, you have to wait one more year again and everything is
over.
I think I can reach the level of play last from last year. I
obviously feel better this year because I have gained so much
experience and played so many important matches since. I even feel good
in practice which is a bit of a surprise so I got the feeling I can
repeat both. It is possible to win both I don´t feel its impossibel to
win both but it was a huge surprise last year. This is a great prep
tournament and I again came here very early to prepape well.
The early exit at Paris will help me for sure now I tend to forget
the French Open quickly and I´m really looking forward to the grass
court season I am sitting here very happy. Grass is one of my favourite
surfaces but if I lose in the first round it´s not my favourite surface
any more.
His visit to Wimbledon in December:
It was very good to come back to Wimbledon before the tournament
because I left it in such a hurry. I was running to the Champions
Dinner and doing all the media so I could barely sit down with my
friends and family and enjoy the win. I was nice to go back in December
and see everything quit – no nets, no lines, no stands. I could
reflect what I have achieved.
Whom he fears in Wimbledon:
Henman is probably the biggest rival.
He is a great player and he
has beaten me many times in the past. His game is made for grass. He
now showed it on other surfaces, too, which I knew but the experts
didn´t.
He has improved over the last years, especially his serve
and his mental game. But there are other players – Hewitt, Nalbandian,
Roddick.
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