Sunday, Aug 1, 2004

Toronto AMS Final

By Tennis Masters Canada Official Site

An interview with: ROGER FEDERER

R. FEDERER/A. Roddick 7-5, 6-3

(partial transcript)

Q. Okay Roger has won ten finals in a row going back to last year. He wins his ATP best eight title this season and he has also won now 23 matches in a row and the first player to win consecutive titles on grass, clay and hard since Bjorn Borg in 1979. All right, questions for Roger?

Q. Roger, that was a fantastic performance far better than anything else you have done throughout the week. What enabled you to do it, is it the adrenaline or just your experience of the big finals or what?

A. Well it is tough to, you know, push a button and say, okay, here is the final let me play well. You know, it doesn't come automatic. Umm, you have to work at it, you know, I think the reason why I played well today was because I was struggling throughout the week, you know. I didn't play my best throughout the week but I still kept on winning. And I think, you know, when it came to the finals I knew that, I think, there is better left in me. So I really, umm, could actually turn up the up the gear and I had to because against Andy you have to, he is a great player.

Q. You listen the all the accomplishments that you have had, you know, the three different surfaces, the streak you are on, does it ever amaze you just how much you have been able to accomplish over the last little while?

A. Well definitely, you know, sometimes I get the feeling that people think it is normal or that I almost have to excuse myself for losing a set against Johansson, you know, I think it is something very difficult to do, you know, to keep all those streaks going you know, if I would have lost today a lot of streaks would have been broken. You know, I wouldn't have had the chance to win the three surfaces, the ten finals would have been broken, you know, and the winning streak would have been over. So, you know, I am very glad to have one this match especially against, you know, the second best player in the world. So I knew what this match was all about.

Q. Roger, 14 aces today, where did you find the reserve to come up with so many aces? Were you surprised ‑‑

A. Well that was the one thing I was doing well this week, you know, serving well. Especially when I had to, that saved a lot of trouble for me this whole week.

Q. Roger, you obviously the three wins on three different surfaces, the last player to do that was Bjorn Borg, I heard you say that that is somebody that you looked up to, does it give you exa meaning to know that now you are alongside Bjorn?

A. It is nice. That is the first thing I was really proud about also when I won Wimbledon for the first time, you know, to be side‑by‑side with Bjorn Borg. You know, even though he has won it many more times but at least, you know, I have won it once. But obviously I didn't know about this streak a few days or a few weeks ago, but he was the last player to do so. I think everyone on the tour knows how difficult it is to actually just win, you know, a few surfaces in one year and I have done it all back to back so that's, that is incredible. And, you know, he wasn't my hero when I was growing up, you know, because he was before my time. But I was lucky enough to meet him and to speak to him a little bit and I know a lot of stories through Peter Lungdren. So, you know, I really like him very much. I hope I can meet him again and chat about it because this is ‑‑ these are history books and these mean a lot to me.

Q. Roger, can you remember, does it happen very often love‑40 and then you save three break points all with aces, I mean, in a big situation like that, you ever

A. Well I remember, you know, serving aces three in a row on a few occasions. But I don't know if I have done on break points, this is up to you to find out, I think so, umm. But, I don't remember a match where it happened. So. I was definitely the right time, you know, to come up with big serves because up until that love‑40 I don't remember making a first serve, you know, in that game and it came at the right time. It was good luck in the game.

Q. Do you have any idea how you did it?

A. Well like I said this whole week my serve has been good. I could rely on it and I knew that if I make the first ace or a first good serve then, you know, you have to feel the groove and, you know, to take the confidence but you hit a second and you think oh, man, there is one more to go. So it is tough, but, my serve was there when I needed it this whole week and most important it was here in the finals and never been broken, so, against Andy and that is a good effort because I have the feeling he is returning much better than in past and, you know, he makes you work hard so, it is good.

Q. Roger, one of the things that struck me was your composure and consistency out there. What do you do to keep your head clear?

A. I didn't, I missed the beginning.

Q. Just how composed and how consistent you are out there. What is your head space like, how do you train yourself?

A. Well it is all through experience. I was very, I would say, wild before on the court. It took me a long time, you know, actually to get, to find peace with myself because I was, I would get so frustrated and so disappointed and so sad about my game sometimes. Now I can handle it. If I miss shots, you know, I say okay, I hope the next one goes better. If it goes bad again, I hope the next one goes better. So I can just always see something positive in my game especially now that, you know, I don't have to think or hope too much about my serve because it comes very naturally and good. In the paste, you know, I always hope my first serve comes because if my serve doesn't work, I have got nothing else. That is the way I felt a little bit a few years ago. And this it is all a combination that I could, you know, get the mental strength, the physical strength, you know, the whole game plan. I start to understand tennis better and better, and that makes me much more calm inside and especially on big occasions now. I went through a lot of them lately so I am used to it.

Q. Roger, were you forced to make any major adjustments during the match or is it safe to say you executed fully you game plan going in?

A. Well, you know, first you have to get the ball back on his serve. Then before that, I first have to focus on my own serve so I can stay level with him and then you know take chances. I missed a few, you know, in the beginning and suddenly, you know, he had huge chance at love‑40. But I really have to say I didn't have change much of my game plan. It is what I expected, I knew he is not going to come out hitting full swing like in Wimbledon, because I thought about it. You can't play that tennis he played in Wimbledon on a hard court or on a clay court, you have to ‑‑ and so I thought that he would play much more patient because this is the way he played me in Montreal last year. You know, stood very far back on the return and, you know, made me go into longer rallies and that is exactly what I did and that is what I've actually was looking forward to. So I was prepared for that and so I didn't had to change my game plan.

Q. You have had great success against him, you have 7‑1 lifetime. Do you think if somebody is going to beat you he has probably got the best chance of anyone to be able to do that?

A. Well he hasn't beaten me this year, you know. But so you have to ask the other plays how they did it, you know, the ones he who beat me, there is only a few. But I feel like every time I step on the court, you know, there is a chance I might lose against – not against anybody but especially against Andy because everybody knows, you know, he has got a lot of strengths in his game more and more. His forehand has always been good, his backhand is more consistent, his serve, you know, is always a weapon. So he is a tough player but, you know, I would think it is wrong if we with just speak about me and him. You know, because there is a lot of lot of other great players around. And, you know, there has been players dominating the clay court season where we haven't been that dominant. And so we will see what after the US open if you can still keep up, you know, talking about me and Andy.

Q. Roger, he came into the net a lot. I think probably more than usual, was that an unexpected thing for you and does it suggest –

A. He did, you mean?

Q. He did, yes, he came into the net –

A. No, he always plays like this against me because I allow him to do so because, you know, I just chip back my return so. Umm, he always gets ‑‑ he can always run around his backhand, he can always put me on back foot, and if he doesn't come in, you know, then he has got no clue about tennis so. But, you know, he did it right and, yeah, he puts me under lot of pressure with his forehand so I am not surprised at all. Because if you look at all the matches we have played, they have have always been quite similar, you know, in that respect.

Q. Roger, Andy said I thought I served really badly until I looked at the stat sheet and saw 67 percent. Is that a tribute to your return of serve that he thought he served badly?

A. Well I had the feeling he wasn't serving as hard as in Wimbledon. In Wimbledon I had the feeling it was just incredible how hard he was hitting the ball. Obviously we were on grass but still, I thought that first serve really was very difficult to control, you know, I had to sometimes didn't even have to time really change my grip, you know, (inaudible) one grip to return and that was not the case today. Umm, but, you know, that is how it goes. There is days where we serve better, there is some where I have absolutely no clue what is going on. And important was, you know, to always get the ball back against him that is how I look at it. You know, not to actually return it hard and deep and try to hit winners off it, you know, because I think that would be wrong approach with my game and that has worked well for me and I have always sticked to that game plan since I have really dominated him in Wimbledon last year and since I haven't been changing my game plan too much.

Q. Roger, is your next big goal to win a gold meddle in Athens?

A. Well, I hope, you know, I will play well. A medal is a goal for me, gold would be what I would hope for, but, again, you know it is knock out system. Like in every other tennis tournament, that is extremely difficult, you know, to maintain that level of play all the time and I have already won eight tournaments you know, I think these days in men's tennis that is very difficult to to do so that would be my ninth or tenth see about Cincinnati. But I am not planning on winning the gold medal. I go there and give my best and if there is a medal in it I am happy, if there a gold I come back home to Switzerland a hero, so we will see what happens.

Q. Roger, you said on the court right after the match that you were exhausted. Can you expand on that a little bit?

A. Well exhausted. The tournament is over, you know, I am relieved, I am happy, you know, everything is over and I can relax for a day.

Q. Is it just the one tournament that has wiped you out or you are still feeling the lag effect, you talked a little bit about your mental fatigue this week?

A. I am very surprise, I honestly do. Because I came here, and I was like, I hope I can get through the early rounds and then, you know, I can get my feel back for the game because I was very tired I wasn't sure if I should come here at all or to Cincinnati because if I thought if I keep this pace up, you know, by playing all the time, you know, I might overdo it at one stage and I get sick like, like in ‑‑ when I was in Miami you know after I won Indian Wells. But when I started practicing and I started to feel like, no, I am ready to go and also if Toronto goes well, you know, I am also fine for Cincinnati. So I play Cincinnati and try to do my best there. Because before and after the Olympics we still have a week, you know, so that is okay.

Q. Roger, you mentioned the possibility you are thinking about coming to Toronto, when did you sort of finally make up your mind or were you think about possibly not playing in both Toronto and Cincinnati?

A. That is what I just said. That is what I just said, yeah. That when I was on holiday I felt so good, you know, I didn't want to leave that place, so. I was ‑‑ I spoke to my, you know, condition trainer and I asked him what do you think. He said well just, you know what, go there and, you know, actually try your best because you know they are big events and at the same time I also didn't want to give the other guys a chance, you know, to either catch up on me or, you know, just play a tournament without me there. And once I came back and I decided actually then to play Toronto Cincinnati a week before, and I decided to leave one or two days later than actually planned. And that gave me a few extra days back in Switzerland which were very important for me and. But at the same time I knew it is going the make it for difficult to win the first round. But once I got through it, you know, with the rain helped also a little bit. I took advantage of it, it was good.

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