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Tuesday, 25 January, 2005
Australian Open Quarterfinal II
By ASAP Sports
R. FEDERER/A. Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Agassi said that he was outplayed. Do you have the same feeling, and how does it feel, if so? ROGER
FEDERER: No, I thought I started well. First service game was perfect,
you know. I got the first break, which was important. Then I had to
really battle hard, you know, to win the first set. Couple of
breakpoints where I served well. And from then on, I had the feeling I
really started to pick up even more with my serve. You know, I
always got the good start into each set so I think that made a
difference. I after could play with the confidence; he couldn't really.
So that allowed me to take chances. I served through the whole match
perfectly. So I think that's what made me win the match today. Q. Did you enjoy yourself out there today? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I thought I really had to concentrate very hard today,
which maybe at times didn't allow me really to enjoy too much. But it's
always a pleasure to play against Andre, and I think that's clear. Q. It was not a hostile crowd, but it was certainly an Andre crowd. Does that affect you? Do you hear them? ROGER
FEDERER: I definitely hear them. I also felt they were on Andre's side,
which is totally normal. He won the tournament many more times than me.
He's been here for ages, you know. They wanted him to come back into
the match, which is normal as well. So for this reason, I wasn't
surprised at all. Q. Can you play any better than that? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, it's tough to say, you know. Andre takes it away from
you, the way he hits so hard from the baseline. So you can't really
create the points like you want to. But, you know, I try to go against
it. And again, you know, it came down to the way I served, which in the
end decided how I played from the baseline. Q. After he had the
last chance, had a breakpoint in the fourth game, you lost on your
serve only I think seven points in eight games. Is that surprising to
you? ROGER FEDERER: Yes, yes. It's very surprising. As surprising as
the way I closed out the match at the US Open, also, where it was
extremely windy and I was really struggling with my serve. Through the
fourth set and the fifth set I think I barely lost a few points. So,
again, there it was similar. Q. Is it a test to play against Andre? Does that make you concentrate all the time? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, because, you know, he's one of the best returners of all
time. You know you just miss a couple of first serves and he doesn't
just put the return back into play, but he really hits it hard down the
baseline. So every time I've got a difficult half volley to play, and
if you're, you know, a little un confident and you're not really too
much in the mood to play rallies, you know, that puts an unbelievable
amount of pressure on you. So I always try to have a good start to each
service game. That's I think what made the difference in the end. Q.
Only time when you didn't put the first serve in was the end of the
first set. Were you feeling more pressure, or there was other reasons? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I think just missing a first serve once in a while is no
problem. So if you talk about that, you know, my life's doing just
fine. Q. Who do you feel are your toughest opponents at this time? ROGER FEDERER: You mean in a tournament? Q. Yeah, just in general. ROGER FEDERER: So far I've played or...? Q. Yeah, just going on. ROGER FEDERER: Look at the rankings or...? Q. I mean, for you. ROGER FEDERER: Who's my toughest opponent? Q. Yes. ROGER
FEDERER: It's hard to say because my record speaks for itself right
now, the way I've beaten all the Top 10 players, you know, so regular.
So it makes it hard to obviously pick one. I have the feeling Safin is
playing really good. You know, the other Top 10 guys, you always know
on a given day they can upset you any time. So I'm really looking
forward to the contest with Safin, you know. I have the feeling he's
playing good again and he had a great finish last year, good start
again. So it's going to be a really hard match. Q. Did you have a feeling that anybody can beat you? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I always have the feeling. Everybody knows how quickly
matches can turn around. And for this reason I was happy to win the
first set. That kind of gave me just a little bit of cushion. I didn't
expect to start like I had into the second set, but I had it in the
end. Again, if you don't serve it out and you find yourself at 5 All,
again, it's a different match. I didn't allow anything off that.
For this reason, for me it was a perfect match. But I know that matches
can turn around very quickly. Q. Can you think of any other match in the past that you feel that you felt so good about yourself? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, like I said, you know, I served really well. He hit
extremely hard from the baseline. So for this reason I couldn't play my
regular game from the baseline. I just tried to counterpunch, you know,
whatever was coming from Andre. This didn't really allow me to play my
game. Only when I can really play my game I'm at my best. But,
again, I played a fantastic match today to win in straight sets. I
think it needs such a good performance to beat Andre so convincing. Q. Do you think Safin will offer you more problems than Andre did tonight? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I expect a tougher match, that's clear. I always expect
five setters, or being down breaks or, you know, worst case scenario.
And for this reason, I expect a tougher match. Q. Does he have different weapons to attack you? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, he's got the bigger serve. That's going to make it maybe
more difficult maybe to break. But, again, we only will see after the
match what happened. I think also the record here for him speaks
for itself, how much he likes this surface. Of course, it's an even
more interesting match just because of who's coaching him. But I'm
happy I'm through that, that I played him, I got that match away in
Houston. So for this reason I can really concentrate on the match
itself and not thinking about who's sitting in his corner, you know. But I expect a tough one, yeah. That's clear. He's playing well. He had good matches so far. Q. You seem to be a silent man on court. Do you listen to Andreas Vollenweider, famous Swiss musician? ROGER FEDERER: Who? Q. Do you listen to Andreas Vollenweider? ROGER FEDERER: No, I don't. I never heard of him. I'm an international man. I like Switzerland, but... Q.
Safin played extremely well under the closed roof. Do you think that
it's a better case for you if the roof is open or closed or doesn't
matter? ROGER FEDERER: I expect open roof. It's an outdoor
tournament. So otherwise you shouldn't don't have to travel down here,
you know, to play. But, yeah, I mean, it's maybe harder for him,
you know, if it's outdoors again, it's windy, to get the rhythm back.
But definitely gave him a great rhythm to play indoors, you know, no
wind. But it was very similar for me tonight, you know, was very calm
winds. It was really perfect conditions to play. The only thing that
changed was the sky going from blue to black, you know. So I don't know if we play in the night or not, but it's going to be interesting.
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