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Friday, June 3, 2005
Roland Garros Semifinal
By Roland Garros Official Site
R. FEDERER/R. Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
Q. Very difficult moment for you to have to analyze what happened out there, but could you try for us, please. ROGER
FEDERER: Simple version for me is, uhm, started bad and finished bad
basically (smiling), was good in the middle ‑ and that was not good
enough. That's like the short and simple version. Of course, you know, afterwards you go further, but that's for me what I sum up right now. Q.
You seemed to find a formula in the second set. You got on his backhand
with a lot of topspin. You couldn't seem to sustain it. Any explanation
of why you weren't hitting the ball the way you normally do? ROGER
FEDERER: You know, you got to understand, you're not going to see the
same guy out on the court against a totally different player. You know,
the points are played a different way. The kick doesn't bounce to his
backhand, it bounces to his forehand. So it changes everything. You never got to forget that, so you will never see me play the same way like I will play Marat, Andy and Lleyton, let's say, compared to this guy, you know. I
think that's, again, what didn't do me very good, you know. It was the
start, basically get used to it, again, to his lefty spin, you know.
Kind of always takes me a while to figure out. It's not good, you know,
to lose a set until you kind of figure it out. But all in all
I'm not so happy with my performance, to be honest, you know. I think
there was definitely a better chance to do better today because I
didn't feel like he was much better than me today. You know, I really
thought I had the keys to beat him today, and it was just unfortunate
that I wasn't at my best. Q. Did you at any time in the match appeal to the chair umpire to halt because of darkness and pick it up tomorrow? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I mean, I could hardly see the ball in the end, you
know. I am disappointed we continued. I don't want to say it was a coin
toss or anything in the end, you know. I paid poorly to finish off the
match. You know, he was just consistent and solid. I wished we could have continued tomorrow. But I guess it's too late now. Q. You're in a more difficult position than in Miami, but you managed to come back from that. Did you try to draw on that experience? Did you think you could come back? ROGER FEDERER: Well, at sort of Love‑15 down in the last game, yeah. You think, "Yeah, let's do it like in Miami."
But you don't just pull a rabbit out of the hat, do you? It's sort of
tough to do, you know, especially against him. He's so solid, you know.
So that's why I look at that result in my Miami as
a very big result in my career because, coming back from two sets to
love is enormous, plus he was up a break, plus he was up in the breaker
eventually. To come back in the heat, you know, like this against him,
that was a great effort. Q. Throughout the tournament he's
been saying that you're the favorite, playing down his chances. Do you
think that was a tactic on his part? What do you think about that? ROGER FEDERER: Really confused me, it really did. Took it very lightly today, so (smiling)... Q.
Apart from what's happening in the second, third or even fourth set,
can we establish there is an invisible law, like a law of gravity,
there's a law of clay, that even most complete player has less chances
than the first‑class specialist for clay? Pete Sampras never
made it. You failed last year and this year. Do you think this kind of
law exists ‑ like law of gravity, it's invisible, but it exists. John McEnroe, Edberg, Becker. You failed last year, you failed this year. ROGER FEDERER: What do you want me to say? Q. Do you feel the most complete player has less chances than the first‑class clay specialist? ROGER FEDERER: No, I don't believe. Q. Let's put it another way. How determined does this defeat tonight make you come back one day and win this title? ROGER
FEDERER: I mean, my disappointment, it's obvious. You know, I was far
down in the tournament, you know. Wasn't much left between, you know,
this and the finals, and maybe a chance to win it, you know. But
I don't know, the disappointment is still in ‑‑ I would say it's in
control. I'm not going to destroy the locker room and never play tennis
again, you know. I'm not at that point. So I feel like the motivation's
big, you know, to come back the next few years and to do better, you
know. So I still got more left in me at the French Open, which, at the moment, is a good sign. Q. How much of a favorite do you make Rafa for the final? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I guess they play similar games, huh? Now how he matches
up against a left‑hander, it's tough for me to tell, you know. But I
would pick him as a favorite, you know, for what he's gone through. But he would also be a little bit stupid if he would underestimate Puerta. I think he knows the danger. It's going to be a tough final, I hope. Q. Do you feel Rafa deserved the victory? Do you feel Rafa has improved since your Miami match? ROGER
FEDERER: Oh, I mean, of course he has. He deserved his victory. He was
the better player tonight. Never take anything away from somebody who
beat me, because I was trying my best. At times I played good;
sometimes I didn't play so good. But I didn't feel like he's a totally different player to Miami.
I mean, it's only two months ago. It's not much time to really improve
your game. Even on clay, you know, he should have beaten me in three
sets in Miami. And here I was already at four sets. I
know I can beat him on any surface, which is good to know, because he's
going to be a threat in the future. It's a pity, you know, he beat me
here in the semis of a Slam, which is tough. Q.
We know how well he can play on clay. We think he's pretty darn good on
hard court. Is it possible that tonight we saw the two best players in
the world on the court, any surface? ROGER FEDERER: Well,
you know, I don't quite agree with you. Once I play this guy, he's the
best with me. Then the next time I play Andy, and he's the best again, you know. You guys could be a little more consistent. These guys are going to be heavy favorites for Wimbledon ‑ Hewitt, Roddick and Safin, in my eyes. And Rafael is coming in with very little preparation, you know. But I still believe he's going to be good on grass, too. No question. The
guys who make it to the Top 5, they can play on any surface. It's how
tennis work. Just one clay court season doesn't say you're good on clay
and bad on the rest of the surfaces, you know. But this was definitely a big match of my career and of this year. But the other guys are for me, in my eyes, as good as Rafael. Q. What do you feel let you down most? Your serve? Your forehand? ROGER
FEDERER: A little bit of both, yeah. I mean, definitely there's times
where my serve didn't work the way I wanted it to. I think for a while
I had ‑‑ it was my feeling, I had a great first serve percentage. That
definitely dropped. My forehand was working well, and then suddenly
didn't work that well. Got to go through it with Tony and see why this happened because usually my forehand's the most consistent shot in my game. Q. Will it take more of looking at his spin and more matches to really get it? ROGER
FEDERER: His spin is definitely one of the issues. You know, he's got
incredible spin. And it's just, like I said, it's a different match if
you play him. Not so easy because now we have two lefties in the final,
okay, but we don't have many in the top hundred, so... Q. You
said very clearly that you had difficulty to play well throughout the
match. What do you credit this ability to in such a match? ROGER FEDERER: I didn't understand your question. Q. You said very clear that you had a hard time playing well through the match. What do you credit this difficulty? ROGER FEDERER: I don't know. I think I don't know right now. It's too close to the match. But I spoke briefly to Tony,
and what he felt, you know. That was ‑‑ we quickly analyzed what we
thought. It was just too much up and down. But that's definitely got
something to do with the opponent. I give it a hundred percent and it's not good enough. Q. You say it's more to the opponent than something you were not able to do? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, you know, it's tough to impose yourself on clay over
five sets, it's obvious, against him. He's going to make you hit tough
shots. And especially him being a lefty mixes everything up. You know,
I think I've been clear on this. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q.
We felt you were a bit nervous at a certain time, especially when a
spectator spoke to you during the fourth set. Did this bother you or
not necessarily? ROGER FEDERER: No. The public was
absolutely fantastic. It's almost like as if it was a victory for me
when you have the public with you, supporting you. That's why I'm not
that disappointed, because the public really supported me. They wanted
to see a longer match. It's as if you had won the tournament. It's very difficult to have the support of the public here in Paris
without doing much. I won quite a bit of their support, and this was
really great. When somebody says in five sets between the first and the
second, it's wonderful. Q. Were your feet aching? ROGER
FEDERER: No, I was in good shape physically, so that's why I'm
disappointed, because I missed the opportunity to reach a fifth set.
I'm not even that tired. The points weren't as hard to win as in Miami. Maybe I'm wrong or maybe I've improved physically, but my feet aren't aching and I'm fine. Q. Were you bothered by the wind? You missed quite a few forehands. Was that due to that? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, wind is never helping you. It makes the ball sway a bit
more. I think it was rather the opponent, how the day evolved. Q. What was the difference between you and Nadal today? ROGER
FEDERER: I think he was more consistent, he was more constant
throughout the match. I was a bit less consistent. I did a good job in
the beginning and not that well afterwards. I think I didn't do such a
great match. I could have played a better match. He was okay, but he
was not very consistent. Q. We felt you were a bit hesitant
as far as tactics. What was your strategy when you started? You wanted
to be more aggressive or you wanted to remain on the baseline? ROGER
FEDERER: No, I would have rather started off on the baseline, and if
there were a shorter ball, I would have attacked and come to the net.
At one point you start reflecting whether you're going to go up to the
net on such a shot or not. This has to do with his game because if you
go to the net, you're going to get a topspin shot. Sometimes I was
confident, other times I wasn't. I was trying to get a winning point on
my forehand. I think that my tactics were okay, but I should have
played a bit better, and that's exactly what I wasn't able to do.
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