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June 8, 2006
Mats meets Roger
By Mats Wilander, Eurosport
Top seed Roger Federer took some time out from preparing for his French Open semi-final against David Nalbandian on Friday to chat to Eurosport analyst Mats Wilander and tell him how much he's enjoying himself on the clay.
Mats Wilander: "It looks to me like you're really enjoying playing on clay this year maybe more than last year?"
Roger Federer: "I think so yes, I think the results last year were good, and this year again. I think the disappointment of the years when I lost in the first round here are gone, because those really hurt me a lot, there were so many questions, why was I not playing well, and it sort of made me not enjoy it maybe as much. But after the last couple of good years here at the French open I think its more fun obviously too. The results are better and if you enjoy it more it's automatic."
MW: "Has it nearly got to a point when you maybe enjoy playing on clay more than other surfaces because it gives you a chance to do more things with the ball?"
RF: "Yeah I think I find fun on all surfaces, because grass is always special because of the points they always finish quickly, on a hard court you also get the option to get to the net. On clay sometimes its just fun to fight it out far behind the base line, sometimes you get balls back sometimes you don't same as with drop shots, that's a different thing to play again on clay. I enjoy the challenge of all surfaces but right now it's all clay and I like it."
MW: "Well watching you practice here it looks like you enjoy just touching the tennis ball, any little shot you hit, even to the ball boys is always with a little spin, and anytime you hit it to the other side it's with a spin with a purpose. Where do you get that from?"
RF: "I don't know, I just always enjoy hitting balls, more then anything else. The contact with the ball is very important, even though I can live with out it for a month no problem, I can always come right back and have a good touch straight away, which is good because I heard other players have big difficulties with that and I don't, which is a good thing to have. I just enjoy tennis I think and I love the sport."
MW: "The obvious question is, you've had some problems against Rafael Nadal. When you practice these days, do you practice shots that are going to help you against him or do you still practice shots to help you improve as a player?"
RF: "I think the important thing is to improve as a player not to improve against one certain player, and my games good enough to beat Rafael, I know that, everyone knows that, but its a matter of putting it all together on that particular day, and that's what I've not been able to do for the last few times, I got very close in Rome, but maybe it shows me that actually I still have a lot of room for improvement all of a sudden even though I have been working hard for the last few years, and I've got better and more consistent. It's just a matter now of keeping up the good work and hopefully it's going to pay off also against him"
MW: "Finally, your semi final is against David Nalbandian, you guys have had some tough matches in the past, how do you see that match going?"
RF: "Well extremely tough, I think he is leading six to five in the series against me he won few very tough matches against me in the past five setters, at the Australian open and at the Masters. I beat him at the US open he also beat me there, so we've had a lot of up and downs and the last time we played was in Rome, 7-6 in the third for me, he was two points from the match, so this is going to be an extremely tough match. If I want to win the French open here then I have to beat him and then obviously the next good player because the top 4 seeds are in the semis. It's not easy but I think it's great for tennis and for all four of us."
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