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Thursday, March 23, 2006
Miami AMS Pre-Event
By ASAP Sports
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: Questions,
please.
Q. Can you talk about coming
back to the NASDAQ and what you're
looking forward to this year.
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I'm very
happy to be back here healthy, you know. That's
always my main concern after winning a
tournament, that I can come back the following
year and at least try to defend.
Feels like I got this
opportunity here now, you know, especially
playing so well since the beginning of the year.
Indian Wells was definitely my
best tournament of the year so far, even though
the Australian Open was fantastic,
too.
Winning, you know, the first
Grand Slam and first Masters
Series of the year really makes me come
into this tournament confident.
Q. Talk about the field and
you trying to repeat as champion, how difficult
that's going to be, the challenge you have.
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I think
Masters Series in general are
really hard, you know, to win because you get
really tough draws from the opening rounds on.
Makes it hard, you know.
But I think best‑of‑three
sets also is a danger, you know, because very
quickly you can be out, you know. So, you have
to always be on top of your game.
Q. What is your reaction to
your video game? Are you pleased with the way
you play?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it's
nice. Nice design, absolutely. Top Spin 2 seems
nice game to me. I'm happy to be in a video
game, you know. I never thought I'll be in one,
but I was always hoping ‑‑ I remember back when
I was playing a lot, that I could play with my
favorite players, you know. So now I hope, you
know, for my fans, they enjoy that I'm in a
game, too. They can either play with me or
against me, which I think is good fun.
Q. Did you take it easy on
Sharapova or Venus?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, we took
it easy on each other. It was a relaxed
atmosphere. We all tried to figure out the game,
and in the end actually we all played pretty
well.
Q. After one day of the
HawkEye, what is your opinion now in terms
of how you feel about it?
ROGER FEDERER: I didn't see
it, to be honest. I actually didn't hear
anything about it, so I got to wait for my
match, I guess.
Q. How will you approach the
replay? Are you looking forward to it? Is it
something you've wanted, a lot of men have
wanted?
ROGER FEDERER: You know,
there's been much talk about it. Let me just
wait out my day, when it comes with the
HawkEye. I can tell you what I think.
Beforehand, it's all just speculation.
Yeah, I mean, I'll just
really use it as a , I think, when there's a
horrible call, you know, for either one of us. I
hope that's how it's going to be used.
Q. Are you still
philosophically unsure about what place
electronic line calling has in tennis anyway?
ROGER FEDERER: We'll see now,
after my first match. After that, you know,
obviously it's not something you can say it's
great or bad after one day, you know. It's got
to have a consistency, you know, for a long
time. It's not allowed to have any mistakes in
it.
So I think we'll know more
after this tournament, but then also more at the
end of this year.
Q. Andre Agassi has
won this tournament six times. He's obviously
struggling right now. What are your thoughts
about the state of his game and whether he can
dig out of this latest rut he's in?
ROGER FEDERER: I hope for him
he's feeling all right physically after sort of
a similar injury we had at the end of last year.
He's been struggling a little bit with it, you
know, not playing in Australia,
then not maybe winning too many matches at the
beginning of the season now.
To be honest, somebody that's
won this tournament six times, you can never
count him out. I think usually when he plays a
tournament, he's ready usually. So I expect him
to come far in this event and be very tough to
beat.
Q. Looking ahead the next two
months, will you prepare any differently for the
French Open, the next Grand Slam
coming up, than you have in previous years?
ROGER FEDERER: Maybe a little
bit. I'll try to play the three Masters
Series instead of only two, meaning
Monte‑Carlo, Rome and
Hamburg, whereas the last few
years either I missed out on Rome
or Monte‑Carlo two years in a row.
I think that's going to be a change for me.
I've got no Davis Cup
after Miami so maybe that's going
to give me a little bit more time to rest and
get ready as well. But other than that, I think
I'm not going to change too much. I'm going to
go early to Paris, get ready, and
hopefully be fine for Paris.
Q. Do you think playing
center court most of the time in all the
tournaments for the rest of the years and the
HawkEye being in center court and not on the
outside court, that's going to bias your game or
put you at an advantage or disadvantage to the
other players who are not playing on center
court all the time?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, yeah, I
play 99% of the matches on center court, so I'll
see it probably the most, you know, of all the
players on the men's tour. Again, you know,
we'll really see how it's going to work out for
us.
But if it's a disadvantage or
advantage, it's impossible to answer right now.
I hope it's going to be all right for everybody.
Q. A question about Davis
Cup. You have played last year at
Wimbledon against Gonzalez. Do you
think that Chile has some chances against
USA playing on grass in two weeks?
ROGER FEDERER: I think
Fernando played excellent on grass last
year. It was a little bit of a surprise, but I
think these days, you know, there's not many
like really dangerous serve and volley players,
so you always get a chance playing from the
baseline.
I think Fernando
definitely can make it really difficult for the
United States, you know, to win. I
think the doubles is good, too, you know, with
Gonzalez‑Massu.
Nicolas, I think, on any given day he
can beat many players. On grass, I am not sure
how good he is. I think the Americans
are definitely the favorites, but not to count
out the Chileans.
Q. Are you looking to change
anything in your game?
ROGER FEDERER: Not really. I
mean, you know, I always adapt to my opponents
and I usually also adapt to my, to the surface I
play on. So I always do it, you know. It's
something automatically that happens. Obviously,
I try to be in my best shape physically. I'll
try to be mentally prepared for long and matches
and rallies and everything. I think that's,
maybe for my game, the key, you know, to
success.
Then obviously, you know, you
got to hope a little bit on day form and hope
you play right at the right moment.
So, no, I don't really
prepare any different.
Q. Paris became such a
medal hurdle for so many great players ‑
McEnroe, Boris Becker, Edberg,
Sampras obviously. Do you resist being
put into that group? Do you think it's a
different situation for you even though it's the
only Grand Slam you haven't won?
ROGER FEDERER: Hard to say,
huh? I mean, came close last year, so I'm
obviously optimistic about my chances at the
French. I've grown up on the surface,
you know. Maybe not like others, but, again, you
know, every player was different. There was
always a time where some people did it and
shouldn't and some people didn't and should
have. Maybe it's going to be the same for me, I
don't know. I'll try not to make it happen, try
to win the French for the first
time. Obviously, the earlier I can win it, I
don't have to talk about it. The more it keeps
on dragging on, maybe the more difficult it's
going to be for me.
At the same time, I don't let
myself be influenced too much by the press and
the pressure. I'm just getting ready for myself,
giving myself the best opportunity. That's
really all I can do.
Q. In assessing the greatest
players of all time, ranking them, comparing
them, how much of an emphasis do you think
should be put on the idea of winning all four
Slams on the different surfaces? Does that
elevate a person to a different level, do you
think?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, it
definitely adds something special, you know, to
your career. I mean, I've won an entire season
on different surfaces, but then obviously the
Grand Slam is something else, you
know. There's only so many few players who did
it.
You feel like whoever does
it, I mean, it means something special. I think
it definitely does.
Q. Just to follow up on that
question. Could you ever foresee you doing
something like Lendl did with skipping
the French and prepared for grass? Could
you see yourself doing something like that with
the clay?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, you
know, thank God the French is
before Wimbledon, so don't need to
tank the Australian Open to get
ready (smiling). So still got enough...
Q. I know, but really throw
yourself into it.
ROGER FEDERER: I understand
what you're saying. I mean, the only way maybe
is going on clay right after the
Australian Open and not really returning
on hard courts for Indian Wells,
Key Biscayne, you know, sort of.
I'm not sure if that's the
right preparation, too. I think what you want,
too, is matches and feel confident. For this
reason, I always believe you should be playing
well while you're healthy.
No, I mean, certain
sacrifice, but not a sacrifice towards a point
where it's like to the point where I think
Ivan went to.
Q. I want to ask you about
James Blake and how he's playing right now.
He's obviously playing the best of his career.
How do you see him as a player, and how good can
he be, do you think?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, he's
playing excellent. He played very good all last
week, you know. He's had a very consistent start
to the season. He impressed me in the finals,
you know. He played very aggressive, very
consistent. Obviously, you know, got to him
maybe a little bit mentally, losing that first
set after being up with a double break
obviously. That's not an easy thing to do.
I did well to come back, but
I thought he played, obviously, a great
tournament. I think it's going to give him great
motivation now that he's in the Top 10, to, you
know, being in a shot maybe also for a better
chance at Grand Slams after seeing
how close he was already at the US Open
against Agassi and so on, then
maybe looking ahead in the draw and everything.
Maybe great times ahead for James,
I hope for him.
Q. I know you all respect
everybody. Is he a player who's considered now
someone that is a contender for big tournaments,
you would say?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, he's got
to back it up now, obviously. But if he keeps on
playing like he did the last six months,
absolutely.
Q. Do you see any of the
Latin Americans having the possibility to be
a champion? What do you think about all the
Latin Americans that are now in the
tournament?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, there's
many South Americans around since
a long time, you know. I think the best ones are
obviously Coria and
Nalbandian. I mean, Nalbandian,
he's won his really big tournament in
Shanghai where he beat me in the final.
I always consider him one of the biggest threats
from South America, you know, on
any surface really because he's done well at the
French, at Wimbledon.
I think he's played semis in all four
Grand Slams. He's always a threat.
Coria, he
should have won the French back
then, but I think Gaudio did an
incredible job. Since he won the French
Open, he's also become a much better
player.
So there's many good players
out there, and they're tough to beat,
absolutely. So if one doesn't win matches in one
tournament, you have five other guys who do it,
so it's not easy (smiling).
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