Monday, March 27, 2006

Miami AMS Third Round

By ASAP Sports

An interview with: ROGER FEDERER

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Things were clicking tonight, you would say?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I'm very happy with the match tonight. It was excellent. Not much to say, I but played good from the start, you know. Really thought I was hitting the ball well. Not missing much. When I attacked, you know, the shots I wanted to.

All in all, it was excellent.

Q. You had an early lead against him in Australia and let that slip away. Here you got up 6‑1, were you thinking about putting the nail in the coffin early?

ROGER FEDERER: Not really. To be honest, I never thought of the match from Australia. Never came to my mind. Before the match, okay, but not during.

So I just hoped, you know, to get off to a good start in the second set. I almost did, but he did well to hang in there early. I thought he played a little better in the second. He didn't make it so easy for me, but I thought I played well in the big points in the second set, whereas in the first set I had many more opportunities.

Q. Was that as well as you think you've played since Australia?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, Indian Wells was excellent, for this reason, it was about the same level. I played great against Ljubicic, Blake, Srichaphan, Gasquet. So this is not something new for me.

Q. Have you ever seen Tursunov play?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I know him from Juniors. We go back a long way. Even though he doesn't remember that he beat me in doubles, but we still have that open argument. I know I'm right (smiling).

But, yeah, I mean, I've seen him come up and about now the last couple years. I saw the match obviously with Henman in Wimbledon. That was a big show court and the possibility to really make an upset and he did.

He's a dangerous player, you know. Everybody knows it in the locker room. He hits really hard. You know, tough opponent, I think especially here.

Q. I understand you were interviewed by Billie Jean King for a magazine piece recently.

ROGER FEDERER: Yes.

Q. What was it like to spend time with her?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, a little bit different than, you know, by a normal journalist, I would say, because she's part of the history of tennis. It's always interesting to speak to people like them.

I absolutely enjoyed it because I've seen her on a few occasions, you know, at the AIDS foundation, you know, night with Elton John down in London during the Wimbledon tournament which I've attended twice, and she's been there every time. We obviously tend to speak to each other. It was nice to spend some more time together. I definitely enjoyed it, I hope she did, too.

Q. Did you get to ask her any questions?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, in the end when the interview was over, we sat down and spoke a little bit, which was interesting. It's always so interesting to speak to someone who comes from the same sport and did it already, everything, and now sort of sits on the sidelines, you know, and watches it. It was very nice.

Q. I would take you out of a tournament for a moment. On your birthday, you received a book made by your fans. Can you tell us something about it.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it was last year in the 8th of August, obviously, still the same birth date, yep (smiling). I came actually home from Switzerland after, you know, practice sessions in Dubai and I went to spend actually the birthday, you know, back home in Switzerland.

So I was there and my parents were there, many actually friends. I sort of had like a birthday party. You know, I got many presents from friends and also one from, you know, Sylvia from Argentina, which was very nice. She created this incredible book about everything about me and all my titles and a lot of information, also a nice letter from my doubles partner Yves who said some nice things about me. It was a big book and apparently she went through an incredible battle to create it. It meant a lot to me. I asked if we can sort of reprint it. But obviously the rights for pictures and everything, you know, it's not easy.

It's a unique piece and I'm the happy guy to have it. It's very nice.

Q. Did you get to know her?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, we saw each other for the first time in Indian Wells. Sometimes, you know, from time to time, practice sessions, we would just chat along. She's also here in Miami, so I hope she's having the time of her life.

Q. Just getting back to the match, when you go up against somebody like Haas who has given you a tough time in the past, five sets in Australia, do you find that you get yourself up even more to play somebody like him?

ROGER FEDERER: No, not really. I was feeling very unsure about today's match, to be honest. During warm‑up, you know, it was very windy. I thought, "God, this is gonna be maybe not a good day."

Anyway, ended up to be very good. But I had a bad feeling, you know, starting the match. Once I sort of, you know, got over the first two games, I started to feel like actually that today it couldn't be that bad.

But, no, I didn't get up for it like maybe you thought I would, but in the end what matters is how I play, and in the end I was very happy.

Q. Just going back again, just on the point of your birthday, what does somebody give Roger Federer, who's got everything, for a birthday present except a book of his life?

ROGER FEDERER: I'm happy with every present, to be honest. That's the beauty about surprises and presents, it doesn't need to be very expensive, you know. It can be a small thing that makes you very happy and very touching. That book, for instance, that definitely was.

Q. With regards to the wind, looking back a few years ago here, the match against Davydenko, you had problems with the wind. In Rome you had problems with Costa. You had some problems with the wind. How has that changed over the years, how have you adjusted?

ROGER FEDERER: I thought I was a horrible wind player, you know, I would say go back, really far back, five years ago, because I never felt comfortable. I always thought it was only disturbing me and everything.

So now I feel like it's a great challenge because it's tough, you know, to follow the ball in the wind and control the ball. You shank many more balls. It's got such a big effect, you know, in our matches, you know, because sometimes it comes from the side, sometimes from the back. I think it's similar like for the golf players. You can't just line up and hit the ball, you have to really play with it. The same in tennis. Every shot you hit, you think of it. It's not an easy thing to do.

I believe like now I can really take advantage of it actually.

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