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Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Toronto AMS First Round
By ASAP Sports
R. FEDERER/P. Mathieu
6-3, 6-4
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the birthday boy.
Q. How was the cake?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it was nice. You got some or not?
Q. You'll always remember where you spent your 25th birthday.
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I also had a good cake in Montréal, I
remember a few years ago. I was home the last two years, so it's
good to be back on the road again for the birthday.
Q. How did you like your first match? How did it feel to
you?
ROGER FEDERER: It was good. I was very happy. I
was happy with my serve, my forehand, my backhand. Everything
worked pretty well. I think I can just, you know, improve the
movement a little bit. I have to get used to again the pace and
everything, the playing points.
But, you know, all in all, that was an awesome match for a first round.
Q. Do you like this surface?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I do. I have a great record on it.
I think it's fair. Even though it plays quite slow, I
still think, you know, if you have a good attacking game, you can do
that, too. So I think it's a good surface.
Q. You said recently you're less tired at this stage of the
season than you have been before. You put that down to being
physically stronger. Would it also be that you're more relaxed
now, you know what you can do and what you can achieve? Would
there be a mental factor to that?
ROGER FEDERER: I think so, a little bit of a mental factor
because I know what's coming ahead. I do obviously a better
schedule than maybe I used to. Maybe I'm winning matches more
comfortable to save more energy and so forth. I know how to
handle the situation better. Then all that pays off when you
start having a break. You know, you feel fresher, you know, more
quickly and you don't maybe need, instead of having two weeks' holiday,
all of a sudden nine days, it's enough and stuff. So that's kind
of what I feel at the moment.
Thank God I have had no injury problems this year, after that ligament
with my foot. I'm very happy. Didn't have to heal out any
problems like last year when I missed Montréal.
Q. Did it mean you enjoyed the break a lot more?
ROGER FEDERER: I'm just happy to get away from tennis, you know,
once in a while, then I'm really happy to get back because I like
playing matches, I like traveling the world. We had a good time.
Break was nice with Mirka, we had a great time. Then the
practice sessions with Tony and the conditioning with Pierre was great.
Q. Coming back after a month, did you feel comfortable
straightaway?
ROGER FEDERER: I actually did, yeah. I thought I was
playing pretty well already in practice. So actually I was very
relaxed going into today's match, even though I knew the opponent can
be very dangerous. That I played, you know, so well, always a
bit of a surprise in a first round. These Masters Series are
really, really tough from the first round on. To come through
was a good sign.
Like I said, the only thing I could improve is, you know, the footwork
on defense, getting used to the pace of the guys again because practice
and matches are just different stories. So for this reason, I'm
very pleased.
Q. Do you like having birthdays or have you reached the stage
where you don't want to have them any more?
ROGER FEDERER: I think that comes later on maybe (smiling).
No, no, I do enjoy birthdays. Yeah, I do like to be the center
of attention once in a while. I get that already enough through
tennis. But then on birthdays, it's even kind of more unique,
you know. I had a nice day today with Mirka. She gave me
flowers. It's nice. She knows I like that.
Q. 49 hard court wins in a row. Does the thought of
losing ever go through your mind? When it does, is it scary?
ROGER FEDERER: What record do I have?
Q. 49 hard court records in a row.
ROGER FEDERER: That's not true. I lost to Nadal in Dubai.
Q. This is in North America.
ROGER FEDERER: North America. Okay, that's a good one.
I know I have a good record here.
You know, I always feel like hard court is the most even surface for
everybody. This is a surface normally where everyone can beat
everybody. This is why I come into these tournaments going like,
well, I hope I survive kind of the first round, then hopefully I get to
the semis and see what happens. Every time I end up winning the
tournament lately.
I guess it comes down to great preparation, playing well, consistently
on a daily basis. I don't have any off days. That's been
paying for me. But, no, I do never feel like unbeatable.
That never crosses my mind.
Q. Marat lost today. When you think back to him winning
the US Open in 2000, what a great player he is, great personality he
is, how much do you think it's disappointing for the sport that he
hasn't been able to be more consistent and every year be a threat in
all the Grand Slams like you, maybe Lleyton and others have been able
to?
ROGER FEDERER: I think it's most disappointing for him.
Not only is he not playing well, but he's also injured. It's the
worst of combinations. It's obviously a pity. I would
love to have him around, even though he would make things much more
difficult. He's trying to get, you know, the whole thing back together
and make it work. I think when guys like Tommy Robredo see the
draw, they're not happy to see he's playing Safin. His ranking
has really dropped now.
But I see Marat around tournaments. He seems pretty relaxed.
I think that is at least a good sign. I hope he's going
to come back up very soon. Hopefully shortly.
Q. As much as the crowds can sort of get you going or have other
impacts on you when they're playing, how do the Canadian crowds treat
you compared to ones you see at Wimbledon or the US Open?
ROGER FEDERER: I do really enjoy playing in Canada. I
mean, I don't get the opportunity very often. Tonight I really
had the feeling, geez, the crowd is getting into this first-round
match. We didn't have that many long rallies. He was
taking huge swings on the return to make key points extremely short.
Once there was a little bit something to cheer about, they were
right there.
They kind of surprised me. It really showed me once again what a
great crowd they are, how much fun it is to play here. I'm very
happy I made the choice to come back to Canada finally again.
Q. Do you have a hard time getting psyched up for a tournament
like this compared to a US Open or Wimbledon? Is it harder to
get ready every day?
ROGER FEDERER: No, not at all. Not at all. For me,
I mean, I only play, what, about 20 tournaments a year. It's not
that much. Other guys play 30, 35. I can really get into
every tournament I play in. When it's a Grand Slam, obviously
that's always related to a lot of pressure. The Masters Series
are I think extremely tough physically because I start Tuesday, I play
six matches in six days. Then when I play the smaller
tournaments, that's great because the draw's smaller. You can
then also choose your schedule more. You play five matches in
seven days. It's a smaller draw, smaller tournament, it's kind
of more relaxed. I enjoy the variation of that.
For me, it's really no problem getting motivated for a tournament like
this.
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