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Wednesday, 28 June, 2006
Wimbledon Second Round
By ASAP Sports
R. FEDERER/T. Henman 6-4, 6-0, 6-2
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: Roger Federer for you, ladies and gentlemen. Start with questions in English.
Q. Usually, your shots produce crowd pleasing moments. What did it feel like today to be a crowd displeaser, if you like? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, it was difficult. Obviously, I don't enjoy it so much to
play against the crowd sort of. Especially very difficult if you're
playing so well like I did today, you know, to sort of be happy about
the whole thing because you know they're not really, really enjoying it
Tim, obviously not. You want more of it, you know, basically.
So it makes it kind of difficult. But you've got to stay very focused
because even in the third set, you know, you're always scared with the
whole momentum shift and the crowd then getting into it, maybe the
match could turn around. I was happy I didn't get broken. I served it out. It was an excellent match. I was very, very happy. Q. Do you ever feel compassion for the bloke on the other side of the net? ROGER FEDERER: Means "compassion"? Q. Sympathy in a sense. Tim, you know very well. You know he can't get himself into a match. ROGER
FEDERER: Uhm, he had his chance early on, but he missed that. And after
that, I really got on a roll. He didn't serve that great anymore. But,
like I said, it's not a lot of fun beating a friend like this. That's
for sure. Q. How does your form compare at this stage to previous Wimbledon campaigns? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I've had a different kind of a draw, you know, where
people are expecting me to struggle more. That I came through that
convincing obviously gives me a lot of confidence. Sends out maybe a
little bit of a message for the other players. I'm just very
happy the way I've been playing. It's been often the case in the early
rounds here in Wimbledon that often I play very good, especially the
times I won. I'm feeling very well. Compared to the other years, I
guess it's similar. Q. Rumor has it you have a lucky charm. Is that true? If so, what is it? Do you carry anything with you to bring you luck? ROGER
FEDERER: Uhm, not really. But my girlfriend gave me something once, so
that's in my bag. I don't know if that's a lucky charm or not. Q.
Balls hit the line. How are you practicing this thing? How can you do?
Because are they risk shots or you practice this? All the line, all the
corner. ROGER FEDERER: All the time, huh? It's so easy (smiling). Q. Let me know to tell to our coaches. ROGER
FEDERER: No, I don't you cannot practice to hit it on the line or in
the corner, but you can try to hit it close on a consistent basis. So
for me, obviously, to stay within the lines, that's so important. I
know I got lucky on a couple of, you know, balls, which could have
changed the momentum. But in the end, maybe they're not that lucky
after all because I hit them so many times. But I am also a little surprised how well I'm already playing in the beginning of the rounds here in Wimbledon. Q.
McEnroe suggested on the commentary that you gave Tim a game in the
final set because you didn't want him to lose 6 Love. Is that true? ROGER FEDERER: You believe him? Q. He said you're a classy guy; you wouldn't want your opponent to lose bad. ROGER FEDERER: No, that's not true, no. Q. Who do you see as your major threat in this tournament? ROGER
FEDERER: Uhm, well, Lleyton and Andy still for me are the main
favorites because of their experience on grass. I mean, Andy has been
in the finals twice, semis once. Lleyton has won it here. Nalbandian is
always good, you know, for a surprise. I don't know how well his ab is.
I guess it's okay if he's playing and winning. Then Nadal, you never
know. So there's a few outsiders as usual, but I would think that Lleyton and Andy have the best chance to do well. Q.
Tim said that at the end of the year he's going to decide whether to
play on. Obviously, I know it's his choice, his decision. Would you
like to see him sort of stay within the game? Do you think he still has
something to offer the tour? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I think he
should stay in the game. I'd be very surprised if this would be his
last Wimbledon. That's just my point of view. Look, I mean,
he's got family. He's married. He's had a great career. So it's his
choice, you know. My opinion, I think he can easily still play another
year. So you can cut down a few tournaments, you know, you play the
ones you really like and you can add a few more years to your career.
That's sort of my that's what I suggest really. But, look, there's
nothing to do. It's his life. Q. You were asked yesterday
about the grass court streak record. Are you focusing on adding more to
that or has your focus shifted to the championships here at Wimbledon? ROGER
FEDERER: Actually, both matches I didn't think of the streak. I guess
that's pretty good. Means I'm concentrating on everything. No, I mean,
I was so focused with the players I played because they were so tough.
I really expected really difficult matches. Even prepared to lose in a
way, obviously. So those things with the streak, they actually
only come later when I sit here or when I'm at home watching TV and
they talk about it. But it's not really in the back of my mind
constantly, no. Q. The other day you mentioned that the prize
money discrepancy was not that big a deal, it was very small, so you
didn't really see the big issue. Today, Tony Blair made a statement
that the prize money should be equal. As you hear things like that and
some of the players on the women's tour say things, do you see any
difference maybe in terms of a symbolic gesture that the Wimbledon
officials might make, or do you still see it that it's just not that
big a difference? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, if the
difference is so small, might as well make it equal. Make it simple,
you know, I think. Look, I would have no problems it being equal prize
money, honestly. Q. Do you feel that you're playing the best
you've played? You've played several Wimbledons now, reached first
round, second round. Do you feel this is the best you've played at this
stage of the Wimbledon tournament? ROGER
FEDERER: Maybe, yeah. I would think so. In beating two such great
players so convincingly, I think it definitely gives you the feeling
that you're playing very well. I have the feeling I'm playing
excellent. And that is, for me, you know, good to know. I don't need to
fight for rhythm or fight for this or that; it's all here already. I'm
happy that there's no fatigue. I was a little worried coming from
Halle, French Open, the whole trip, that I might be a little tired
coming into the tournament. But don't feel anything of that. So it's
all good, and feeling great really. Q. Did you feel you had to raise your game to come out against Henman today? ROGER
FEDERER: Yes. Uhm, well, actually, it's really difficult to play
against him because you know that every ball that lands he's going to
attack and come in. That always keeps you playing aggressive yourself.
Obviously, he makes you, you know, you go for too much sometimes, you
go too close to the lines, you know. Especially with the crowd,
you know, supporting him, that can give him so much confidence that
it's so dangerous to play against him. You know, the way he
moves, the way he maneuvers the ball around the court, you just see
he's played so much on grass and he's so comfortable on it. He knows
when to play what shot. That makes it really difficult. That's why, for
me, it was very difficult to play against him even though I came out on
top and convincingly on top. But it's really difficult to play against
him. I've had that difficulty throughout my whole career against him. Q. What were you thinking in the second set? You were racing through it and when you finished 6 Love, were you surprised? ROGER
FEDERER: It goes so quick, you know. You're just really happy that you
can break him once, then break him twice, and that you're sort of
pretty much through the set. You know, there's just this
constant pressure when you play Tim. It's always on you. You always
want to get a good start in your own service games. Against him, you
always hope you get a chance, too. It's just constant pressure, like I
said, with the fans and playing him. Q. There was a stat the
other day saying that you went from 70% serving and volleying to 14%
last year. Do you have any comment on that? ROGER FEDERER: I guess I improved my baseline game (smiling), and my volleying is nonexistent. No,
I don't know. Look, it came it's an evolution throughout the years I've
done. I came to the conclusion for me, for my game, it was better to
stay back a little bit more often. What started for me, I think if more
guys would be serving and volleying these days, I would be serving and
volleying more often, too. So often I play the game my opponent plays
and I want to beat them at their game. It happens also that I play more
from the baseline. It's kind of funny, but that's how my game works. Q. Were you surprised Tim Henman didn't serve and volley more against you in this match? ROGER
FEDERER: No, I was surprised how much he did actually in the beginning.
I knew he would do it more often against me than against Soderling. I
knew that he's gonna change a few things. I was quite surprised how
often he serve and volleyed early on. In the end, he didn't serve so
well anymore so it didn't allow him to. But more or less surprised he
did so much. Q. Everyone seems to agree you have the best game in tennis. Why would you change it to play an opponent on their terms? ROGER
FEDERER: Uhm, I've always been doing that my whole career. Basically,
if a guy plays from the baseline, I play, too, from the baseline. If he
plays from the net, I also come to the net. It's just something about
it. But, uhm, why? I don't know. That's just me. Q.
You started playing more from the back and coming in the second set
because the conditions, the grass are different now. Can you talk about
the evolution of the conditions since when you played as a junior here.
How do you feel? ROGER FEDERER: I mean, I didn't serve and
volley once in Juniors '98 in my match in the finals. So what can I
say? Don't quite remember how quick it was back then. Don't know. You
have to ask guys who still veterans, really, over 30 now who played
here for 10, 15 years. I remember Wayne Ferreira telling me one time he
used to serve and volley first and second serve, in the end he had to
consider if he's gonna serve and volley on the first serve. I don't
know how that happened, if it's true the conditions the players return
better, the grass got slower, the balls got slower. I don't know what
it is. But I think baseline tennis on grass is actually also pretty
exciting. Q. How should an opponent play if they want to play your game? ROGER FEDERER: What do you mean by that? Q. You said you play their game. If they want to use the same tactic, how should they play? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I wait for them first. Just don't play (smiling). Q. Agassi was talking here yesterday. He was asked who did he think would win, yourself or Sampras, if you met here at Wimbledon in a finals. Who do you think would win, yourself or Sampras? The US Open, excuse me. ROGER
FEDERER: The US Open? I don't know. I guess him. I don't know. He did
more in his career than I did. We only played once, so that was a very
close match. But I would love to play him more often. But, look, it's
the way it went. I'm happy I did play him once. That was my first time
on Centre Court. Who knows, maybe we play an exhibition against each
other and we can see who's better. That's fair. Q. Andre has
said more than once that on a tennis court you do more than any other
player that he's seen, and that is quite a comment. How does that make
you feel? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, Andre has been very
kind in saying nice things about me. I appreciate that very much. I can
only return the favor and say many good things about him, you know, how
great he was for the game and still is, what an incredible job he has
done, you know, through his charity and everything off the court. You
know, he's a very fair player since I came on tour at least. That's
when I can talk about it. There's always been very fair play on the
court. Nice off the court. I appreciate it very much, I was surprised
how many compliments he gave me because we don't know each other that
well after all. But it's very nice. Q. A lot of expectation on you in this tournament. Do you feel pressure through that? ROGER FEDERER: No (smiling). Q. Not at all? ROGER FEDERER: Well, the pressure comes from within, you know, myself to do well and everything. But that's nothing new really. Q. And the press, place any pressure on you? ROGER FEDERER: Uhm, so far it's been all right (smiling).
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