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Friday, 30 June, 2006
Wimbledon Third Round
By ASAP Sports
R. FEDERER/N. Mahut 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: Roger Federer for you.
Q. A straightforward win today. Did you feel a little flat out there on the court? ROGER FEDERER: No, I didn't. THE MODERATOR: Next question. Q.
You mentioned yesterday that you're trying to play your opponent's
game. Mahut seemed to try and serve and volley quite a bit. You didn't
seem to come in? ROGER FEDERER: He's doing the extreme, serve
first and second serve. I don't have that much of a powerful serve
after all. I'd rather hit constant forehand winners from the baseline.
I actually quite enjoy that. Yeah, so that was the reason I didn't do
it. I definitely could have did it a little bit more often, but I
realized early on that I actually wanted to be the dominant player from
the baseline, whenever there's a rally from the baseline, that I'm in
command. So for this reason I tried to stay back a little bit more
often, and it worked. It was a tricky match. It was really difficult. Q. How did you find his service action? He seemed to throw very big serves at you. ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, it was I mean, I expected a big serve, you know,
but I didn't expect that big of a second serve. That was really what
was difficult for me. Obviously, had many, many points that were over
in no time, and you don't really get a momentum going. So the crowd
obviously, you know, they're waiting for something to happen. Nobody
really had too many chances on each of the other serves. That made it
kind of difficult to play him. I knew I had to wait for my chance. I
was actually pretty relaxed all the way through. I think that was
pretty important, actually not getting frustrated against a player like
this. Q. Was getting broken, serving for the match at the end, a lapse of concentration? ROGER
FEDERER: Don't know. I mean, I could have maybe served a bit better
early on in the game so I don't get down in the game. But, uhm, you
know, it just happened. I don't know. I have to see maybe the game once
more. Yeah, I wonder why it happened. But, look, thank God I bounced
back well and broke him straightaway. I think that was quite important
actually. Q. Wimbledon is known to be one of the conservative
tournaments on the tour. It's being criticized on a few issues like
equal pay and the seeding system, being unwilling to change. Yet it
remains probably the tournament most players want to win. Can you say a
few words about what makes the tournament special to you? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I mean, it's been around for so long, you know. It's
always been at the same place. It's always been on this surface. It's
always been white. It's not so easy to change things here. I totally
understand that because this is sort of, I think, where it sort of
started, you know. So, you know, to change things makes it really hard.
But I think they're more open now than ever, you know, to talk about
different things. I think that's also important. You know, the roof was
unthinkable a few years ago. Now they're doing that. You could play
sleeveless now. All this stuff, it wasn't possible before. Before it
was only collar neck. I guess that's gone, too, now. They're evolving.
They're not sleeping like maybe you think they are. Q. With
these sort of matches, are you playing pretty much at the top of your
game or is there an element of trying to pace yourself through the
tournament, just using as much energy as you need, both mental and
physical? ROGER FEDERER: Well, you know how it is against
players like today. Basically you don't have too much to say, what your
level of play is. The only time you can ever talk about it is really on
your own service game because this is when you are in charge, otherwise
it's always him, you know, deciding what's going to happen. He's taking
so many chances, he's coming to the net, so forth, so it doesn't really
allow you to play your game. You can't even say, I played good or bad.
Important in the end is that you didn't get broken, that you know you
won the match and stuff. So that's why these opponents are always very
tricky. You know, I enjoy the challenge, though, because you have so
few chances. It's at that particular moment where you want to be
playing well. I think that's what I did today. Once you're up, it's so
hard for them to keep that up and stay positive because they are, you
know, taking all the chances and not you. It's actually easier for me. Q.
Can it be frustrating playing someone who is throwing everything at
you, taking big swings and making some and not making others? ROGER FEDERER: Yes. Q. You say you have no rhythm. ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it can be very frustrating. Q. Did you feel like that today? ROGER FEDERER: No. Q. Players talk about the clay being faster and the grass being slower. You've played here since '97, '98. ROGER FEDERER: '98. Q. Is it your perception that the grass is different today than it was? ROGER
FEDERER: I was asked this the other day. You almost have to ask other
players who are older than me, who played the tour now for, I think, at
least 10 years because I remember '98, I won the Juniors here playing
from the baseline. I came here in '99, I still played from the
baseline. From 2001, 2000, I played a couple years where I came to the
net more often. After that, I stayed again more at the baseline. For
me, the conditions always seem pretty much similar. But you have to ask
really the other guys, you know, who said it was easy to serve and
volley here, and in the end they had to consider serve volleying on the
first serve at least. Things have definitely changed, I guess, but I
don't know why. Q. Across all surfaces have you noticed any sort of change since you came on the tour or not? ROGER
FEDERER: I think the indoors has gotten a little slower than it used to
be. I think clay's been pretty much similar because, yeah, there, I
mean, I think it's similar. So maybe the hard courts also have slowed
down. You don't have these American hard court tournaments which are
just unplayable from the baseline, unreturnable. Everywhere you sort of
get into the points. It's actually quite slow now. I think that's
definitely slowed down. Q. Speaking of players of the past, if
you could choose to play an imaginary match against one of the older
players, Borg, McEnroe, Becker, Lendl, whom would you choose? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, probably I'd like to play Boris because he was my idol
growing up. That was the guy who got me sort of into tennis really. So
obviously I think I would like to play against him. Q. Do you remember his first win here, where you saw it? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I did see it. I was very happy for him. Q. He's here. ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I know him well. I know he's here. Q.
Do you watch any of the highlights after the day's play on TV at your
home, keep an eye on the competition? Do you just focus 110 on your own
game and not watch any of your competitors play? ROGER
FEDERER: I enjoy watching other matches, ladies or men's. Obviously,
the men's a little more. I'm watching a fair bit of it, you know, but
not crazy because I also have another life. I also want to do something
else than just focus on tennis all the time. Going to the city, go
somewhere, do something else. Q. Nalbandian and Blake have gone today. Can you identify who your key rivals are at the moment? ROGER
FEDERER: I think my draw is pretty tough. It's been tough from the
early stages on. Next match will be difficult. It will be against
either Haas or Berdych. I think that is for me a very tricky match
already. I think if I would come through that, there's other good
players lying ahead. I actually don't look that far down the draw. That
would be semis, and we're not there yet. I think it's quite a tough
draw I have this year. Q. Do you think Roddick and Hewitt are still up there with you? ROGER
FEDERER: Lleyton Hewitt has been struggling to my surprise, but he came
through after all. That's what it's about in this game, coming through
no matter how. Q. How hard is it after having to stop play the
night before to come back and play the next day? Especially in Hewitt's
case, 2 2, come back and finish in a tiebreak like that? ROGER
FEDERER: You're not allowed to make any more mistakes like that. Back
against the wall. It's tough. I mean, what was it, 4 All in the fifth,
I think 15 30 or something. This is definitely the moment you don't
want to throw in a double fault. Usually you have margin. Moments like
this you don't. This really shows who can cope with pressure and who
cannot really.
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