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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Roland Garros First Round
By Roland Garros Official Site
R. FEDERER/M. Russell 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
Q. Congratulation your first win. ROGER FEDERER: Thank you. Q. (No microphone).
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean it's not easy. It's tough for everybody, I
think, with the conditions, you know. It's kind of cool today, windy,
been raining the last few days, so we haven't been having much of a
chance to hit much tennis balls, you know. But I was in a
comfortable position going into today again, you know, which kind of
was a good position to be in, and I play okay, you know. I think I
served well. I didn't get much chance on the serve, and from the
baseline, I played well when I had to. So it was a good opening match
for me. Q. Just a few years ago when you
were beginning to dominate, people were sort of lamenting the fact that
you didn't have a great opponent as in, you know, a bold top rivalry.
You've got that now. Are you happy about that or would you have
preferred to just go on and continue dominating the way you were?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, I think I've had great challenges over the
years, you know, with Lleyton and Agassi and Roddick and Safin and,
now, Nadal. So I mean, I've had a bunch. Nalbandian also, I had a few
great matches even though he wasn't the No. 1 and won slams. But I've
had a bunch of guys I've had good rivalries with and not just Nadal.
We're the only guys who have been winning grand slams the last couple
of years, so obviously there's much talk about our rivalry right now.
But I think there's many other players. Q. Not
to bring up an unhappy moment, but when you lost to Kuerten here, do
you remember you were having a lot of trouble with your foot work, it
seemed to me, and I think you expressed that at the time. What overcame
that? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I don't know if it was much to do
with the foot work I lost, you know. I just still think he was the
better player, you know, at that point on clay. Very experienced top
player. He was serving really well, you know making many returns, and
it's just hard for me, you know, to kind of get into the groove. It was
a very nice day, you know. It was sort of a slippery court and he
handled it better. And we had maybe a bit of a similar game,
you know, but he was better on the day. So that's why I lost and, you
know, I never really got into the match. It wasn't even a big
disappointment. I just thought he was way better on the day. Q. You've got a clay streak now? ROGER FEDERER: What's that? Q. You've got a clay streak now. ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it's good. You've got to start somewhere, huh? Could have started in Hamburg. Q. If you're playing Nadal in final, what kind of match do you think it could be?
ROGER FEDERER: Not quite there yet, so I'm thinking of my next round
opponent. Of course it would be a dream for all of us, you know, to be
playing against each other. And then obviously depends how you play
until you get there. But we are not there, so it doesn't matter.
Q. Another name coming up more and more is Novak Djokovic, and you've
played him a few times. He hasn't beaten you, but can you sort of
deconstruct his game a little bit? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I
played him first up in Monaco last year. It was one of his -- he had to
qualify there, and people were asking me what I thought, you know. And
I wasn't too impressed, to be honest. But I still thought, you know, he
was okay. I didn't play a good match, I remember, and I was really
surprised about his progress, you know. Now I think he's a very good
player. He could really improve his serve. From the baseline, he's
steady; plays aggressive on both sides. I didn't see that coming at all
in a way, you know, because I thought he would be a good junior.
But, you know, it's gonna be tough maybe to break the top 10,
especially so early. But he did definitely prove me wrong anyway, and I
think he's doing an incredible job now and playing very consistent on
all surfaces. Q. He's pretty outspoken. Is that something that rubs you the wrong way a little bit at times?
ROGER FEDERER: No, I mean we had one issue at Davis Cup, you know. That
was it. That was solved. He came up and spoke to me in Madrid in the
locker room and after that everything was okay again.
Q. How about the rain here? Would you like to see in this tournament a
roof like in Australia and maybe couple years in Wimbledon?
ROGER FEDERER: I'm always for having the option you know. Look, the TVs
and fans come to the stadium and plan a day at Roland Garros, for
instance, they would be so happy to see us play no matter what
conditions. They are outside, you know. So that's why
Australia is so good, you know. They always have the opportunity. The
same with Hamburg, you know. Other tournaments have it, too. Wimbledon
is, I mean, making a big step forward, in my opinion, and I think it
would be good for every tournament to have something like this. I know
budget doesn't always allow it, but I would guess this tournament has
the cash, so it should not be a problem. THE MODERATOR: French questions.
Q. You recently defeated Rafael Nadal. Does it change something in the
way you approach the match in terms of your expectations at Roland
Garros? ROGER FEDERER: It's certainly an advantage because I
defeated him on all surfaces. It means I'm able to do it. So when I
play against him, I mean, I'm more confident. So after Rome, I had to
react and I had to do a good tournament in Hamburg, and it's always
good for me to win a tournament on clay. And it hasn't been the case
the past two years because of Nadal, so I'm very happy. I feel well on
clay and I played enough matches in the run up to Roland Garros and
that's very important to me. Q. What about your impressions about the match you've just played? Can you reflect on that.
ROGER FEDERER: It's a correct match. I mean, I served well and I played
well. I didn't take -- give lot of opportunities to my opponent. He's
not very tall. And I was able to return his serve and I was able to
break him and it was a solid performance. It was not an extraordinary
match, but it was quite difficult because of the weather conditions, as
I said. I mean, I wasn't familiar with this opponent because
I've never played against him, but it was not easy. So that's why I'm
very happy with my performance today. Q. Do you think that you got off to a good start?
ROGER FEDERER: Yes, perfect. I mean, the three sets, it's not easy
given the weather conditions. Tomorrow I'm gonna play again, so I'm
really happy. Q. A couple of words about your next opponent, Thierry Ascione. Are you familiar with him?
ROGER FEDERER: I think I played against him in Bercy for the first
round. I think it was 6-1, 6-1, if I can remember well. I haven't seen
him for quite a long time. I don't know where he was. Maybe he took
part in other tournaments. But he won convincingly his match.
So I played against him as part of an exhibition match, and we played
on center court. And he has a good serve, a good backhand. He's a
French guy, so it means that it's gonna be a very interesting match.
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