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Monday, August 27, 2007
US Open First Round
By ASAP Sports
R. FEDERER/S. Jenkins
6-3, 6-2, 6-4
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Strong way to open up your US Open campaign. Comments on your match. ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I thought it was a good match, you know, tough match.
Didn't allow my opponent many chances on my serve. You know, I tried to
create as many as I could. I was serving well. Unfortunately for him he
double faulted quite a bit on breakpoints, which obviously helped. Put
myself in the position at least. From the baseline, was tough. He was
kind of controlling play. So I was just trying to keep the ball in
play. Yeah, it was a good opening match for me. Q. How would you assess your game this year relative to what it was last year at the US Open? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, pretty similar. You know, I mean, the surface is
obviously similar. I'm still pretty much the same player, you know.
Just, you know, got more matches under my belt. You know, maybe I
improved a little bit, you know, on a few things, you know, but you're
not going to change your game entirely. It's the fifth time I come
into the US Open as the Wimbledon champion, too, so obviously that
helps every time, as well. I'm happy where my game is, my fitness and
my mental part of the game. Those are the three components I need to
have right before this first match. Q. The kid from Florida, Jesse Levine, was talking about your time in Dubai. ROGER FEDERER: Was he happy? Q. He said he had a good time. ROGER FEDERER: Okay, good (smiling). Q. Said he went to lunch twice with you, but you didn't set him up at the seven star hotel. ROGER
FEDERER: I didn't stay there either. It was good fun, he came over. It
was a long way for him, too, to come all the way from Florida. And, you
know, not having a coach after Rome anymore, you know, I had to be well
organized, organized that he could come, and a guy from Lithuania,
Ricardas Berankis, I played with them. Also my doubles partner came for
the week. It was good fun. My Davis Cup captain helped me out.
Obviously beautiful weather, really hot. He plays well. Q. Are there specific things you were looking to work on with him being a left hander? ROGER
FEDERER: The funny thing was I didn't even know he was a lefty till he
took his racquet out of the bag. Oh, he's lefty. I had one lefty, two
righties there. It was good to mix it up a little bit. Q. Do
you think it's good for you to have this kind of games, easy on the
paper in the first round, or do you prefer more difficult? ROGER
FEDERER: I prefer easy, but that's me. Maybe other guys like five
setters in the first round. I like straight sets more. Some reason, I
don't know why (smiling). Q. What do you know about Althea Gibson? ROGER FEDERER: I don't know. You're putting me on the spot. I don't know what you're talking about. Q. She's being honored tonight. ROGER FEDERER: Nothing, to be honest. It's before my time. Isn't much I can really say about it. I don't know, I'm sorry. Q.
After the story line at Wimbledon, you're going for four here. Talk
about that accomplishment, the desire to go for four consecutive. ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, the four in a row, of course it would be kind of
special. But it's the US Open five, that was the big one. I was never
aiming for five at Wimbledon either. I was aiming for four here. Now
that people mention it, of course it would be nice to make it. I'm more
concentrated on the fact that I'm trying to defend my title really.
That's what it's about. It happens to be four so it's obviously more
special. I'm still at the very top of my game, No. 1 in the world. Just
from my first round, I'm feeling good. So chances are there. That's a
great thing. Hopefully I can make it. It would be very special
absolutely. Q. When you were asked on court about the fact
you've been No. 1 longer than any other man, and you said, And Steffi
Graf, got her, too. Was that a particular mark that you were after? ROGER
FEDERER: No, not at all. I didn't know what he meant, you know, because
I did it already many weeks ago. It was not something new, you know.
People knew about it. But since today, apparently, I'm No. 1 man and
woman. Maybe that's what he meant. Apparently he didn't know what he
was talking about. Anyway, that's what I understood. Q. You also say your best friend on the tour is Tim Henman. Did you inspire from him? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, I think the way he goes at work, I never had a
bad practice with Tim. They've all been good. He's always so into it,
but with the fun side next to it. Always very sportsmanship like on the
tennis court during matches. Yeah, I always enjoyed playing against
him, spending time with him. Of course, he was older, so I always
looked up to him, as well. For this reason, it's obviously a pity that
he's leaving the game. Q. When you invite to come hit with
you and practice with you, are you just looking for a general workout,
or are there very specific shots that you have in mind to work with
with a certain player? ROGER FEDERER: Doesn't matter what kind of practice? If it's just a warmup? Q. In Dubai, if you invite someone to come hit with you. ROGER
FEDERER: No, it's just to hit. I don't like to call them sparring
partners. Always the media like to say that, because I'm better so they
think anybody is a sparring partner. That's not the way it is. These
guys, they're playing on the professional tour. In a year's time maybe
they're ranked totally elsewhere. So it's about putting an entire
season together so the ranking follows. But honestly, no, I never
practice with somebody who then I could say this is exactly what I want
him to play like. I just want to be able to have a guy that's steady
off the baseline who I can play points with. You can always play points
with many guys, you know. They can be ranked No. 500, 1000 in the
world, it's no problem. Q. What is useful about Dubai as a place for you to practice? Is it weather related? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, never rains, which is a good thing, because I can
practice on a hard court. In Switzerland we struggle with outdoor hard
courts. You never know when the rain. Yeah, what else? I can really
concentrate on tennis over there. I have no distractions, whereas in
Switzerland maybe I still have so many friends, families, I want to do
things. I'm maybe not there to really focus on tennis, whereas in Dubai
it's totally different. Maybe, as well, you have the beach. If you want
to go, have a day off, like an afternoon off, you can even go to the
beach, take it easy. It's just a good feeling in Dubai for me to
practice. Q. If you make it to the finals, have you invited Tiger Woods to join you? ROGER
FEDERER: I think he's playing a tournament this year. I haven't spoken
to him. No news that he's going to come to the finals. Q. Tiger is in town tomorrow, in New York. He hasn't made any indications he's coming to watch the match? ROGER FEDERER: I think he's only coming here tomorrow and I'm not playing. He's coming to New York, yeah. Q. Have you gotten any reassurances on Hawk Eye since the disputed call at Wimbledon? Are you happy? ROGER
FEDERER: No, I'm not happy. I will never be (smiling). So, no, I mean,
nobody spoke to me after what happened at Wimbledon. I don't care
honestly. Q. In Dubai Levine was saying it was so hot you couldn't play till about 5 p.m. Is that pretty much your routine there? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, we had to. I mean, it was fun. When he arrived, I was
still only hitting for maybe one and a half, two hours a day. I
thought, okay, we'll do it a bit earlier. The nights are kind of
normal, you can go for dinner around 7 or 8. It was so hot around 3 or
4 I had to move the practices back. He only thinks it was for him, but
it was for me, too (smiling). It was really hot and we always practiced
into the sunset. It was much better then. Then I just did the four
hours in a row instead of doing, you know, two hours at the end of the
day. Q. 5 to 9, then go to dinner? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, basically. Well, he was so tired so he would do his room service and I would just go to bed as well.
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