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Sunday, 24 June, 2007
Wimbledon Pre-Event
By Wimbledon Official Site
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: A great pleasure in presenting our reigning men's Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer. Q. Is Centre Court still Centre Court without the roof? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, I can really tell you more after the first
match. But it looks different than the previous years, there's no
doubt. It's much more bright. Yeah, the roof's kind of missing. So,
yeah, it's definitely going to play different for sure, too. More wind
being able to come into the stadium. But I think the atmosphere is
going to stay unique, you know, because here at Wimbledon the center
courts are always sold out. So happy when Wimbledon comes around, same as the players. So I think the atmosphere will be very, very nice. Q. Not having played Halle this year, how different do you feel coming into the tournament without any matches on grass? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I feel more rested, of course, because I had more days
off. But then at the same time missing matches maybe a little bit.
That's why the early round is obviously very important. That is always
the same, no matter if I play before or not. You just want to come
through the first couple of rounds then hopefully start playing well. So,
yeah, in practice I'm hitting the ball fine. Transition to grass is
always very easy for me because it feels so natural. But I am very
confident looking ahead of the next two weeks. Q.
As usual you're coming in here with some big streaks on the line,
48-match streak on grass, trying to tie Borg. Can you comment what that
feels like coming into the tournament? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, it's always fantastic to be able to break
records or match them, especially when it comes to Bjorn Borg I'm
always very excited, because I think he was one of the most wonderful
players we ever had in the game. Yeah, it's a
very ironic story actually that I beat Sampras' record, when he was
going for five, at the US Open, two months later he called me up and
thanked me for breaking Sampras' streak, keeping his alive, and now I'm
going for Borg's record. It's ironic, but I've heard he's happy if I would tie it up. We're still very far away from that. Have to stay concentrated. Q. Have you had contact with Borg lately? ROGER FEDERER: Last year, in the stands at the Dubai final. Q. You talk about breaking all the records, 48 matches on grass, something like that. ROGER FEDERER: You guys know. Q. Do you feel invincible on this surface? Could you say that? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I mean, it's been so long that I lost that of course you
start to feel particularly strong on it. At the same time there's not
50 matches a year on this surface. You're
always come into grass court season not knowing how you're going to
play. Especially grass is played on a couple points here or there. It's
even more fascinating for me to see I've come through so many times
over the past few years. But it is a very
dangerous surface, like I said. You can be upset by almost anybody, any
round. Many probably cannot win the tournament here, but can upset the
best. That's the most dangerous part in the early rounds here. Q.
Apart from the usual suspects, who else have you seen in the draw you
think maybe you need to be careful about them? What other names could
be a danger to you? ROGER FEDERER: Not
speaking about me particularly, but maybe more in terms of who could
win the tournament. I guess Djokovic has been playing very well. You
will expect him to make a run here. If Andy's in form, I think he's in
good shape, as well, because I think grass is one of his best surfaces.
Then you have many other players. I haven't studied the draw enough yet
to really tell you. Q.
We saw you at the French Open doing a bit of karaoke. If you won five
times at Wimbledon, any chance you'd do it again? Would you pick the
same tune, Simply the Best? ROGER FEDERER:
They gave me a couple to choose off. I'll do Simply the Best, whatever.
Yeah, I mean, that was more fun for TV. All the players did it. We
already did something last year. I said, Okay, might as well sing now
this year. Wimbledon, I don't think I'm going to do that kind of thing. I have never done karaoke actually. Q. Have you had a chance to walk out to Centre Court and see what it's like without the roof? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I went into the Royal Box when I was here like nine days
ago when I arrived on the first day. I walked through the clubhouse,
walked in the Royal Box quick, just looked down. Yeah,
I mean, it did feel like it was under construction to a point because
you haven't seen the Wimbledon Centre Court this way forever, I guess.
But it's going to change for next year, so I guess it's a bit of a
transition period. I don't know how much it's
going to play different really. Like I said, the wind is maybe going to
make a bit of an effect on the way we play. Maybe it's harder to keep
the ball in play because of the wind. We'll see. I can tell you really more tomorrow. Q. Would it be nice to be the first player to win Wimbledon 'al fresco'? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I was very happy to have been the last to win Wimbledon
under the old conditions at Wimbledon. I was very proud of that last
year. Q. I
know you're a big sports fan of all types. Can you tell us about the
Swiss team in the America's Cup? You've been out with the team. ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, I know Bertarelli. Of course, I was following
very strongly Alinghi when they won last time around in New Zealand. When
I was practicing in December in Dubai they were practicing, as well. I
could see them always going out onto the water and go practice. I
briefly met Bertarelli. Invited me on the boat as well. Went for a race, the old boat against the new boat. I was on the new boat and lost. Q. What was that like? ROGER
FEDERER: It was a lot of fun, and it was incredible to see the team
spirit and team effort it takes to maneuver the boat around. Yeah, it
looks totally different on TV than it is in life. So steep when they go on the side. It was really fast, so I was very impressed. Q. Did they actually do anything? ROGER FEDERER: No, I don't want to do anything there. Q. You decided not to play Halle this year. Can you talk us through that and can you talk about your movements since the French? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, it was obviously a tough call because of the
success I've had there over the last, what is it, seven years or so I
always played very well in Halle. If you're
superstitious, you would think I have to play Halle again and
everything. But I'm not that type of person. I have to look after my
health first. I felt my back and my groin, and I didn't want to take a
chance because the last two years were already difficult enough after
the semifinals of Paris and the finals of Paris last year as well. I
came into Halle feeling a lot of pain, and then going through five
consecutive matches, you know, I was in a lot of pain at the end of the
week. This week leading up to Wimbledon, I was so tired I could hardly
practice. I just wanted to do it differently this time around and not
take a chance so I'm really ready for Wimbledon. Yeah, I'm confident it was the right decision as well. Q. Since the French, can you tell us where you've been practicing? You said you arrived here nine days ago. ROGER
FEDERER: I went back to Switzerland, started kind of working out very
lightly again on Thursday and Friday. Then I flew to Wimbledon here on
Saturday. I've been here practicing every day on grass. Q. What kind of comparisons can you make between sailing and tennis? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I don't know. It's a sport. Yeah, I guess they don't get
that many opportunities like we do to do well. For them, they wait
three years to get the opportunity, so it's kind of a totally different
approach. But these guys are fit. They're
stronger than I am because they work the gym every day for two or three
hours in the early morning they told me, and you can tell. I don't do
that. Q. How do you relax, get away from the stresses of tennis off the court? ROGER
FEDERER: You know, a good schedule is important for me, you know, have
enough tennis in my life, have enough rest also to keep the fire
burning. When I get to a tournament, especially Grand Slams, you always
seem to have a bit more time with the day off. You
can have much more time if you want to watch a movie, if you want to
read a book, if you want to go to the city or catch up with some
friends. There's much more time to do that even though the tension
needs to stay up because you're still in the tournament. But I like to have a change, of course, not just always think about tennis. Q. What do you prefer to read and what are you reading right now? ROGER FEDERER: I usually read a lot of like documentaries, can you say that? Q. Biographies. ROGER FEDERER: Biographies. Q. Anyone in particular? ROGER FEDERER: Sportsmen I usually like. I would like to read a proper book, too, in the future. Q.
You mentioned the other day away from Halle you were at home in
Switzerland playing cards. What card games were you playing? Poker? ROGER FEDERER: We play a Swiss game. Q. Is that for matchsticks or for money? ROGER FEDERER: It's for the proud, to be proud. I'm not much of a money player, to be honest, off the court. Q. Are you as competitive in the card games as any game? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I like to win. Always disappointing when you lose. Q. Seeing Borg in Dubai, did you hit with him at all? ROGER
FEDERER: He was playing the Legends Rock Dubai, kind of an exhibition
match against McEnroe. I arrived on the night they were playing. I was
on the way to Shanghai, staying a few nights in Dubai. I
was like, That may be the only opportunity to ever play with Bjorn. I
needed to hit anyway. It would have been good to hit with somebody. I
asked somebody who knew Bjorn if he had time maybe that day or the next
day, because I assumed he was going to stick around Dubai because he
likes hanging around there. Asked him, let's
say it was a Tuesday, if he wanted to hit Tuesday at 10:00. Right away
he called me back, No problem; I'm ready. I was like so excited. He
asked if he could also bring Mansour Bahrami. I said, No problem. We
can hit, all three of us. I've played many exhibitions with Mansour. We
hit for about two hours. By the time we got to
the courts, I was a bit late, about 10 minutes, but he was already
hitting with Mansour. It was just incredible to see him play, then to
hit him was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. Q. Did he use a wooden racquet? ROGER FEDERER: No, he didn't. Q. Did you have a conversation then about what would be coming here at Wimbledon, the five in a row? ROGER
FEDERER: No, not really. I don't know what we spoke about. Just more in
general, you know, maybe what he's doing now, how I'm doing, just
talking about tennis a little bit. We were hitting most of the time. Q. What did you think of his ball striking? ROGER FEDERER: Very good. I was very impressed, yeah. Q. What is your strongest image of Borg when he was playing? What are the images that stay in your mind from his playing career? ROGER FEDERER: I kind of missed him, to be honest. I was born in '81. When is the last time he played here? '81. Q. You've obviously seen him on TV. What are the images that kind of Borg evokes for you? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I mean, I've seen his documentary on TV. I don't know
from whom and when it was. It was just interesting to see how popular
he made tennis, how successful he was. Without even trying to be in the
center of attention, he always was. His attitude on the court, always
so cool. Yeah, it was exactly the kind of guy
tennis needed at that time in tennis. He handled himself so well. He
was an interesting person, too. I think all that combination made him a
hero for many. Q. When you hit with Bjorn, were there any people there? Were many people watching? ROGER FEDERER: Like a couple of friends were there of mine. I don't know, three or four onlookers, that was it. Q. Could they believe what they were seeing? ROGER FEDERER: I didn't ask them. I guess it was a special moment. Q. Did you take it easy on him, or did you go flat out and give him a good hiding? ROGER
FEDERER: We were playing, the three of us. Kind of in the end we just
played some points, you know, two against one. Yeah, it was fun. God, I
couldn't believe it. Q. You still won, even though there were two against one? ROGER FEDERER: I don't know what happened. We only played a couple of games. It was just more for fun. It was good. Q. Would that be your dream final? I know it can never happen. You against Bjorn, Centre Court? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I guess him or Becker, Edberg. They were my heroes when
I was growing up. Put Bjorn ahead of them, I don't know if I could. I
was watching Becker and Edberg playing a lot when I was growing up. But
Borg probably, yeah, of all time, that would be a nice match to have
played. Q. Unveiling any new fashions this year? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I don't know, not on the court. Special items with the
jacket and the pants, a vest and everything. We got the whole thing
going this year, whereas last year we just had the jacket. Nike did
some incredible stuff. Q. You're going to bring that on the court? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, depend on my mood. I think I'll maybe walk on with it.
Seems like it's cool. It's actually good I got something warm to wear.
I don't know, maybe the press conference, just to walk around. I don't
know. We'll see. Q.
When Bjorn Borg said he wants you to win it for the fifth time, he
thinks that you will do it, what kind of feeling does that give you? ROGER
FEDERER: A very good feeling, yeah. Very happy to hear that he's happy
for me because I admire him a lot. I like it when former greats or
former players, you know, also admire what the present is doing right
now because sometimes it's hard for them to look and say or give us
more -- they like to give us less credit sometimes. I
like when somebody like Bjorn, somebody you trust, he doesn't speak
much, but when he speaks, people listen. It's nice to hear that he will
be happy for me, you know, tying the record. I heard he's coming for the final weekend. I hope I'll be there, too. Q. What keeps the fires burning? Is it setting records? ROGER
FEDERER: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm going from tournament to
tournament really. I try not to give myself like I want to break this
or that record. If that's going to happen, great. For me it's easier to
go from tournament to tournament. I have kind of a good schedule. Yeah,
you know, I love winning tournaments. I guess that's what it is in the
end, try to get in a tournament well-rested and be at a hundred percent
for the entire week, or two weeks. Q.
When you walk out tomorrow, is there a feeling of exhilaration arriving
back onto Wimbledon or is there ever a worry that it could be a
first-round surprise? ROGER FEDERER: Oh, the
worry has crossed my mind every single time. That is something that
belongs to tennis. You don't walk out maybe like a boxer and you're
like, I'm not going to get hit. I'm going to knock him out right away. I'm confident, you know, but still that crosses your mind. You don't want to be the one defending champion that loses first. But
of course, you know, I'm focused on the big pictures, trying to play
well. There's a huge excitement for me every time walking -- kind of
dressing up, then walking through the corridors, down on Centre Court,
seeing the pictures, the board on the left-hand side with the names,
see the trophy behind you. It's just an incredible walk. It gets you
totally excited about The Championships. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy tomorrow and hopefully play a good match on the court then. Q. Borg famously walked away from the game at a very young age. ROGER FEDERER: At my age he did, didn't he? Q. Do you think ever about how much longer you want to play, you will play? ROGER
FEDERER: Well, I mean, kind of makes you wonder, my God, when he walks
away at 25, 26, you're like, Such a pity. He could have played so much
more. But, then again, he was such a good teenager. You would think,
okay, maybe he had enough of tennis. For me I
always said loud and clearly my big goal is still to be coming back
here in 2012, playing the Olympics here at Wimbledon. That is still a
long way away. Then after that, we'll see where my health takes me.
That is definitely still something I would like to play.
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