Aug 30, 2004 from Reuters:
NEW YORK - World number one Roger Federer overcame a sticky start to launch his U.S. Open campaign with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Spain's Albert Costa on Monday. The Swiss, bidding to become the first man to win three grand slam titles in the same year since Mats Wilander in 1988, lost his opening service game to the former French Open champion.

Costa, who had beaten Federer in their previous two meetings, looked capable of an upset but a double-fault gifted his opponent a scrappy first set. Federer, looking to improve on a mediocre U.S. Open record, waltzed through the second set although Costa did offer some resistance in the third. He broke Federer's serve at 3-5 but immediately lost his own as Federer rifled a forehand winner to seal victory in two hours and four minutes.

Aug 26, 2004 from Mediaweek.com:
As the official kick-off to the 2004 U.S. Open Tennis Championships, CBS Sports will broadcast Arthur Ashe Kids Day this Sunday, Aug. 29 from 1-2:30 p.m. ET. Tennis stars slated to participate in this exhibition include Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Bob and Mike Bryan. Also featured will be musical performances by JoJo and Gavin DeGraw. MTV VJ Quddus will host.

Aug 25, 2004 from Maurice Lacroix Official Site:
After a successful launch event at the Swiss Open in Gstaad to launch the close partnership between Maurice Lacroix and Roger Federer throughout Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, Maurice Lacroix USA organized a second official event before the US Open in New York. The location selected was a renowned, private, traditional tennis club in the heart of New York City. It was held to make the official announcement about the partnership and bring the similarities between Roger Federer and Maurice Lacroix to the forefront: Perfection, quality, and precision in the art of watch making and in tennis, dedication and a passion for details.

Maurice Lacroix USA could land a great coup securing James Lipton, host of the Emmynominated “Inside the Actors Studio” to moderate the “in conversation” session with Federer, Philippe C. Merk, CEO Maurice Lacroix, and Stuart S. Sklar, Director of Maurice Lacroix USA. Journalists attending this “conversation” lauded it as one of the most unique press events they had encountered in recent times.

Aug 17, 2004 from AP:
ATHENS - Roger Federer crashed out in the second round of the Olympic tournament Tuesday night, losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

Federer was undone by poor serving and a string of unforced errors. The Swiss star, who looked sluggish, was broken by the 74th-ranked Berdych in the last game of the match. Federer handily took the opener, breaking to 3-2 then simply holding serve to take the set.

But the No. 1 started to struggle in the second, unable to gain control of the game. The vocal Czech crowd was stunned when Berdych scored four consecutive points to break Federer's serve for the 5-3 advantage. The Swiss managed to break back immediately but the wobble still appeared to dent his confidence. The Czech capitalized on several rookie mistakes by Federer to break at 6-5, with the Swiss surrendering the set with another of many double faults.

Aug 16, 2004 from AFP:
ATHENS - Roger Federer of Switzerland opened his Athens Olympic tennis campaign with a surprisingly difficult three-set win over Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. Federer won 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in 1hr 45min.

The wind did not seem to affect him as he won the first three games and went on to take the first set 6-3 but after recovering from 0-3 in the second he lost the set 5-7 when he lost the last three games. The powerful Swiss needed to find a little more consistency to kill off the Russian in the third. The 23-year-old Russian has played Federer twice before and each time he forced the Swiss into three sets.

Aug 15, 2004 from Athens 2004 Olympic Games Official Site:
ATHENS - Comments from Roger Federer (SUI), who plays Doubles with Yves Allegro (SUI)

On the surface: "The surface is similar to the US Open, but the conditions, like the heat, resemble more to the ones in the Australian Open. It's not a good combination of balls and surface. That's why one has to come earlier, to adapt better to the conditions."

from Reuters:
ATHENS - Roger Federer admits he has been surprised at the speed of the hardcourt at the Olympic tennis tournament and believes it will narrow the gap between the top players and the rest of the field.

With leading players Lleyton Hewitt, Guillermo Coria and 1996 Olympic champion Andre Agassi absent, the men's singles gold looks likely to come down to a fight between the Swiss world number one and second seed Andy Roddick.

Federer is not so sure. "There are lots of players who won't be nice to play against on this surface as it is so fast," the 23-year-old told reporters. "My first practice was not so good. I felt the ball was flying, it bounces very high and I had to get used to it. It's going to be very hard you know. Maybe a few guys are missing like Agassi, Hewitt, Coria and some others, but the rest are here."

Ominously for his rivals, though, the Swiss added: "However, now I've played many hours on the court and I feel good. The last few practices were much better. I have started to find my rhythm."

Amelie Mauresmo has compared the blue hardcourt at the Olympic Tennis Centre to the surface at the Australian Open - a good omen for Federer who won his first grand slam of the year in Melbourne. Federer opens up against Russian Nikolay Davydenko on Monday. The Russian is ranked 56 in the world and will be no pushover.

Aug 9, 2004 from Reuters:
The world's finest sports men and women play by the same rules in the Olympic village, regardless of earning power or fame. Whether you are swimmer Ian Thorpe, American athlete Gail Devers or tennis's world number one Roger Federer, queuing is normal practice to buy a stamp, shop for toiletries or get a turn at the Internet cafe.

In Athens, the village takes up 306 acres and there are 2,292 apartments providing a total of 17,428 beds. "It is concrete proof that we keep the promise we made in 1997, that athletes will be the focus of our efforts," ATHOC president Gianna Angelopoulos said.

Aug 8, 2004

Aug 5, 2004 from Eurosport:
Roger Federer had persuaded Peter Carter to take the safari holiday in South Africa, when the accident happened. "Peter is still very strong in my heart and my memories," Federer said. "I still can't get over what happened."

The pair first began to work together when Federer was 12-years-old and continued with the Swiss until 2001 when he organised for Carter to captain the Davis Cup team.

"It has been very hard for me to go through this. I have not lost anyone else close to me. I had never been to a funeral before, so it was a big shock. I still think of him every day. And, whenever I win, particularly big matches (like the Wimbledon final), I'm thinking of him for sure."

Carter was waiting his Swiss nationality when the accident happened, having married a Swiss and settled in Basel. Carter's best friend Darren Cahill, who coaches Andre Agassi, comforted Federer at the memorial service.

Aug 3, 2004 from AP:
Ohio - Roger Federer had his 23-match winning streak stopped in a first-round upset Tuesday. Federer lost a second-set tiebreaker to former doubles partner Dominik Hrbaty and couldn't recover, falling 1-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 in the Tennis Masters Cincinnati. The world's top player hadn't lost in the first round since the 2003 French Open.

Federer's winning streak was the longest on the men's tour since Pete Sampras ran off 24 in a row in 1999. He had won his last four tournaments, including Wimbledon, and eight overall this season. He appeared to be well on his way to a 24th win as he tore through the first set in 21 minutes. But as the temperature climbed into the mid 80s, Federer faltered and Hrbaty started his comeback.

Hrbaty, who was Federer's doubles partner in 2000, won the 56-minute second set, then broke Federer to go up 5-4 for the only break of the third set. He served out the match. Hrbaty now has six career wins over No. 1 players, starting with an upset of Sampras at the 1997 Australian Open.

from Reuters:
Runaway world number one Roger Federer has clinched a berth in the Tennis Masters Cup Houston, the earliest qualification for the year-end championships since the ATP was founded in 1990, tennis chiefs said on Tuesday. Federer is playing in Cincinnati this week, bidding to become the first player in history to win three consecutive ATP Masters Series titles, and the first player to win four in a year.

"I'm very happy to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup for the third time in succession," Federer said on Tuesday. "I always play well at the Tennis Masters Cup and last year's title was one of the best tournament wins of my career. The top eight players will be competing and I look forward to defending my title."

"We all marvel at Federer's remarkable form that has resulted in this unprecedented early qualification," the ATP's Mark Miles said. "Tennis fans throughout the world are not only thoroughly enjoying watching Roger's style and superb level of play, but they are also witnessing the emergence of one of the greatest champions in tennis' history."

Aug 2, 2004 from The Globe and Mail:
TORONTO - Roger Federer played with the awesome lightness of being tennis's supreme player, but also with a heavy heart yesterday, when he defeated Andy Roddick to win the Tennis Masters Canada title. Two years ago while in Toronto, after losing in the first round to eventual champion Guillermo Canas, the Swiss player learned that the primary influence on his tennis career, Peter Carter, had been killed in a vehicle accident in South Africa.

Carter had coached Federer from his earliest days in tennis until his late teens, before passing him on to Peter Lundgren due to additional responsibilities with the Swiss tennis federation. Federer, who wore a black shirt for the final, experienced a flood of emotions yesterday.

"It's special to have won on the [Swiss] national day," the world's No. 1 said, "but for me, it's kind of a bittersweet moment because my former coach died two years ago. On this day, I got the news. This victory is really for him because I still think about him every day. It was a hard moment and to have won here two years later is nice."

Aug 1, 2004 from AFP:
TORONTO - Roger Federer captured his eighth title of 2004 and earned himself a spot in the tennis record books alongside Bjorn Borg with a title at the Masters Series. Federer needed less than 90 minutes to defeat Roddick 7-5, 6-3, duplicating his Wimbledon finals victory over the American.

The win left Federer with a 57-4 record for the season, including 23 match wins in a row. He also became the first player since Borg in 1979 to win three titles in a row on three different surfaces - grass, clay and hardcourt. In his four-tournament winning streak, Federer's last three came at Wimbledon (grass), Gstaad (clay) and Toronto.

The world number one broke Roddick in the last game of the opening set and twice in the second to seal his superiority. All of the four break points he faced were saved with aces. Three of those came in the ninth game of the opening set, when Federer fired three aces in a row to get himself out of a jam and hold for 5-4.

Trailing 5-6, Roddick saved one set point with a leaping volley, but on Federer's second set point Roddick sent a forehand long. Roddick's frustration was evident after a set full of 20 unforced errors, the American bouncing his racket so hard on the court it landed in a sideline photo pit.

"Andy, I'm sorry you didn't win another final," Federer said during the post-match ceremonies. "But in the future I'm sure we'll play many, many more great matches and you'll get your fair share of them."