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ROGERS CUP MENAugust 9, 2014Roger FedererTORONTO, ONTARIO R. FEDERER/F. Lopez THE MODERATOR: Tomorrow Roger will attempt to win his 80th career title, his third Rogers Cup title, as well. Let's get the first question. Q. How do you rate that performance, given that you seemed pretty dominating at least from our side? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I think I played extremely well in the first set. Really was able to make Feliciano overserve, overhit a little bit, as well, and make him feel the pressure from the baseline. Second set probably wasn't as good in quality but I got the break early. I think he was probably mentally also a bit tired this week. He's played a lot of good guys in the spell of a short period of time. Played one more match than I did and back‑to‑back three‑setters the last couple of nights. I think he was probably feeling it there. From my standpoint, I think I served well, I was aggressive, and I was able to really play the way I wanted to play tonight. I'm very happy. Q. Are you happy with the quality of the opponents that you have been facing this week, or does part of you feel like it would have been nice to test yourself against a Djokovic or Murray as you prepare for the US Open? ROGER FEDERER: No, I mean, I had a tough draw, as well. Some might always think otherwise because they think that certain players are not good players, you know, but if you're out there and you see the grind and you see how good these guys play, as well, and sometimes how maybe how free they play against better‑ranked players, I thought Cilic and Ferrer particularly did that against me. It was an extremely tough route to the final. Clearly the semis against Lopez opened the draw a little bit especially with the head‑to‑head I had against him. But other than that, no, I don't need to play any of these guys leading into the US Open. I have had a solid enough year that I know that if I do face them that I also have a chance to win, to beat them, really. Q. You mentioned at the start of the week about the courts being quite fast here. Do you think that explains some of the different names who have made good runs here? Is that something you welcome and enjoy yourself? ROGER FEDERER: I mean, I don't think it was as fast as Australia. I think Australia might have been a little bit faster. I'm not sure anymore. I think the balls were probably a bit more lively at the Australian Open. Could be a reason, you know. I always feel faster conditions put the field together a bit more. Just don't have so much margin. And if you tell me we're going to play on a super‑slow court, just feel even against a big server you'll have your chance eventually. On a faster court you just might go through two or three sets not seeing break points, or you might have a couple and they are just going to hit some service winners off it and it's going to be a frustrating day. And next thing you know you're 5‑All, 30‑All in the third and second serve and anything can happen at that point. So I feel faster courts definitely even things out a bit, and maybe that's one of the reasons, but then, as well, you know, you look at it individually. I think Tsonga played a great tournament so far, so he deserves to be there. Does it matter if it was faster or slower? I don't know. He can do that. We know that. And then Dimitrov against, you know, was in the section of Anderson, Stan, I think. Still early in the hard court season for some, so maybe that's also one of the reasons. Rafa not being here definitely changes things around a bit as well for everybody. Q. What are your thoughts on the match tomorrow with Tsonga? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, I'm happy for Jo that he's playing well again, I must say. He's struggled for some time. We're not talking major struggle like he can't play tennis anymore. He's been fit, which is important for him, No. 1, because he did have some major issues I think with his back and some other things. So I think it's good that he's physically in shape, and I think it was a matter of time that he got it all together again, especially in terms of confidence. So for him to beat Murray and Djokovic, and I don't know who else he beat, I think it's a really good effort for him and it's going to give him loads of confidence going into the finals and also the next few weeks and months. It's a big tournament for him now already, and this is now like a finals with less pressure, my opinion, for him. I think getting to the final was the hard part for him. Q. Do you still learn things about your game each time you go out on the court, Roger? ROGER FEDERER: Probably not quite, no. Not every day. I'd be joking if I say, Yeah, like, I totally learned something out of today's match. For me it was really a matter of going out there, doing what I have to do, and hope it's enough really. I knew that if I did perform, I had a very good chance of coming through. So today there was just no secrets. I've known Feliciano for over 15 years. We have played over 10 or 11 times now. What else is there to learn, really? It's just conditions that change sometimes from day to day. Q. You have played Tsonga a number of times. He has a few victories over you. What impressed you or what did he do well on the occasions when he did find a way to beat you? ROGER FEDERER: He beat me here in Canada too maybe once or twice. I'm not sure. So, yeah, I mean, I think he just can overpower guys, serve up a storm and then, you know, play really aggressive with his forehand and also be solid in his backhand. You think you're in a safe place sometimes in the rally, and he takes one step and, you know, just hits it and the point is over. He's one of the few guys besides Stan and other guys who are not the Big 4 sort of thing who can do that. That's why he's been in the top 10 for so long. Like I said, for him it's just really being physically fit, you know. The rest then sort of takes care of itself normally. He also is quite a big confidence player, because sometimes he does play with small margins because he does take huge cuts at the ball and sometimes this is not sustainable. But that's how he's played me. When he beat me at Wimbledon, it was unbelievable how long and how good he played for a long period of time. Yeah, and then some other times, you know, he was just better than me, really. Pretty simple. Q. You have said that you're hoping to play for a few more years for sure. Are you at a point now where you enter an event and you kind of soak up each event's atmosphere a little bit more, not knowing if maybe you'll come back again? ROGER FEDERER: I try not to think of it, to be quite honest, because I don't want to start becoming too nostalgic and too emotional about it, like, Oh, my God, could this be the last one? I try not to think of that. If you tell me, then it becomes a bit more‑‑ like you remind me and it becomes not so nice anymore because I don't want it to be the last time, you know. Yeah, so I just keep on going. Clearly I'm not here to just be here, to show up and soak it up and enjoy it and do press. I'm not coming for that. I'm happy to promote the tournament, but I'm really here to try to win, have a good time on centre court if that's the case, play good tennis and have a good time besides the course as well with my family if I do have time. Yeah, it's a lot of fun but it's also a lot of work, and especially this week it's been a grind, going to bed at 3:30 last night and it's been rough, you know. And then now turn around to tomorrow, 3:00 match, I think. It's a change, so I hope I can play decent tennis tomorrow. Q. Tsonga said earlier that he was hoping it would be you he faces tomorrow, because he enjoys the challenge of facing you and your 10,000 supporters in the crowd. How much does it help you knowing you go into events with the crowd pretty much always behind you? And when was the last time outside of maybe Davis Cup when you feel the crowd was not in your corner or very much against you? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, it's definitely peace of mind going into a match knowing that they are probably not going to be against you. I think against you is always probably that more irritating feeling. We don't really have that in tennis. Like you said, it's more for the opponent rather than against you. That's more in soccer or other sports where you have that, that more aggressive crowd. Thankfully we don't have that in our sport. From that standpoint it's really calming, knowing that most likely they're going to be fair or on your side. When has been the last time they were, you know, for my opponent? I don't know. But, I mean, don't forget I do play quite often against home favorites, you know, like Tsonga in France or, you know, Monfils there, as well. Hewitt in Australia. You know, all these things have happened in the past. To my surprise, sometimes it's even or even a bit pro for myself, but clearly that's happened more often than you think that they're not in my corner. The majority is clearly against people they don't know that are on my side, which is nice. Q. What are your thoughts about Serena who did 200 weeks on the top of her ranking this week? ROGER FEDERER: Sorry, I didn't understand the question. Q. What are your thoughts on Serena, did her 200 weeks at top of ranking? ROGER FEDERER: I think it's great. I didn't know about it. I think it's wonderful. Any week at world No. 1 is a great one, let's be honest. If you can make 200, that's very, very, very nice. That means you have been up there for a long time and means you had a great career. It's windy at the top; it's not easy. I hope she can ‑‑is she world No. 1 right now? I guess she is. I hope she can stay there for her. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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