THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2021

Roger Federer

Press Conference

R. FEDERER/L. Sonego

7-5, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How would you describe what has been most surprising and most pleasing to you about this run, your three matches in Paris, your four matches here?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, I guess to some extent it's nice to see that the work I put in paid off, that I'm able to play at this level with best-of-five sets. There's always different ways to go about it. Playing five days in a row is different than playing best-of-five sets every second day, let's say. You need different attributes, let's say.

The same thing goes with tournaments, playing back-to-back tournaments or playing every second week. All that stuff, when you're young, you don't ask yourself the question. But when you're me, with the year I had, it's all question marks all over the place. You have to prove it again to yourself that you can actually do it.

I was willing to take losses for the sake of information, just to be out there, get the body in shape for hopefully when Wimbledon comes around that I can actually wake up in the morning and feel all right, that I can still go out and play five sets.

I feel that way, so it's very rewarding and it's a good feeling. Now we'll see how much more I got left in the tank. Clearly was important again to win in straight sets. Looking forward to the next round.

Q. The adjustments you've made since your first match, how do you feel you have progressed, evolved?

ROGER FEDERER: I mean, it was very interesting when the roof shut again. I could see that it was getting a little bit more slippery again. The humidity goes up, whereas I didn't break a sweat really on the outside. It was windy, it was fresh. Still it played faster. When you play indoors, it's just much slower.

I understand now why also indoors first couple days is something we never play in all year long. That's why I think also that was definitely one of the reasons maybe I struggled against Mannarino. On top of it, he got the upper hand from the baseline.

Today if I look at how Sonego played me indoors, he could not get by me any more with his serve, and he has a nice first serve. It's just amazing the difference an indoor and an outdoor situation can do.

You would think that indoors is easier to ace. I don't feel it's the case. I feel like you have to put extra power in your shots that something happens. I think that was one of the reasons for me that I maybe struggled early on because you can become very insecure when you don't get your service winners.

Anyway, with my game early on in a tournament, especially on grass where I expect service winners and aces to happen, that was not possible. I understood why today.

Then I just felt like now I've had some good progress. I'm taking the ball earlier. Obviously I've gotten used to the conditions, gotten used to the balls, the court speed. I'm able to take more balls on the rise, on the half volley. All these little things make a difference at the end of the day.

Q. Tomorrow Centre Court, No. 1 Court, are going to have a hundred percent capacity. First time it's happened in the UK outdoors since the pandemic started. What is your reaction to that? Do you feel in a sporting context this Wimbledon is slowly beginning to move us away from the crisis?

ROGER FEDERER: I mean, you would hope so, that that's the case. I'm still not a hundred percent convinced we are on the other side. I still think there is more to come.

Last year in the summer we also felt the same way, super positive, having a few cases here and there. It looked very promising, then everything changed again later on in the year, especially indoors for us in Europe it gets tricky. If you want seat people, it has to be indoors, restaurants and bars, and all that stuff.

We'll see how it turns out to be now that we have a hundred percent capacity. I mean, it already almost felt like a hundred percent, to be quite honest, because the fans here at Wimbledon, they do such a nice job to make us feel so special, us players and The Championships.

A hundred percent crowd is going to be incredible. Playing night session in Paris it was five people. The difference is immense. When Lorenzo goes, Come on, people, are you here? Let's hear some noise. That sound is what you play for.

I tried to think back like what would it have meant for me to win Wimbledon with no crowds in a finals. Last year I was thinking that as I was watching guys play with very little crowd or no crowd. I felt like it probably would have taken 70% or 80% of everything away from me.

Sure, I would have been Wimbledon champion, but it never would have felt the same. That's why so happy that we have crowds back. I hope it stays this way. I hope that this tournament or the Euro or whatever events are going to keep on happening in the future also are not going to create more burden on more families and more people.

So let's enjoy it for what it is now. Look, I feel safe as it's outdoors, a big space. But, yes, it's also very new for me because I haven't played much on the tour yet, so I'm still very, very careful, especially with close contact. It happened with Jo Konta.

I'm very much aware we're still very much in the bubble, but we're all hoping we can move on soon.

Q. A little while ago you were pictured in the Swiss mountains doing work for Swiss tourism. The other day Novak spoke about his experiences in the Serbian mountains. What was it like growing up in the Alps? Did you have any special experiences? Has that shaped your life in an important way?

ROGER FEDERER: I connected more to my childhood memories going on hikes with my parents. My dad comes from the Rhine Valley, from the east of Switzerland. For those people to go for hikes was very, very normal. My mom being from South Africa and also very outdoorsy, it was normal for us I guess to go for hikes, do barbecues, do vacations or weekends like this.

As in Basel, we have some nice places, but they're not as spectacular as where my dad was from and where my grandparents were from. I did not grow up in the mountains as such. More memories.

I do the same now with my children. Especially in '16, I took them around a lot. They were a little older. They can do longer trips. I know they love it. I think nature is something that is truly energetic, I would think.

Now I live in the mountains so it's obviously very different. I had to get used to driving in the snow. That was something I couldn't do because we didn't get that much snowfall in Basel.

I love how different the summer and the winter is. I can't still choose which one I prefer, the summer or the winter, because both are equally nice. I mean, family loves it. We love it up there. I'm happy we chose to have our residence there.