AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2006

Roger Federer

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Roger.

ROGER FEDERER: Excuse me?

ROGER FEDERER: Getting used to the conditions, I think, is obviously the main thing if you're playing against an opponent you're such a huge favorite in. You know, I thought it was not easy today because, you know, he was serving big, taking a lot of chances on my return. So we didn't see too many rallies, which didn't really allow me to get the rhythm going, you know. I guess I still believe it was a good match. I won comfortably. That's what counts most.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, it was quick. He served me aces, didn't he? No, I guess it's sort of a fair surface. It's definitely no faster than last year. Yeah, sort of a little unexpected after Lleyton already said something last year, I thought they might speed up the courts a little bit. I don't feel that's the case too much. He played well last year. I did, too. Maybe we can expect the same again this year.

ROGER FEDERER: You've got to ask him, I don't know. I mean, he had a good first opening service game. You know, two aces. I think that definitely calms you down straightaway. I got his serve later on. I also thought, you know, he played pretty good, you know, under the circumstances against me. Obviously, you know, I have a big repertoire of shots, so I always get a way maybe to find my way into somebody's game, especially ranked that low. Again, he's up-and-coming. He's pretty young still. I hope we're going to see more of him because I thought he played pretty good.

ROGER FEDERER: No, no changes so far. I don't want to have much more to do because I'm quite booked out already. I told that to IMG very clearly, that that's not why I'm going back to you, it's you guys that have more to do. It's the opposite.