TENNIS MASTERS CUP- HOUSTON

November 13, 2004

Roger Federer

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Roger, please.

ROGER FEDERER: Feeling good. I've been practicing since Monday here in Houston. Before that, I haven't been playing for two weeks, so I'm feeling good. I had good preparation. No pain in my leg. I'm feeling good. So I'm really looking forward to this coming week.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, you know, it's normal. I'm No. 1 in the world, so everybody wants to beat "that guy." Luckily for me, I already locked up my No. 1 position, which puts quite a bit of pressure away, you know. I can really just focus on my title defense.

ROGER FEDERER: It's obvious they speak about me. I've won three out of four this year, but next year might be very different again. That's not something I'm aiming for. I'm making sure I'm defending my No. 1 position, and Wimbledon, for me, is more important than aiming for all four. That would mean if I don't win -- if I win three out of four, that would be a disappointment, and that's not how I look at it.

ROGER FEDERER: For me, it's a great stat, you know, a great situation to be in really. I'd rather have it, you know, the whole pressure on my side and everybody expecting me to win than the opposite. You know, if I would have lost 14 times against all the other guys, I never won a match, so I'd rather know myself that I can beat all these guys. I think the opponents, they know that also, in the back of their minds, that they have to play great tennis to beat me. I think that is a big advantage for me.

ROGER FEDERER: I think it's our responsibilities, you know, to make sure we pick the right tournaments to play. Honestly, we all know that I cannot play a season like I played today - this year, sorry. For this reason, I was actually lucky to only be injured for two weeks. For me, this is not a big problem, you know. It could have been much, much worse. I hope just throughout my whole career I will stay healthy, because in tennis, we don't have a replacement, you know. You're injured, a guy jumps in for you and you're back after maybe a week or two. That's not how it works for tennis. When you're injured, everybody knows it. You're sitting on the sidelines and can only watch the other guys play. It has a big effect on the game when you're missing. Now on the men's tour, to me, it seems like we've been actually okay with injuries. Now, the end of the year, some players, they didn't want to take any more risk than to miss the Masters Cup because it's the biggest tournament after the Grand Slams. I think everybody's healthy now suddenly. I think they're all healthy and it's going to be interesting to see who's going to win this one.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I met him.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, he said he was happy to see me and that I had a fantastic year. He's happy to see me, that's all he said.

ROGER FEDERER: Definitely. Because in the past, let's say in the past, a few years ago, this was almost a little bit my problem with my game. You know, it was working against me. And now that I've been able to actually handle that, knowing how to be on the court, knowing how to use it, it's been an advantage for me. I think this is one of the reasons why I ended up winning the Wimbledon title again.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, that's a little bit too extreme. I was down a break. You can serve and volley as much as you like, but you first have got to break your opponent. That's something that can't really serve. I think we don't have to forget that I was down a break and I came back and won the set 7-6. For me, important was knowing that I could break his serve. Because in the first set, he was just serving so big and in the second set, I was suddenly up 4-Love.

ROGER FEDERER: He came back. But at least, you know, I knew that if I played some good games on his serve, I could break him. That gave me really the belief I could actually turn this match around.

ROGER FEDERER: 15-40.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, you know, it's tough to say. But it's true that this year, you know, has been -- just everything going my way, all the big points. When I didn't make it, like for instance at the Olympics, you know, I had 5-All in the third set. Had some breakpoints. I actually didn't make them. Down 6-5, then I got broken. That's just how it is. This year I've won many more matches which I could have lost, like this year on breakpoints, on big points, I've been always serving pretty well, especially against Andy. I came up also with some very important aces at important points. That's just how it is. You can't really work at it. You just have to believe strongly in it and believe that you can do it yourself.

ROGER FEDERER: Obviously, there is respect, you know, the big points, because you don't just want to hand it over. So you've got to take maybe a little bit of pace off. But at the same time, you've got to stay aggressive, I think, because you want to make sure that the other guy has to play a good point to win that point, and that's usually what I do, and it's been working.

ROGER FEDERER: Nothing new, so... (laughing).

ROGER FEDERER: No plans.

ROGER FEDERER: No, it's not that. It's just I'm happy with the way it is right now really. I don't see a reason to change it.

ROGER FEDERER: Exactly.

ROGER FEDERER: I think it's a transition. It's an interesting question. I think because the No. 1 position, we're not playing for that, you know, it's more, like I said before, trying to stay as long as possible next year that is going to be important for me. That's one of my main goals. Coming back from injury, it almost seems like the next year's season is already starting. I'm trying to keep the confidence and keep the momentum of 2004 within these tournaments.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, totally different. Because I remember coming here from Paris on Wednesday, and I played a bad match, you know, against Henman in Paris and I was exhausted. I came here, practiced, and I was still so tired. Also had terrible practice sessions, you know, where I really didn't feel good. I was really worried about this tournament because looking ahead of the group I had, you know, was Agassi, Nalbandian and Ferrero, who were all very difficult opponents for me at the time. I really thought, well, I hope I'm going to go through to the semis. I think that match, that 7-6 in the third match against Agassi where I saved two matchpoints was the turning point. You know, maybe a turning point for many, many things. Also for the year 2004. This year, I come, No. 1 spot is locked up, and I'm very confident, happy to play again after an injury. So it's very, very different to 12 months ago.

ROGER FEDERER: Why this question? I don't understand.

ROGER FEDERER: I've been tested 20 times last year.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I think you have to test quite aggressively, you know, because you want to make sure that there's no players around using something, because you want it to be a fair sport. So I think the ATP is doing sufficiently enough to do that, yeah.

ROGER FEDERER: No, no, no. For me, you know, I don't know if with or without Peter I would have had this great season, you know. So I cannot regret because for me it was a very hard decision to make and to take. It seems like it was maybe the right one, you know, looking at the season I had. But, you know, what he does with Safin, you know, I just follow it because he's one of my rivals. I'm happy if Safin plays well, but I'm not happy if Safin is going to beat me, of course. So we'll see when this first matchup will come our way.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, there's many of them. There's many, many of them. Some very good ones as well. So we have one in the draw, right, and one alternate?

ROGER FEDERER: Oh, Gaston Gaudio. Two in the draw and one alternate, sorry. It just shows how strong it really is. Tennis in Argentina right now, they have basically three or four Davis Cup teams. I know Coria and Nalbandian, these guys from Juniors still. There's a lot of players then when I came on tour. It's really amazing to see how well they can play on all the surfaces now. It's not only the clay that is their favorite surface, but especially on the hard courts they are starting to play better and better.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, to be the powerhouse of tennis, you have to have probably the No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, and they don't have that. They have many good players out of the top three, you know, this moment. This is why you cannot put them ahead of everybody else. But it's true that next to Spain, they have many, many great players as well. So, you know, time will tell if they can really dominate like maybe the Russians are a little bit on the women's side right now.

ROGER FEDERER: Personal or playing?

ROGER FEDERER: Playing, I like Coria's game quite a lot. He's got a very nice technique, very nice touch on the ball. Yeah, I think he's a nice player on the Argentine side.

ROGER FEDERER: Yes.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, it's just because we, as you maybe know, we just had a few days together after the Bangkok and I asked him if he had maybe just some more time at the end of the year. He said, "Yeah."

ROGER FEDERER: Well, no, I just thought about who could maybe just help me out for, you know, the practice session at the end of the year. He came to my mind. I asked him, and, you know, he said it was okay. But that's all. That's probably also going to be the last practice session we're going to have together.

ROGER FEDERER: No, because I think it's important, you know, still to maybe get some new ideas or just to have a setup, you know. And not always have to rely on myself. I think that's the reason. I think it makes sense.

ROGER FEDERER: Very good, thank you. I'm happy to be back.

ROGER FEDERER: I'm feeling good, you know. I was injured on my leg a few weeks ago. Couldn't play for two weeks. So I got here on Monday and had my first practice session. Ever since, I haven't had any pain in my leg, which is very good to know for me. And knowing that mentally, I'm over that, I can really focus on the tournament and not think about my leg all the time.

ROGER FEDERER: I don't know it very well. I've only been here to Houston three times, and that's all I've been seeing. It's good experiences, you know. I had an exhibition tournament where I played finals one time. Then I came here last year and won the tournament. Hopefully, I can keep that great record going.

ROGER FEDERER: I'm here for tennis. I wish I could do more. But just time doesn't allow it, you know, because I want to stay professional and make sure that I'm 100 percent next Monday.

ROGER FEDERER: You know, I'm surprised myself, of course. At the beginning of the season I didn't know if that was the right decision to make, you know. Looking ahead, it was difficult, because I had to make many choices myself suddenly, and suddenly the year started great, you know. I didn't feel any need for now to get a new coach or anything. I'm basically still in the same situation.

ROGER FEDERER: When?

ROGER FEDERER: It could be important if suddenly my game is not working as well as now, or if people start being very negative. Maybe I need, you know, a guy who protects me a little bit and is on my side. But so far I haven't had that problem. I don't know how it's going to be.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, right now, no. Because I'm happy. I'm basically my own coach a little bit. I'm very secure in my decisions, and I trust my team around me. It's not like I'm traveling on my own 12 months a year. So I have my team around me like my physio, my friend, my girlfriend, who make sure that everything is in place. Sometimes, you know, the coach is not the most important person in tennis life. Sometimes it's a condition trainer or a physio.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, my goal is definitely to maintain my No. 1 ranking, and also, you know, to maintain your No. 1 ranking, you've probably got to play well also at Grand Slams and most likely win one. But for me, most important also is Wimbledon, to maybe get three in a row. That would be fantastic.

ROGER FEDERER: Pasta, usually.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah.

ROGER FEDERER: A few hours. Two or three hours.

ROGER FEDERER: Uh-hmm.

ROGER FEDERER: No relatives here in Houston. No, not that I know.

ROGER FEDERER: I guess so (smiling).