TENNIS MASTERS CUP

November 12, 2003

Roger Federer

THE MODERATOR: If we could start with questions in English, please, for Roger.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah. I've been always hoping to beat him, you know, in the seniors. I beat him in Juniors, so... Today's my first time and I'm happy about it.

ROGER FEDERER: I just thought he didn't play as good, you know, as the previous matches, you know. I thought every time he played me, he came up with some unbelievable shots. Today was just a few. He normally comes up with much more than that. Still, I definitely changed my game a little bit. He was struggling. But, you know, for me, that doesn't really matter.

ROGER FEDERER: Very good, you know. Similar to really Shanghai, you know. I felt really good after two matches, you know. I won my first two also by losing one set one time and once in straight sets. That made me go through to the semis, which is, you know... So I believe I'm in a very good position now, and I don't know what it takes for Ferrero and Agassi, you know, for me to go through. But I'm ready for the third match and that's, I think, the most important.

ROGER FEDERER: It's tough to say, you know. I definitely didn't miss making a lot of unforced errors. But I really didn't serve that great. That's, for me, really surprising to beat him so easy but not really serving great. That also shows a little bit how poorly he was returning. I think he's normally one of the best returners in the world. Today, he just couldn't really find his rhythm. So, yeah, I took advantage of this. I think that was the good part of the game today.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I really enjoy it, you know. The slice stays low, the kick takes off. You can hit flat, you can come to the net, you know. Obviously depends a little bit who you playing, you know. When I play a guy like Agassi, the court definitely feels slower because he's in command of the rallies and that makes you run a lot. But all in all, I think it's a good court, yeah.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, depends a bit how, obviously, how he plays it back to me, you know. I rather maybe spin the ball when a guy slices it to me, or when a guy spins it, I'd rather slice. So depends a little bit how the opponent plays it back to me. But I always like to mix it up, you know - once a slice once in a while, once a big spin, once flat, you know, just so the opponent doesn't get the same look at the ball every time.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I thought I didn't always -- the last few matches, you know, I played him , I always started to serve and volley because I didn't feel so good against him from the baseline. But today I just told myself, "There's no need for me to serve and volley against him. I rather then attack him in maybe two or three shots." That really worked fine because his returns, they're gonna land short anyway. Doesn't matter how hard a serve. So if I serve and volley, I will always face tough volleys and he will always pass well after, you know. We saw it; if you don't put it away, he's very good at it. So there I was just little bit more patient, but I had to stay aggressive from the baseline because if he gets in the long, long rallies, you know, he's very good.

ROGER FEDERER: No, I didn't see anything, no.

ROGER FEDERER: Uh-hmm.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, he felt very good going into this match. Except maybe his wrist was bothering him; I don't know. This, you have to ask him. But, you know, after US Open, a lot of people started talking about this match, you know. I think he was saying that he feels very good playing me. I said well, you know, I'm not far away, I feel it. But it's just not so easy, you know, to beat him. To beat him now for the first time, it's just good, you know, to get it off my back. You know, it's just easier to live like this now.