WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2003

Roger Federer

MODERATOR: Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Roger Federer. Questions in English first.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I'm happy I finished today, after so many breaks. In the end it got really dark, you know. I was happy, you know, I broke him a second time to serve it out after. Almost lost my serve because I wanted to get out of there. You know, most important is that I won today, and I thought I played a good match today.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, but, you know, I'm first of all happy to be in the second week, definitely. I'm happy I passed these tough early rounds. Now I can look a little ahead, you know, two days, then I play my next match. But I don't want to look further than my next opponent. There's just no room for this, you know. I don't want to make a mistake. I want to keep the same attitude I had all week the first week. I hope I can carry it along in the second week, as well.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I do. You know, I'm happy when I make a good shot. I had a few good shots today. But, you know, I always have my moments of disappointment when I miss. But for me I'm at a point where I don't need to show this. I need to keep my emotions under control. I have the feeling if I show too much, you know, it might hurt me for the next match. The emotion's left. I want to keep everything till the end. This is just the way I feel right now. It makes me feel good. I like the way I behave, myself. I think that is the most important.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I do show a little more maybe, especially when I play at home. You get so many Swiss fans traveling with you. Obviously, you pump the fists sometimes to them. But my matches in Davis Cup have been too easy to pump the fist, you know. You know, have to go a little further back where I had tougher matches.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I think Lopez won. I don't even know.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, he's tough on grass, a lefty, big serve, you know, dangerous. He slices. Yeah, it's going to be a guy who comes a little more to the net. I guess he's going to have a better chance. I don't know, I haven't seen him play at all. I would need to ask people or just look at his matches he's been playing. I practiced with him one time in Halle this year. This was his first hit on grass. You know, he was not quite into it. I feel I know he's dangerous, how good he can be, he can be on grass. He's played good matches in the past. I have to be ready. It's going to be tough.

ROGER FEDERER: He's got a big game, definitely. He's got a very big serve. I think he can still improve his consistency on the serve because I really feel like he could really have a great serve. He returns well. Definitely he has his weaknesses also. But there's not a weakness that looks out, you know, fully to me. You know, especially on the grass. Maybe on the clay, where he needs to move more, because he's quite tall and heavy, which is normal. All the big guys are struggling to move.

ROGER FEDERER: Him, I've never played Dent since '98, hit a ball. I mean, James Blake is always up there. People forget him just because he lost a few matches now. But I believe that he's also right up there. Just be patient. You're going to have your guys, don't worry. Country's big enough (smiling).

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I did follow them a lot. Unbelievable, what they did this year and last year. They didn't become champion this year. The season was too good to be not happy. Yeah, I follow them a lot. I try to go watch every match I can when I'm home, know a few of the players.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah.

ROGER FEDERER: I heard he's going to stay.

ROGER FEDERER: I heard he's going to stay so I'm happy about that. I also would be happy for him if he leaves and could make his marks in the international. I heard he's going to go to Atletico or something.