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ROGERS CUP

August 10, 2009

Frederic Niemeyer

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

F. NIEMEYER/I. Kunitsyn
7-5, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you tell us about what happened on the injury? What went through your mind when you...
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: When I first hit my knee, it was a lot of pain. I was like -- I mean, I just -- I think I just had broken him and it was like 30-Love and 40-Love. I hit the volley on one foot. I was like, Please don't, like, don't end like this.
But I mean the pain was very, very sharp at first when I did it, and then it slowly, like, went away.
Then it went fine. The trainer came and he froze it, and I was icing every changeover. Hopefully it's going to hold up.

Q. Where exactly?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: Yeah, like near the -- near the kneecap. It's a little bit -- you can see a little bit swollen, but hopefully it will calm down.

Q. What worked for you today in winning this match?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: I served well. I've been playing well the whole week, and my serve started working better and better, but I was also moving well. I was hitting the ball well. I was doing a lot of things well.
But I was changing the rhythm well, like starting from 4-3 down, I was giving him a lot of -- a bit higher balls, low balls, and then I was hitting one really hard. He was off-balance a few times. He didn't know where to stand on the court. That's what I did well.

Q. Talk a little bit about your last Rogers Cup. What does it mean to you playing in almost your hometown not far from Deauville? What's going through your mind this week?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: Yeah, I mean, I always enjoy this event. I mean, it's one of my favorite ones of the year, I mean, especially the one in Montreal. I'm very happy that finally I was able to play my full potential.
All the previous years I think I was like trying to impress or trying to prove too much or playing too well, and actually never played -- I never thought I played well here. I did have a few tough draws, but I never felt like I played good tennis.
This week, that wasn't one of my objectives. Win or lose, I said I want to play well and have fun. You know, I started a little bit tight, and then I started relaxing just like I fixed myself the objectives.

Q. What are your thoughts on playing Federer?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: Yeah, obviously he's one of the best if not the best ever, so I can say he's a good player. But, no, it's going to be tough. Hopefully my weapons -- I serve well. Again, I'm going to have to take some risk and hopefully the risk that I take will go in.

Q. Have you got him at a good time, you think? It's his first match for basically a month.
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: Well, having the same experience that he's having now, I played also a tournament with my daughter after two weeks, I think, and I didn't sleep very much that week. And he has two, so hopefully he sleeps none (laughter.)
The rest, hopefully he's a bit off and I'm playing well.

Q. You're very faithful to this tournament here in Canada. Why do you like coming back here?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: I mean, it's great, great opportunity. It's a big, Super Series, and it's one of the top 13 best tournaments in the world.
So of course it's nice to come back. I think all the players really enjoy playing here at the Canadian Open, and the organization and the atmosphere of the tournament is great.

Q. Do you have mixed feelings about not being able to get out to Vancouver last week? In retrospect, are you glad you had the rest and able to prepare for this?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: Yeah, finishing late in Granby, I decided not to go and jump on the plane the next day to play right away, especially like the last few months I've had injury problems so I didn't want to rush.
I told myself I was happy with the way I was playing in Granby, and the confidence was a lot higher after Granby. I just said I'm going to stay here and have good practice here. There's a lot of guys here early to practice during the week, so that's what I did.

Q. The fact that you're retiring after this year, does that change your attitude? Can you relax a little more?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: Yeah, I think I did, not unconsciously. I'm really enjoying -- now that everyone knows about it, I feel like I'm more relaxed, yes.

Q. You worry less about points and things like that?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: Yeah, exactly. I mean, at 500, I don't have too many points.

Q. How much more do you plan on playing this year?
FREDERIC NIEMEYER: I was going to wait until this tournament to see where my ranking was and where I can, you know, where I can get in the rest of the year.
So hopefully by the end of this week I'll have -- what is it? A thousand points to win it? So hopefully I'll be top 100 and then I can follow the rest of the crew. (laughter.)

End of FastScripts

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