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ROGERS CUP

August 14, 2009

Roger Federer

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

J. TSONGA/R. Federer
7-6, 1-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. An adjective to describe what happened if you can, Roger? How do you describe that?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, it happens in tennis. It's never over until it's over. It showed today.
I thought it was a very up-and-down match, obviously. I think I should have won the first and he completely lost his game for an hour there, you know, through the second, the third.
It was unfortunate I couldn't serve it up.

Q. Do you feel when you wonder if your opponent is injured that it's hard to stay in it in that moment?
ROGER FEDERER: No. I'm used to playing so many matches that that stuff doesn't bother me, you know.
He didn't look injured to me. He was just not serving very well, you know. If that then had something to do with his arm or whatever from him falling, I don't know. No, I was just trying to focus on the match and trying to close it out.

Q. Was it windy? Because the serve...
ROGER FEDERER: No. Yeah, I mean, I didn't serve well in the first serve, but I still thought I should have maybe won it. We had a fun tiebreaker. Then his serve completely went off.
But it wasn't too windy out there. Actually it was quite surprising.

Q. Are there any elements of last year when you came in and against Simon, maybe you hadn't played enough after Wimbledon. This year you had a longer rest. Does anything like that...
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, now you talk like this. If I would have won, you don't talk like this. Obviously it's the same for me.
All in all I thought it was a decent match. I didn't think it was bad, but it wasn't great, either. It's one of those matches I can live with, you know.
Of course I hope I get through them, especially being up a double break and stuff. So it's obviously disappointing, but you know, that's what Jo does. He doesn't make a return for three hours, and then he puts in a few and then all of a sudden he gets back into the match.
I never should have allowed it, but it did happen so it's a pity.

Q. What do you take overall from the tournament and the three matches you got in here?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, I thought it was fine. It was great to get some matches in, you know, ahead of Cincinnati and at the US Open, but you know, my goal wasn't really just to play matches here and sort of show up and do press conferences, you know. That was not the point of the whole -- the whole trip here was trying to do well and trying to win the tournament.
So obviously I didn't reach that, but it's fine, you know. I've had a lot happening the last few months and so it's not a complete disappointment, because I still thought I played all right.

Q. What will you look to improve for in Cincinnati?
ROGER FEDERER: Closing out a match like that. (laughter.)
You can't really work on that, you know. But just go out in the practice courts, you know. Try to work on a few things and just make sure -- to get off a good start over there, because conditions are different again.
Who knows? Maybe it will be warmer, maybe more windy, different opponents, different draw. So it's not easy. You know, those Masters Series you can see -- look at the draw today. Top eight players are left, so obviously it's always hard to win any kind of matches like this.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to playing next week as well.

Q. If you forget the first set, it's 6-1, 5-1, can you recall letting one get away like that that you've dominated for that long a period?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, you know, in the moment it just happens. You just try to go game by game, point by point. Next thing you know you're up after you're disappointed, you know, you lost the first set. I thought I should have won that.
Then I'm up 5-1 and I end up finding myself at 5-All 10 minutes later. It was a tough match to sort of go through, you know, because either it was very close or very one-sided. That didn't make it easy on the rhythm, obviously.

Q. How difficult a player is he? You played him before, but what are the real challenges for you? Is it streakiness?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, if I look at this match, I guess so, but I think he can do better than that, you know. I don't think he's just a streaky player; otherwise he wouldn't be top 10 in the world.
He's got a wonderful serve. His first serve is great. It's hard to read. It's got great pace. He's a great athlete, you know. He's got a good forehand too, and that makes him a dangerous player.
I definitely think he's got, you know, much more potential to find in his game to even become a better player, but he's done very well already thus far, and I'm sure we'll see him much more in the future.

Q. What was going through your head as the games kept slipping away at the end of the third?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I think I got off bad starts on all of my service games towards the end. I think I was down maybe Love-30 in each service game. That was a problem for me.
If I maybe just get off 15-Love, 30-15 kind of game, then things might look different, you know. But I didn't, so I had to scramble each time and have to start playing safe a little bit, and that's exactly kind of what he needed because otherwise I was just going to hand it over to him.
This way, you know, he made me work for it and he did well to come back. It's not something I go through very often, being up 5-1 and ending up losing, get broken back to back after having not broken especially throughout the whole match.
It's tough, you know, but you're still in it with a chance. But in both tiebreaks I served horribly, and I guess that cost me the match in the end.

End of FastScripts

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