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U.S. OPEN

September 9, 2009

Robin Soderling

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

R. FEDERER/R. Soderling
6-0, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You got off to a slow start, but your game seemed to evolve as the match progressed to the point where you put I think a pretty big concern into Roger the way you were playing. Are you happy with the way you were able to come back?
ROBIN SODERLING: It's tough to play worse than I did in the first two sets, so it could only get better.
No, I don't really like to say I played bad in respect to the opponent, but today I think the first tow sets, I mean, I didn't play that poorly in a long time.
But, yeah, again, I'm happy with the way I turned the match around. I actually had a set point to go up to two sets all.

Q. What were you able to do to turn it around? Was it more of a psychological thing?
ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, even after the first two sets I was thinking, you know, I can't do worse than this. (laughter.)
I tried to go for it even more, you know. I think I was putting a lot of pressure on him from the start of the third set, and it really worked.
It wasn't as windy at the end of the match than it was in the first two sets, and that helped me. I could serve a little bit better. I could go for my shots a little bit more.

Q. You went as far as you ever have in this tournament. I mean, it's a bit of a breakthrough for you.
ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, it's been a good tournament. It's been a good year, even though I had some problems in the beginning of the year. But it's still a lot of tennis to be played this year, so hopefully I can stay healthy and I will have a chance to do well, I think.

Q. You talked about going for it in the fourth set tiebreak. It seemed every time you had a look at Federer's serve you were going for a winner on the return. Do you regret basically going for the winner so quickly, or was that part of the game plan, going for broke?
ROBIN SODERLING: No, I think due to the circumstances, I think I played the last two sets very well. I felt like I really had to go for the shots, because the longer -- I felt like the longer the point went on, the better he played. So a lot of the points I won I won in three or two, three or four shots.

Q. When you play Roger, considering your record against him, do you feel like you have to play as if there's really nothing to lose? I mean, just go out there and give it everything you have got?
ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, sure. I'm pretty sure that I can beat him. Of course, it's tough, but in a match like this where I feel like I didn't play well at all, I'm still one point away from two sets all.
He's a very good player. You know, he's, to me, the best player of all time, so...
But, again, you know, for sure I feel like I have a chance every time I play against him, even though it's pretty small.

Q. You had some difficulty to read his serve and showed some frustration. That changed at the end of the second set when you were able to return many of his serves. How was it important to the outcome of the game?
ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, he's got a very good serve. For me, it's very tough to read his serve, and I was very impressed about the way he served during the circumstances, because it was very, very windy the first two sets. I had big problems with my serve, but he seemed to serve very good.

Q. Did you have the feeling at the end of the match you were getting tired?
ROBIN SODERLING: No, I felt good.

Q. How do you assess Roger's game compared to the meetings in Paris and in Wimbledon?
ROBIN SODERLING: He always plays well, feels like. (laughter.)
I'm really impressed by the way he played in the beginning, because again, it was very windy, and still he played very, very good.
I never played anyone who played that well in windy conditions, so he's definitely playing as well as he did in Wimbledon.

End of FastScripts

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