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SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS

October 11, 2010

Roger Federer

SHANGHAI, CHINA

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Questions for Roger.

Q. After the US Open, you didn't participate in any tournaments. I would like to know what you did until now.
ROGER FEDERER: Well, first of all, I had to recover. It was a tough stretch in America. I played really well. I played finals, a victory, and the semis. It was a tough match against Novak in the end. I felt I needed some rest first of all to get mentally and physically fresh again.
Once I felt I was ready to go again, I started to work out extremely hard. I had almost three weeks on my hands which I used to do a lot of fitness and a lot of tennis.
Had a good time. Felt great. Was able to work hard, spend time with the family. I'm ready to go here now.

Q. You used to come to Shanghai every year. How do you feel this time after two years' break?
ROGER FEDERER: One and a half years, not quite two years. I was here for the Masters Cup. But it almost feels like two years.
I've missed Shanghai as well last year. But I just was too tired, to exhausted. With everything that happened through the summer, with marriage, kids, French Open, Wimbledon, the American summer, I just needed a rest. So it gave me six weeks off. That really allowed me a chance to, you know, find my energy again for what's to come at the end of the year and almost next year, where I played great in Australia. It's kind of paid off.
But this year I definitely wanted to make the trip here to Shanghai. The fans are amazing here. I am probably one of the only ones here who was here in 2002 as well for the Masters Cup held for the first time at the EXPO.
Great memories. I always played great here. I never had a bad tournament. Now that it's a Masters 1000, me having also opened the stadium here, it's extra special coming here and playing outdoors in Shanghai, which I'm very excited about.
So far I've been able to see many fans. They all seem very excited. The same can only be said from my side, as well.

Q. I see that you have Gary back with you as your physio. Where is Stephane? Is he taking a break?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, he's taking a break and he'll be back probably by Basel.

Q. I think Shanghai is the first tournament that you were in a tournament without your family in your company.
ROGER FEDERER: It's been a while, yeah.

Q. Do you miss them? You go back to your hotel, you're by yourself, you don't have Mirka or the twins, do you feel bored?
ROGER FEDERER: It's bored, yeah (laughter).
It's a bit slower, that's for sure. But I have good friends here. We have a good time, you know. It's busy here anyway. I have a lot of things to do with some of my great sponsors. Also media I'm doing quite a bit. For that side I'm kept busy. Obviously, it also allows me to sleep a bit more and practice hard.
That's what I'm doing really. That fills up the day a bit. But we make sure we have nice dinners at the end of the day. But clearly it's a different week this time around that they're not here. I do miss them, yes, of course.

Q. You said you've been practicing very hard during three weeks. Is it to prepare the end of the season but also a way to prepare the beginning of the next season?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I would think so. I mean, the year-end season was very short. It's been like this for a couple years now. Having only four weeks off after the World Tour finals is not a whole lot. Plus we have Christmas. I usually have a tendency also to play one or two XO's. Last year I didn't play any XO's at all.
This year we're playing one of the exhibitions against Rafa in Zurich for the Roger Federer Foundation. That's also going to take a few days away again. That's also for sure one of the reasons I'm using one of those last few weeks to prepare for next season, as well. Yes, that's correct.

Q. Do you find by your standards this year could have been termed something of a disappointment? Do you think this tournament could be a way of salvaging that in some respect?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, the season's not over yet. Let's not come to the conclusion here that this has been a bad year or that I'm not happy with it.
I won the Australian Open. I think I played well at the US Open, was a point away from making the finals, and then you never know. Wimbledon obviously was a disappointment and the French, because I was defending champion in both those tournaments, but I wasn't able to come through.
It's the way it is, you know. I had some tough losses this year with match points sometimes, some really close matches which maybe in the past have gone my way.
I think I was able to turn it around a little bit actually in Toronto and Cincinnati. I think I had some good wins and also I played really well at the US Open. It's unfortunate I couldn't come through.
But, I mean, I still have five tournaments to play. This season is far from over. I feel like I'm playing really well and feeling well. We'll see how the season plays out and then I'll make a statement how the season was.

Q. Is Paul with you?
ROGER FEDERER: Yes.

Q. We saw you obviously together in New York. In the off tournament weeks, what sort of work have you and he been doing together?
ROGER FEDERER: Uhm, well, first of all he's here, yes. Paul is here. Severin came first to Dubai, then Paul was supposed to join us at some stage. He got sick. He couldn't come for a week or so. He only came for the end of the buildup. So I did all the buildup with Severin, except the last three days when Paul arrived.

Q. That was in Dubai?
ROGER FEDERER: That was in Dubai, yes. I was there the whole time between New York and here.
And then he's going to come here. Then I'll do Stockholm, Basel and Paris with Severin. Paul might join us in Paris. Then we'll do the World Tour Finals together.
So we didn't have that much time together to work on stuff with Paul. He's in constant talks with Severin, you know, what we could do. Severin has his ideas, as well. We're working on the right things. Then obviously Paul is going to come for the off-season in December to Dubai and we'll work there. In February we'll have another buildup. We'll see who's gonna be there.
It's important I'll have some good time with him again, keep it on a regular basis. Things are going well.

Q. Is there a freshness to it? Does it bring something new to the whole thing?
ROGER FEDERER: Clearly, yeah. That was the idea. Otherwise I wouldn't have, you know, done something with him. I had a long enough test period to figure out if I did like what he was saying, and I did like it. I thought it was interesting. I thought it was something different, something new, with a lot of experience.
I'm looking forward to the upcoming weeks: this week and the rest of the year with him.

Q. We all know in 2002 it's the first time you came to Shanghai for the Masters Cup. After several years, how does your mental state change between these years? What's most impressive about the changes for the city and the stadium and the tournament?
ROGER FEDERER: I mean, a lot has changed since 2002. I maybe had, I don't know, four titles. Now I have 63 I think. I'm not even sure. So it's been an amazing run for me, the last eight years, with a lot of success, incredible streaks, a lot of fun, becoming somewhat of a national hero back home in Switzerland, which is a hard thing to do.
You know, being here in 2002 obviously has been very different to being here, let's say, two years ago. When you come back now, every time you play, you're one of the big favorites. In 2002, I was just happy to be part of the tournament. Only later did I realize the power and the potential, you know, I had, and especially this country had, you know, to embrace tennis and to see what they really wanted to achieve here in this part of the world, especially here in Shanghai where people seem so excited about this sport. There's flags everywhere from the airport when you arrive till here, to the Qizhong Stadium.
The excitement they have to come here, it's a lot of fun for the players. Have an incredibly strong fan base it seems here in China. That's why I loved playing at the Olympics in Beijing and finally I'm back here again after missing last year. So I feel like I'm very connected to China.

Q. Switzerland is out of the Davis Cup World Group. What is your feeling about that?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, disappointment. Obviously I'm not happy about it. But it's something I couldn't control. I said I'm not going to go to Kazakhstan. It was a tough trip. We always do that when we saw the draw come out. We'll talk about the future in the next few months now.

End of FastScripts

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