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QATAR EXXONMOBILE OPEN

January 4, 2011

Roger Federer

DOHA, QATAR

R. FEDERER/T. Schoorel
7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Is it good to know that you're sharp enough to save three set points and six breakpoints as early as the first round of the tournament?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, look, at the end of the day, coming through is always a good feeling, especially against someone, you know, who takes so much time away. He's a big guy with a big game. Really, I was really impressed on how he just came out.
Obviously he was gonna serve well, I felt, because he's really tall and has got a nice motion. That's something he can do in his sleep, you know, but then to keep on hitting forehands and backhands at great speed and good accuracy is something that's not so easy to do.
I thought he was a better player in the first set. I really felt I started getting into the match once I saved those breakpoints, so I just got a bit of a better read on his serve. I was able to stay calm, go after what I wanted to do, you know, to play really tough tennis.
As I was getting able to get more and more into the rallies, the harder it got for him, and then obviously I could relax a bit with the set lead, and things got a bit more easy after that.
But he was good, and I have the feeling he's gonna have a good future.

Q. How did you feel you were hitting the ball?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, it's hard to really analyze. Look, he was hitting extremely hard. I felt I was the guy behind the baseline trying to keep the ball in play and just countering his pace.
He was really standing in on the return. He was serving well. And then obviously he got me sort of doubting what I wanted to do. So at the end of the day, it was just trying to be solid, and then once I got into the lead tried to get aggressive again, which I was able to do.
I thought I hit actually a pretty good ball. I didn't make too many unforced errors, obviously also because he went after the shots so much, so I had more forced errors. I served well when I had to. Overall I thought it was a real solid performance.

Q. I've seen you hit winning hot dogs when you're running away from your opponent before but not when you're facing him. Why did you decide to do it then?
ROGER FEDERER: I haven't seen the point again, but I think -- didn't he hit a forehand that clipped the net cord and then sort of kept coming at my body?
I just thought, you know what? I can actually hit that one pretty good, too. I've done it against Henman once at the US Open, went up for a winner, he was at the net. And then this one, I was quite shocked that he went for a winner, so it's one of the best shots again of my career, one I'm gonna look back on and smile, of course. It was quite fantastic.

End of FastScripts

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