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SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 29, 2011

Roger Federer

MIAMI, FLORIDA

R. FEDERER/O. Rochus
6-3, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. So how frustrating has this day been?
ROGER FEDERER: Not too bad. I was home at the hotel till 7:00, so I had all day to do something else than to wait around. I first thought or heard it was going to be canceled maybe because of rain, or my session anyway. They would move the day session back and the night session.
So that was a bit just a waiting game to find out if I was going to play at all or not. You want to keep the mind focused. Supposed to play tonight.
That's what happened, so I'm happy I played a good match.

Q. Have you started a match after 12:30 a.m. before?
ROGER FEDERER: I'm not sure. That's your job to find out (Laughter.)
Don't make me do the thinking at this time of the night.
I have gone on court for a best-of-five sets match at the Open at 11:30 at night on the outside court against Mirnyi. I don't know. I've gone for sure on some really late ones. This one could be the latest one for sure.

Q. Is it hard when you've been awake all day presumably, and then you've got to go and play a professional sport at that time of night?
ROGER FEDERER: It's funny, usually what happens when you have to wait around for so long somehow it's like a blowout. One guy is just not, you know, the same as he would be if he would have played at that particular 9:30 hour maybe. Maybe the match would have been a three-setter. I don't know.
For some reason you hang around, and you don't even think much. You just hang around, and next thing you know, one guy is just fired up to get out there and get off to a good start, and the other guy is all of a sudden maybe frustrated.
It's happened a few times in my career where we waited around forever and I was able to play one of those clean, quick matches, you know. But, still, I prefer it not to happen every night.

Q. It's too late to a father go home?
ROGER FEDERER: If it's still late?

Q. It's too late for a father to go home.
ROGER FEDERER: Why? Are they still awake?

Q. Who knows.
ROGER FEDERER: This is the first time. I'm getting up usually at 1:30. This is all good.

Q. Does this throw off your schedule the rest of the week?
ROGER FEDERER: No, not too bad. We'll see when I get home, but I guess I have a day off. I'm not even sure.
So I have played for two days in a row now. Was extremely hot yesterday, and then today really late. That's what tennis is all about. We don't know when we play and we don't have a set schedule, and so we have to be able to adapt and warm up several times for the match, because you never know what's going to happen beforehand.
Even though it's supposed to be 9:30, we know always it's always up in the air. That's what makes it tricky for us in some ways, but then you get used to it as a tennis player, because as juniors you start at 8:00 in the morning. In the pros it happens that it's 12:30 at night.
It's kind of what we get used to, and then it's nice to see actually fans stuck around, I guess. It's a big thank you to them, because I really expected them to leave after the first set or just not be around at all anymore when we came out. It was just really nice to see.

Q. How was the feeling out there?
ROGER FEDERER: Felt good. I really was able to hit freely tonight and play with great variation, and I think that really kept him guessing, you know, starting with the serve I think, and then I think after that with the forehand and backhand, my baseline game.
So, you know, everything worked the way I wanted it or hoped it to work, because I've played tough matches against him. I should have lost maybe two out of those eight now we've played. So I knew the danger of Olivier, and we know each other so well. He can find a way into the match and then make you doubt and find your weakness and so forth.
Today I just didn't allow him to play because I was playing too offensive.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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