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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS

April 12, 2011

Roger Federer

MONTE CARLO, MONACO

R. FEDERER/P. Kohlschreiber
6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A nice workout, 50 minutes?
ROGER FEDERER: Don't be bad to Philipp. Look, he also tried his best. Look, I think clearly a good start for me into the clay-court season. Not much I can take out of this match, I think, except maybe I varied it well that he couldn't play his game.
But, you know, he wasn't able to or he couldn't really play aggressive the way maybe he was hoping to do today. I was able to do all the things I was hoping to. You know, I was consistent, consistently dangerous, too. I felt well in the offense, and in the defense I was fine.
But then at the end, it's a quick match. Up to me to back it up in the next match really.

Q. Were you especially pleased with the way you were finishing points at will, the way you wanted to play?
ROGER FEDERER: Exactly. Look, sometimes there are opponents it works really well against. Others, you realize you have to work the point differently. Today it just all happened.
But, like you say, I could finish the point almost whenever I wanted to. I was quite surprised because I know how good Philipp is and how heavy his ball actually is. I was actually quite surprised I was having no problems with his serve. I wasn't struggling when he was giving me the heavy forehand roller or the backhand roller, which he's really good at.
We know each other really well. He came to Switzerland last year to practice with me in the summertime after Wimbledon. We had great workouts together.
There's no real secrets out there. That's why I'm particularly pleased he wasn't able to exploit any of my, let's say, weaknesses, that I was able to do all that really.

Q. One assumes, as experienced you are, the first game on a new surface is always a little bit of a touch of nerves.
ROGER FEDERER: Like you said, it's a bit nerve-wracking. You figure if you get off to a bad start, you figure, Hmm, what am I going to do to get back into it? You can stay calm as much as you want to. If you are not getting the returns back into play the way you want to and you are doing all the running, that's quite stressful.
None of that this year, which I'm happy about. I can look forward.

Q. Every time you play a tournament, you play to win it. What does it mean for you the fact that Nadal won six times in a row this tournament?
ROGER FEDERER: That he's clearly the overwhelming favorite for this tournament, even though I haven't seen him play yet. Let him prove his point first once again.
Look, we all know how good Rafa is on this surface. He rarely struggles against guys out of the top 20 on this surface. That then obviously allows him to cruise sometimes. He obviously has a big affection for this place here. To win the tournament six times in a row, I know how hard it is. I don't think I've done it anywhere.
So this is something very special for him, going for number seven. He'll try his very best and he'll be hard to beat.
It doesn't change a whole lot for me because I'm, once again, on the other side of the draw. If it were to happen that I play him, I'll try to prepare the best possible way and play much better than I played against him in Miami.

Q. I wanted to know your approach. If you get to the final, are you happy, or if you just get to the final you're not happy because it's not enough?
ROGER FEDERER: No, I won't be happy losing against him in the finals. It's not fun. Maybe you want to do it once, lose a final 6-2, 6-3, be there in the trophy ceremony. I don't know. I prefer other things than that one (smiling).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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