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DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS MENFebruary 28, 2013Roger FedererDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES R. FEDERER/N. Davydenko THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You looked very sharp tonight. Were you happy with that? ROGER FEDERER: I was very happy. Good match for me.  I served well from the start. Then also I thought I had good timing on the return in particular after missing a lot of returns in the first match. And the second match obviously he was serving bigger, Granollers. Today I thought I was really striking it well, and then virtue of that I was getting the first strike in and then I was able to control the baseline more. So it was a good match for me. Q. How easy is it to beat someone continually, 19 out of 21 victories over Nikolay, but to continually beat them? Does it play in your head? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, well, it's different if it would be 18‑0. Then you always feel like the next one would be the one, right? So I've got that one off my back. (Smiling.) I mean, I guess it's an advantage. It's got to be. So that's why I take the positives out of the match, out of the previous matches. But then again, every match is different. The surface changes. Some you play in the night, some in the day. Some with wind, some not. You can't always look back, and with a player like Nikolay, you don't quite know what you're going to get. How well is he hitting the ball? I thought he was really hitting the ball well, you know, getting through to the quarters and the players he beat. I knew I was in for a tough match. But then sometimes, you know, the better he strikes it, the more natural it is for me. Maybe it's a good matchup for me. Let's not forget tennis can be a game of matchups, and you try to be such a good player that you can almost then match up with almost any player. Sometimes it's just a way the player you are, you can only evolve so much against certain playing styles, and maybe that makes it difficult for him against me. I don't know what it is. Q. Talking about matchups, you're up against Berdych who has beaten you in a couple of big matches, most recently the US Open. How do you approach that? Your thoughts? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I haven't seen him play much this year. He's obviously a good player. He's got amazing power, one of the biggest sort of strongest guys out there on tour. I think he's really established himself now comfortably almost in the top eight if not top six. He's really, you know, playing good tennis week in and week out, which still a few years ago maybe he wasn't quite doing that. He's giving himself more opportunities against the top guys. And then if he can beat, you know, one or two, you know, every other time, next thing you know, he's become really confident. Then this is when he can make his next step. He's put himself in that position yet again. I mean, I've struggled somewhat against him, but very often it's because his game is so big that, you know, he just then sort of has a big say in the outcome of the match, you know. But I have had a couple of other ones where I have been able to come through. So we'll see tomorrow how it goes. I haven't seen him play at all here this tournament. I need to just focus on my game, I guess. Q. I read that you had given your support to the Olympic bid of squash. Is that the case? And if so, what is it that you like about that sport? ROGER FEDERER: I used to play it as a kid with my dad on Sundays if we had time or he had time. I always had time when I was younger. (Smiling.) I always enjoyed it, and I played it up until about, still maybe what, six years ago; not actively but when I had a chance and I wasn't too tired. It's been a few years now. I hardly play anymore just because of safety reasons. I've always thought it was a great sport. And in Switzerland, I don't know, back in the '80s when I was coming up, you know, it was a big thing. Everybody was playing it, very recreational. And now it's sort of badminton that has gotten better. And I think it would be a big huge boost for squash if they were in the Olympic Games. Automatically, you know, big countries like Russia or other ones would then all of a sudden invest more into squash and that game could take off. Who knows? I think, you know, I'd be happy personally if they would get the call for the Olympics. Q. Has it contributed to your tennis in any way, maybe retrieving on the forehand side? ROGER FEDERER: Maybe. Yeah, for me it was always very natural, more natural than badminton was. I never played badminton much as a kid except maybe on the beach. But squash has been, for me, a very natural game. I've always enjoyed playing, you know, racquet sports or ball sports, for that matter, for coordination. I think sometimes you can see, you know, that when I play tennis that I do play a bit of squash, as well. Q. Nikolay talked last night about with age he's started to struggle a bit with concentration over longer games. Is that something you've noticed, or do you actually get bored towards the end of matches, especially when they tend to run away? Like tonight's went very quickly, yeah? ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, it doesn't happen so often. Usually when I lose I have chances, you know. Very rarely am I down a double break and two sets to Love, you know. If it happens, things are over very quickly and you can sort of try and forget them and try to move on, and you hope it doesn't happen the following week and the following week. You know, I think I kind of know what he means. I think once you play 500, 800, 1000 matches, maybe sometimes you're like‑‑ you know, you try hard but it's okay to lose. That's not the mindset you want to have, you know. Even though it's normal to lose some, you always want to have the fire to come through somehow at the end, you know. So you sometimes just get a bit comfortable, maybe I call it, you know. I have really tried to fight that all the time to make sure I have enough fire going. And the motivation is not the issue. It's funny it sort of creeps in on you sometimes, you know, because you have done it for so many years, but that's why you need to keep practices exciting, matches, your daily routines. Even though you keep it the same way, you have to have fun doing it; otherwise it becomes a bit of a drain. I always change it up where I have practiced in the past, with who I've practiced, and, you know, make it fun with my entourage. Now obviously my kids, it's a totally new thing, so it is for Nikolay. I mean, those things are inspirational and motivational, I would think. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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