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U.S. OPENAugust 31, 2013Roger FedererNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK R. FEDERER/A. Mannarino THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. First of all, congratulations. Fantastic game. Always. ROGER FEDERER: Thank you. Q. Actually, it's your first time in this US Open to play at night. How do you feel? How do you normally handle that irregular schedule? ROGER FEDERER: I don't know. I just try to prepare like I prepare for every other match. Clearly when you play at night you have time to think of the match all day instead of just waking up and getting your stuff and coming here and then going to play the match. The first round should have been a night session match. It got pushed over to day session because of rain. I have played I think 20 plus matches under the lights here and other tournaments as well around the world for years, so for me there is not a special preparation I need to do. Very often during on the tour I play later in the day, usually, you know, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 p.m. It's something I'm used to. But in this stadium with this crowd it's always very particular, clearly, because it is the biggest stadium in the world, it is New York City, and you don't ever know how many times more you're going to play on this court. You always want to enjoy it. Q. What do you think about your next opponent, Tommy Robredo? ROGER FEDERER: I think he's a very good player. Mentally and physically really tough. I think he showed that in Paris this year. I think he won three five‑setters in a row. He's done very well for many, many years until he got some injuries and stuff. He's also a player I've known since a long time. He came through the juniors with me. He's only a year younger than I am. I know his game well. He knows mine really well. We have played I think over 10 times on the tour. I think he's got a great forehand, so I have to be wary of that always against him. Q. Did you watch the Hewitt‑Del Potro match yesterday? And if yes, what do you think of the effort of Lleyton? What do you think of his performance after so many injuries? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I saw some of the second set and literally the last game in the fifth when I came back from dinner. I thought that Lleyton had a chance going in. I practiced with him earlier this week I think on Monday for three hours, and he was looking great. I'm very happy for him. I like Juan Martin as well a lot. I've known Lleyton much longer. He's been one of my biggest rivals on tour, so I always like to see him do well, particularly here under the lights in NewYork. He deserves it. He's gone through a lot, you know, and I was very happy for him personally last night. Q. When you're playing a night session at the Open, it's sort of more of a putting‑on‑a‑show atmosphere than maybe a normal day show. ROGER FEDERER: That's true. Q. Is it disappointing to only have a match last 82 minutes? ROGER FEDERER: I like it like this, you know, (Laughter). I like three hours, five hours, too, as long as I end up winning them. But no doubt about it, you do feel more of the show factor at night than during the day. But it does feel great just for confidence, and I had a lot of fun out there. Also, even if it was 80‑something minutes, still a long time. It's not just three minutes, you know. So I'm happy that I had a good night tonight out there. Q. Since the draw came out, you know, everyone points to possible quarterfinal match between you and Rafa. Now that it's only one match away, have you thought about that at all? ROGER FEDERER: Not a whole lot, to be honest. Clearly follow the progress of the players, but today I didn't see anything during the day. Yeah, I mean, I think I only start really focusing on it once I'm really right there, you know, like the moment I would win my next round and he did the same. But as long as it's not the case, I'm really focused on making sure that from my side I do things the right way and professional. I don't look ahead, even though I understand the urge of the press, you know, to try to go there already, which is entirely normal. I have gone through that my entire career, people talking about our matches even before the tournament started. We're used to it. We know how to handle it. Clearly I think we both hope it's going to happen this time for the first time in NewYork. Q. You had kind of a tough year, but it's hard to tell that from your first week here in NewYork. You're playing like you're focused and as motivated as ever. What would you say is your chief motivation to keep going? ROGER FEDERER: My what? Q. Your chief, biggest motivation. ROGER FEDERER: I mean, like, you know, you can see it in many different ways, you know. Clearly you need a short term and a long term goal. Every day when you wake up, what are you trying to achieve? Clearly the love for the game needs to be there. If you're going to go through the grind of organization, of traveling, and going through practice and doing, you know, media and all that stuff, you need to have passion, you know. That's No. 1, I think. And then an isolated view, I mean, you come to NewYork, and if you're not excited anymore, you're in the wrong place. Then you don't like it. Then you don't like the sport the way you should. If you don't put in 100% effort here or, you know, in other places that really you care about, then something's wrong with you, you know. You may be in the wrong sport. For me, I'm just totally excited being here. I have always enjoyed playing. Have never had a bad tournament at the US Open. This is, again, another good tournament for me. I'm happy that I'm playing so well. You take it in your stride, you know. You try to play either as well as you have done in previous years, or you could draw motivation and inspiration from all sorts of angles, you know. It's been a tough year, but it hasn't been a horrible year, you know. I'm still ranked in the top 10. Okay, I have had better years, no doubt about it, but I can still play great tennis and sort of ten months ago I was world No. 1. Q. Your worst year is still much better than other people's best year. ROGER FEDERER: That's it. It all depends on how you look at it. Q. Tonight's match, it was such a show of force. You completely crushed poor Adrian. If you could talk just briefly about the match. ROGER FEDERER: Today? Yeah, I mean, I was very happy. I think I was able, like you said, to impose my game and at times overpower him, at times mix it up, and then serve well when I had to focus. He plays quite unusual, you know. The way he takes his backhand early, he's got a very short takeback and he hits extremely flat, as flat as anybody out there, especially on the backhand side. Then because he's lefty, sometimes that takes some getting used to, you know. Then there was a breeze. You always have to fight that, as well, and play with that, too. Really tried to hit through the ball and through the wind as much as I could. It worked well. Then I think once up a break, once up a set, playing with the lead is always easier. You can play more freely and even try a few things out. If they don't work, you go back to solid. It was important to obviously get the good start in the second set, and from then on it was always going to be difficult for Adrian tonight. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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