|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 7, 2013Roger FedererLONDON, ENGLAND R. FEDERER/R. Gasquet THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How are you? Maybe I make a mistake, but I have the impression you were a little bit tired with your legs. ROGER FEDERER: No, I don't think so. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the case. But it's just I think the movement, the coordination is not exactly how I want it to be, you know. Sometimes I'm in two minds. But that's where I think today was just a battle for myself, making sure I move the right way, I play the right way, I have the right shot selection. Maybe also just getting used to the conditions a little bit. Richard does a good job of making you feel, you know, uncomfortable at the same time as well because he uses heights, spins really well. He likes extended rallies. I'm trying to force the issue. But I guess those are the kind of matches I need right now. You know, straight sets against a good player. Clearly comes at the right time right now. Q. Talking about your personal situation, family and so on, is good. That helps your game or you need more independence? If your personal life is okay, in the court, it can make you a better player, performer? ROGER FEDERER: I would think so, yeah. I think if things are good in your personal life, you definitely play better tennis. I think the tennis player also has to be able to play tennis when things are not okay in your personal life, even though things are right now. That's the tough part, you know. That's what people never talk about, write about, because everybody assumes we're always okay, we're always happy and we're always feeling great. In the personal life, everything is wonderful. It's not always the case. We have problems of our own, sometimes smaller, sometimes bigger. But I think important is when it comes to the crunch and you walk on the court, you try to block that out for the time you're on the court. Not always easy. Because there's a lot of sort of downtime as well on the tennis court where you look around, where you think about it maybe potentially, and it's clearly happened once before in my 15 years on tour. So I'm a master today at it, you know, to block it out. Q. Can you compare this season, which has been by your standards, unsuccessful in terms of winning trophies and tournaments, compared to those five years when you were at the top. Is winning right now difficult wins, are they more valuable now compared to when you were absolutely untouchable? ROGER FEDERER: It's totally different. I needed the hard‑fought wins back then to go on and win the tournament. Now I feel like the hard‑fought wins are there to get me back to a really good level, a very competitive level, you know. I'm not coming back from a serious injury, but I'm coming back from a lot of sort of ups and downs, resetting things, trying out things, making sure I get my confidence back, my movement and so forth. So it's a totally different situation. It's hard to compare really. At the end of the day, many of the matches you do play, you're actually not playing your very best. Those are the ones you just have to scrape through sometimes. Those are the matches down the stretch nobody ever will talk about again, because they'll talk about the semis and the finals, usually just the finals, not the first couple rounds. That's the beauty of it. When things go well, it's all rosy. If things don't go so well, you start digging. That's kind of what happened a little bit this year for the media sometimes. Q. About the Viktor Troicki case. Novak said he doesn't trust the anti‑doping system any more, WADA. Is this a general feeling among the players? What do you think about it? ROGER FEDERER: What's the latest news? He got it reduced to a year, is that correct? Q. Yes. ROGER FEDERER: Honestly, I don't talk a whole lot with other players about it. I just feel like we're not getting maybe tested enough. I didn't get tested in Basel, I don't think. I didn't get tested in Paris, I don't think. I got tested here after the first match. I just feel like there needs to be more testing done. I know the budgets can be small sometimes, all these things. I had out‑of‑competition testing before Basel. I just feel like I used to get tested more, I felt. I think I was tested 25 times in 2003, 2004. Ever since, I think it's been clearly going down this season. Because I haven't been playing so well, I maybe also missed those days when I was there. Also last year when I was on the run, what was it, Dubai, Rotterdam, Indian Wells, when I won the three, and the year before that, I didn't get tested in one of those three events that I won. For me, that's not okay. You just show up and test a guy that's winning everything. That's sometimes what I struggle with. Overall I trust the system. I think they're all very professional. I just think it's very important that they treat us like normal human beings, not criminals. It's fine to treat a guy bad if the guy tested positive, the guy needs to feel the pain, but not if you haven't done anything yet. That, to me, seems like that's the case. So I appreciate that. Q. I know obviously this tournament isn't done yet. In the off‑season, you're not doing South America this year. Are you doing more of a conventional off‑season? ROGER FEDERER: Yes. Q. Presumably that has cost you quite a bit of money because they'd like you back in South America, but you've foregone that to do a more conventional off‑season. ROGER FEDERER: Look, I didn't do it because of the money, number one. I made enough money during the course of my career. So South America for me was something I've always wanted to do. I've never gone there as a touring professional. I was once there in the juniors, that was just Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela. I've always wanted to go back there. Davis Cup or any tournaments never got me there, so I was like I'd really like to make it a fun exhibition tour, which was clearly the case last year. I had the best time of my life really. It was incredible. I don't know if you saw pictures or videos, whatever it was. But the crowds were out of this world. It's something I wouldn't want to do right away, but I was a little hesitant if it was not going to be too much back‑to‑back years to do a South American schedule. Then I stalled. When I stalled, it means I'm not sure. Then I called it off and I think it was too late to do anyway. That's when I was quite happy seeing my year how it progressed. Now I thought it was important to focus just on practice, on some quiet time. That was anyway the theme for 2013, making sure I don't overplay, do too many things, that I don't travel too much. That's why I took the seven‑week breather after Indian Wells. That's why I hope in 2014, I will play a tougher schedule, or I'll have options if I want to. Which in '13 was hard with the whole thing. That doesn't mean I'm not going to play any exhibitions moving forward. But I'm quite happy this year taking it easy in the off‑season, to be quite honest. Q. One more question on drug testing. In Troicki's case, his problem seemed to be that he wasn't aware of how serious the consequences were of not doing the test that day, of coming back the following day. In your experience, are the players told clearly enough that if you're called for a test, you must do it that day? ROGER FEDERER: Uhm, look, I don't know the conversation, the situation, exactly what happened. It's very important, I guess, the chaperon, the guy who comes and is next to you like a shadow, sometimes you don't know who that guy is. Sometimes they're a little hesitant because you just lost a match and you look extremely angry, so they don't dare to talk to you. They should probably just introduce themselves and say what is going on. Then you run to the toilet, can't go to the toilet. It's happened to me one time. Then the guy has to stay with you all night. It just becomes really complicated. But I do believe that when you are requested for a sample, you have to give the sample. It doesn't matter how bad you feel. I'm sorry. Like the test the next day for me is not a test anymore because what could have happened overnight, you know. I don't believe anything. I believe whatever they decided on. I think it's just very important to give the sample when you're requested to give it because there you are in front of them and there is no way to escape anymore. That's where we just need to be extremely firm, I believe. Q. I think now if you beat Juan, you'll definitely be through to the last four. You've played each other twice very recently. How much confidence do you take from the Paris win? ROGER FEDERER: Well, I don't think it's exactly like you said. I don't think I'm automatic. I think if he beats Novak today, things are quite complicated yet again, which I'm happy to be part of that funny game again. But, no, look, I think the win in Paris was big for me, because he did beat me three times indoors straight, the Basel finals twice, and also here last year. All very special in its own way because Basel is my home city. So it was very interesting for me to be playing the finals there against him, then here last year I was already qualified, so sort of those matches that are hard to manage. But I tried, I fought, and he did better. I'm glad I got one back in Paris because I knew we could be again in the same group, we could be playing each other. Think that win for me in Paris psychologically was very important.  I could beat top 10 guys, I beat Richard, I beat Juan Martin last week. I truly believe my confidence is higher, and that's what I need to beat the best, and Juan Martin is part of that group honestly. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|