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MASTERS SERIES MONTE-CARLO


April 20, 2007


Juan Carlos Ferrero


MONTE-CARLO, MONACO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously the game at 4-2 in the second set was the key, the turning point.
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah, of course. It was very important to win this point because, you know, I start to smile a little bit more and start to enjoy a little bit more inside the match.
And also I start to, I think, hit the ball stronger than I did at the beginning of the game and I start to dominate him more than at the beginning of the match. So I think it was very important, this game and this point.

Q. Did you feel at that time that he was a little bit down physically?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, I feel him a little bit down since the beginning.

Q. Really?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah. Because I saw him doing some things with the leg and some things with -- I thought that he was a little bit down physically, and I knew it because he started to come to the net very often.
I think he didn't do normally. So he start to make shorter the point, and -- but anyway, he was playing good. He was playing very good with his backhand down the line, and it was tough to me to follow the rhythm he put in the match.
But anyway, I think at the end I was playing very good with my forehand, very, very strong. And also was very important for me to take a lot of confidence.

Q. Gasquet says he thinks you're now definitely one of the Top 10 clay players. How close are you to the level you want to get back to?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Here we are again. It's amazing how -- I answer this question a thousand times. I don't to want compare the level that I was. I think I'm playing good tennis and I'm in the semifinal. I want to enjoy.
I don't want to say I'm a little bit down than I was, you know. I think I'm playing good tennis on clay and I want to show it tomorrow against Federer. It's not the way to compare that time and now. It's not -- it's always I'm going to be bad because that time I was No. 1 and now I'm No. 20.

Q. How are you feeling about playing Federer tomorrow?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Federer is No. 1 in the world. He's favored tomorrow, and I will try to play aggressive all the time and more to his backhand, of course, and try it serve good and try to not do a lot of mistakes.
Because he plays very, very quickly on clay as well, so I think physically I have to be very, very good and move very well.

Q. You played him nine times. What do you expect to change if you think it's needed?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I play against him in all surface: I play on grass, I play on hard, and I think I play the good games. In Dubai I had two matchpoints, and on grass I lost in two tiebreaks 6-3 in the first set.
So I felt good when I'm playing against him. On clay it's long time ago that I don't play against him.

Q. You retired.
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah, I retired in Rome. So I expect, you know, to have a very tough match. He improve a lot on clay courts, so I will try my best. If I play my best I expect to have a close match, but we'll see.

Q. What does he needed to do to improve on clay?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Him?

Q. Uh-huh, to be as dominate on clay as he is elsewhere.
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Not a lot, huh? He did amazing results last year: He did final here and final in Rome and final in Roland Garros.
So I don't think he has to improve a lot. He's playing very good and I think -- we say if he's so good on clay we don't have Nadal, because he's so good also on clay.

Q. So just to complete this, there's not a technical aspect that he could improve?
JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: No, I don't think so. One of his problems I think like two or three years ago was to move well on clay, and I think he improve it very well. He slides very good to his backhand and forehand, and he moves very well, so it's one of the keys on clay to play good.

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