	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS

October 15, 2010

Roger Federer

SHANGHAI, CHINA

R. FEDERER/R. Soderling
6-1, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Looking at the result, that will resonate quite a lot. A scintillating performance. Do you agree?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah. A perfect score obviously. I don't know how long it's going to resonate because I'm playing again tomorrow. Not enough, I guess.
Look, it's a great match for me. Obviously surprising that it all went so fast. Somewhat close in the beginning. To get the 4-1 lead, I guess that was the hard work. After that, I was just able to roll away with the score. He started to struggle and it got more difficult.
Obviously, I know he didn't have some of his best days. But important I guess then is to take advantage of it and just be able to close him out because you would figure a top-five player like Robin finds a way at some stage during the match to crawl back into the match, but he wasn't able to do that. Had something to do with him, something to do with me, but I'll take a score like this any day.

Q. Does the fact that you can play without the roof give more energy to the occasion, likes fresh air tennis should be played?
ROGER FEDERER: Honestly it didn't feel very much outdoors. There was hardly any win. There are lights are very strong around so you hardly see that it's actually open. It was nice to get a bit of air, a bit of a breeze, very slightly even. I remember yesterday, it was just very thick air in the hall. I mean, we were all sweating a lot. All the matches I was watching, all sweating, breathing heavily. Today the roof was open. Perfect conditions. It was very nice to play this way.

Q. Obviously the Chinese fans adore you. How does that boost your confidence for tomorrow's game with Djokovic?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he also has his fair share of fans. I've been here since a long time. I've been coming here first time eight years ago. Obviously I've had some incredible success here. This has been one of my most successful hunting grounds when it comes to tennis, you know, in my career.
I think the fans feel that I like coming to this part of the world, not just for the tennis tournaments, but I can even imagine myself coming over here for vacation or spending some time in Asia in general.
I'm interested in a country that has so much history like China. That's why I'm happy I have so many fans around the world, but especially here in China. Try hard to, you know, be liked, but there's never a guarantee. I like it that I have great fan support. We'll see tomorrow.
Next to all of the good things you need to do, you also need to play a bit of tennis. I'm happy I made it so far in the tournament. We'll see where it takes me now.

Q. You said you worked extremely hard in the last three weeks. What specific things did you work on? Do you think it has paid off already or was it for the longer term?
ROGER FEDERER: It's a combination of working for the year-end season and also next year, because the year-end break is really short as well. So it's a combination.
Severin was with me the whole time in Dubai. We worked on everything. He was in contact with Paul as well. Things went perfect. Didn't have any pain. It was extremely hot. It was 39 degrees every day. That was kind of the toughest part.
But it work the out well, fitness and tennis. Played actually a lot of tennis I think. And that was good, because I already had a great buildup after Wimbledon. I just think it shows a bit because before I had some issues in some of my buildups, I couldn't work properly because of pain here. In February, I had the lung infection. So those kind of things, maybe you feel them down the stretch maybe in Paris, Wimbledon.
Look, I'm happy the way I'm playing right now. I'm moving well. Coordination seems like it's working well. Yeah, it's tough conditions here. It's really slow, so you have to be smart the way you play from the baseline.

Q. Quick game today. What kind of game are you expecting tomorrow against Novak?
ROGER FEDERER: Tougher rallies obviously. I think Robin couldn't really stay in the rallies. He missed early or just didn't serve so well. I was able to read his serve really well. Obviously for a big guy, if that's not really working well for him, he's not going to be able to be so dangerous. I think that was his biggest problem today. Like I said, I anticipated well. I had good shot selection, I think.
Tomorrow is going to be different, more difficult, a bit more tactical I guess. Interesting match, you know. We've always had good matches against each other, especially on the hard courts. They've always been very even. I don't know who has won more on the hard courts, but I would imagine the hard courts are pretty even for us.

Q. In today's baseline rallies you hit the balls short which made your opponent make lots of mistakes. Did you do it on purpose or is it something Paul Annacone told you to do?
ROGER FEDERER: I wish I could hit every ball exactly where I wanted to hit it. Sometimes they do land short, unfortunately. Some hit them in the corner, some miss them. There's not always a proper tactic to that.
I had a couple times I would say I tried to get him in a bit so he had to not only move side to side but forward. I've always been doing that against Robin in the past. I have a wonderful record against him. Played so many times, I know the secret how to play him. Obviously it's important also what Paul has to say.
It's hard to take anything into consideration for this match today after playing him in Paris and the US Open. Conditions were so different. It was raining in Paris. The slow clay. It was unbelievably windy at the US Open. This was finally some proper conditions to play in. The result turned out to be this way. It was obviously a big shock for me, too.

Q. You mentioned tactical things with Novak for the match for tomorrow. You played so many times together. Is there something new to try to do?
ROGER FEDERER: It's in the details. I think it's in the details, obviously. I usually take it to him. He knows that I try to play aggressive, take the ball early. Because I'm doing that, he has to do it, too.
I have to play differently against him than I have to play against most any other player. He has to do the same thing because he knows maybe the regular rally ball isn't going to be enough. That's why sometimes it sounds more difficult, but it's more simple. You know exactly what you need to do. You only get one shot in the rally sometimes. This is where you have to pull the trigger, otherwise you'll be jerked around. Next thing you know, it's like you're running always after the ball instead of taking control of it.
Look, I thought we had a good match at the Open and I hope we can live up to expectations again tomorrow.

Q. At the end of another long season there's been a lot of talk about the short off-season. I'm wondering if you think there's a concerted effort now to address this and whether there could be a longer off-season in a couple years if it's approved by the ATP board at the end of November?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, we'll see how it's going to be. We've had talks with the tournaments. Obviously players would love a shorter season. There's no doubt about it.
But, you know, it's always a give-and-take with the tournaments. I hope they really understand this point. I don't remember the year finishing so late ever. I think this is the latest it's been ever maybe or in many, many years. I don't remember the year finishing so late five years ago, ten years ago.
But it's what it is. I think if the season is long, you have more breaks in the season than you do normally, if you're smart about it. If you ran after points and tournaments, it's normal that the season becomes endless.
I can live with either one. I think if you're injured for a period of time, you can get some points down the stretch and your ranking is not going to drop like a stone. But I still think it's a smart idea to cut the calendar short without hurting too many tournaments, and I hope that we can reach a good agreement there.
I'm pretty confident that it's going to work out for everybody.

Q. You have stayed in Shanghai for a week. You must miss your wife and daughters very much. How do you connect with them? Some interesting things happen to your daughters during this period?
ROGER FEDERER: What has been going on? I've been calling them every day multiple times. Just staying in touch, you know, seeing how they're doing, the kids, Mirka. I think it was very different at the beginning. Now we somewhat kind of got used to it.
We know that the end's near. I'll see them in a few days, so it's all okay now. Mirka obviously tells me many great stories about the kids, what they're doing and stuff. It's fun. But it's not the same as being with them, that's for sure.

Q. Novak played doubles here in Shanghai. Do you think that is going to be an advantage physically?
ROGER FEDERER: That he played doubles? Did he win or lose?

Q. He lost today.
ROGER FEDERER: That's a good thing for me. Doesn't matter if he played or not, if he's tired, but that he lost, so his confidence goes down (smiling).
He's hardly dropped any games in his singles. Obviously he's won Beijing. It's interesting to see him play singles and doubles here. He must have his reasons. I think he's got two weeks off before he plays in Basel again. So his schedule seems fine, you know.
Look, the doubles take, what, an hour, an hour and 15. We're used to practicing three, four hours. I don't think it's going to make him particularly tired.
I'm the one that is still here. He's maybe already cuddled up in bed. I also have to go back and get ready for tomorrow. I think we're playing at 8 p.m. again. It's all right. I got enough of a rest. My match was very easy, too. I don't think this match will be decided on fitness tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297