ROGERS MASTERS
Date: 2007-08-12

ROGERS MASTERS

August 12, 2007

Roger Federer
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
The Moderator Questions, please.

Question You played against him before. How much do you think he improved?
Answer I played four times against him. Never lost.

Question So?
Answer So? (Smiling) No, he played well. Like I said, he's an up-and-coming youngster who is improving almost by the day because they're so young, you know, they learn a lot with all the matches they play, with the travelling. So for this reason he definitely played great tournament. He's been able to back it up now since basically a year now.
If he keeps this up, you know, he's going to create some chances also at the Grand Slams because he's been able to come to two semifinals already in his career. This obviously might be a breakthrough tournament for him.
I was impressed the way I played, but nothing to the point where he surprised me. I knew how he was playing, so that was a good thing.

Question Looking at the big picture and your aims for the whole year, how significant is a defeat in a final such as this? Is it significant or not?
Answer Insignificant (smiling).

Question Can you elaborate on why and what your major goals are?
Answer The goal was to win Wimbledon. Done that. Try to stay No. 1 in the world. It would have helped to win today. Can't have it all. You know, looking at the US Open, looking down the road, as well, the Masters, still a long way to go. So I can't start being disappointing about just one match.
I mean, he played well. I couldn't get the job done.

Question You played some good tennis. Has it been good preparation?
Answer Good preparation, yeah. I've been very happy with the month following Wimbledon when all went well. I'm in good shape mentally and physically. I'm really in top form.
Looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Question Do you appreciate the look of his game, a little more similar to yours, than Rafa? Do you appreciate that part of his game compared to Rafa?
Answer No, not really. I mean, he plays like many other players on tour. You know, I mean, he's steady off the baseline, he's got a pretty good serve.
But, yeah, I mean, like himself, he says nothing outrageous in his game. Always pretty predictable, which is a good thing.
Yeah, you get some good rallies against him because he scrambles well, moves to the ball well, moves the ball around very nicely. Yeah, I enjoy playing against him.

Question How would you rate your form today? What were you happy with and what weren't you happy with?
Answer Well, the way I came back, you know, because I was down quite a few times in the first set. Second set it was tough, you know, after what I went through at the end of the first. Then the third set, as well.
I could never really breathe. Maybe that was a bit my problem today. It's such a pity, you know, when I start a match against a player like him serving so bad in the opening game.
It was quite windy at the beginning and I was just not sure how much risk I should take on my shots. So all in all, it was not a -- too bad of a performance. Too many ups and downs. Then totally missed my chances when I had them. Like I said, he hit very freely in the tiebreaks.

Question He's long stated his ambition to be No. 1, which not a lot of players do. No one has pushed you for that ranking in quite a long time. Do you view him as more of a threat than any other player or in with the crowd?
Answer I see him second after Nadal. That's my opinion.

Question You were hitting your forehand perfectly earlier in the week. Today it was slightly off. Any particular reason? Wind?
Answer Yeah, it was windy. You know, I couldn't play that freely from the baseline today 'cause I was always, you know, was in a tough situation, whereas against the other players, I was able to get a break away, get ahead. So today I had to be a little bit more keep the ball in play, but it was not easy.
So, yeah, it was a tough match. But it was okay. Nothing too bad.