SONY ERICSSON OPEN
Date: 2007-03-26

SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 26, 2007

Roger Federer
KEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA
The Moderator Questions, please.

Question Were you referring to yourself as an idiot (laughter)?
Answer Who else?

Question Well, I wanted to find out from you if that was the case.
Answer Yeah, I was a bit of an idiot on that shot, yeah.

Question We've all done it.
Answer Exactly. Me, too before. It just happened.

Question Did you get that from Phil Mickelson?
Answer Is that what he said?

Question I'm such an idiot. Remember when he made the double bogey on 18? That was original.
Answer Oh, okay.

Question Were you displeased? You looked displeased most of the match.
Answer No, I had to be very concentrated today, because I knew from the start he's a really big hitter. It was windy out there, and I'm still kind of looking to come back into the rhythm after not having many matches in the last couple of weeks.
I was happy the way I played today, to be honest. You know, it was tough to get the rallies going in the beginning because of the big serving from both players, or sometimes maybe a bit of poor returning, but I still think it was tough.
He served with a lot of kick from my side, so we were struggling to get the ball back into play. I think if I look at the whole match, I think it was a very good match and I can build on that for the next match hopefully.

Question The speed of the court, we've heard reports about that from everybody. Slow? Fast? Medium?
Answer I would think it's definitely on the slower side. Yeah, I mean, I think it's even slowed down through the last couple of years. That's my opinion. It feels very much like Indian Wells, and Indian Wells has always been very famous for being quite slow, I think.
Yeah, conditions all over the world are slowing down: Indoors, outdoors, hard courts, and also favoring all the different styles now and more and more the baseline.
That's what we usually have in the games, so it makes it hard to play incredibly aggressive.

Question Is it good for the game?
Answer Depends what you like as a --

Question For you, I mean.
Answer I think we still should have a bit more variety in surface speeds. In Dubai it's a bit quicker, Tokyo is quicker. But other than that I think every week is pretty much the same. Maybe it makes it easier for the player to adjust, but I still feel sometimes you should have slower and faster courts still.

Question Kei Nishikori, could you tell me your impression about him?
Answer I think he's a very good player. He came down from the Bollettieri Academy, so that's somebody to hit with every day. I really spend a lot of time on court with him, and I think he's a great player, so now it's just up to him to play the events and try to get his ranking up.
To me anyway he looks like a great talent, so I hope he can make the Top 100 soon.

Question Was the wind about the same as it always is? It's swirling, isn't it?
Answer In Miami or in general?

Question Here, yes.
Answer It's not so much swirling, it's coming from the one end. Depends on which side, it's just from one side to the other one. It's definitely so much more windy here that's in Indian Wells. It makes it harder for the rhythm.
I was really struggling with it in the first round and also in practice the first couple of days before my first match, so I was kind of a bit worried.
Yesterday I really had a good hit where I felt like I was really hitting the ball well again, and I think that showed in the match today. Wind always makes it hard, but once you get used to it, it actually can be a huge advantage for your game.

Question Maybe this is insulting, but was that drop shot intentional?
Answer It was, yes (smiling).