ATP MASTER SERIES MADRID
Date: 2006-10-20

ATP MASTER SERIES MADRID

October 20, 2006

Roger Federer
MADRID, SPAIN
Question You've won your 80th victory this year. Two years in a row you won 80 matches. What does it mean for you, such consistency?
Answer Well, it's obviously to great to win. It always is a sign of the hard work paying off somewhere. And the best way that it pays off is in wins.
So you can imagine, I've walked off the court 80 times as a winner this season, only five times as a loser. That's a great record for me. I'm really proud of those last two years now. I've only lost a small number. The 80 is not more special than 70 or 90, but it's a great number to reach that's for sure.

Question You've played three tie breaks in Madrid. Is that a concern for you, is that an issue for you?
Answer No. I'm winning them, so it's okay.

Question It's not a surprise because you usually win all the matches, and here in Madrid you seem to be having a little bit of trouble.
Answer The results always look very easy, but when you're here in person and see you see difficult the matches are, it actually shows how close every match is. This surface here is a bit faster. It's hard to break. So obviously you're going to play tie breakers. But it's no reason to become nervous. The tie breaker belongs to tennis as well. It's important that you have a good record and you can win them. So far for me there has been no reason to panic at all, no.

Question One more Hawk-Eye question. What happened with Mohammed during the match in talking about the Hawk-Eye?
Answer The thing was -- well, the ball wasn't called, and Ginepri was going to challenge. Then Mohammed overruled pretty late. So by him overruling, he's making me challenge the call instead of Ginepri, who was sure he was going challenge it. So I said I'm not going challenge it because I though that Robbie is right and I also felt the ball was out.
And he understood I challenged the call. So after that I lost the call. And after my second call basically I lost, I told him, you know, "I have one more call left, right?" Because I didn't challenge the first one.
And he misunderstood, and they already told. So then they decided to not let me have any more challenges. It was just more an issue of clearing things up, because he decided too quickly to challenge because I didn't want it to be challenged. It was just a misunderstanding between him and me. There's no problem.

Question The game tomorrow with Nalbandian, is it kind of special for you, you played 12 times with him, 6-6?
Answer Of course. We've played some great matches. Played many times, Grand Slams, Australian Open, French Open, U.S. Open, Masters Cups, every. The big scenes. We've helped each other in some ways in our career, we've killed each other in some ways in our careers.
I think it's always interesting when we play each other. We've always had good matches. He's had a really tough time getting so far, but he's always a good player and tough to beat. So I'm excited to play him again. I hope I can keep the winning record against him I've had lately against him.

Question Did you see him play this week?
Answer Just today.

Question What do you think about his game, his level, because he's always recovering at the end of the match?
Answer He definitely got unlucky/lucky. He should have won in two sets and then should have lost. But ended up winning. He fought well and played really well when he had to. So in the end I guess he deserves it. He was awfully close. That's maybe his problem, he makes too many close matches. That's why he occasionally loses once in a while. I thought he played well today.

Question Going back to the Hawk-Eye challenge. Don't you think if the system is there, why not take full advantage of it? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable knowing that every single close call would be cleared up? What is your take on that?
Answer If it's there, it's there to be used. If it's not there, that's how it usually is, you know. I don't feel like I need this guaranty of knowing if I'm right or wrong or if I'm getting a bad call or not. Because I feel there's still going to be bad calls. Soderling missed also two or three serves which were on the line, but he didn't challenge them because he didn't feel like they were in or whatever. There's still missed calls out there. That's why for me it's not relevant, the system.

Question Don't you think it takes the responsibility out of the umpire? Because him knowing that you can challenge if you want --
Answer It's definitely easier for the umpire now. He can sit back and relax and once in a while, only when he's 100 percent sure, he can make a call. Otherwise it's between us and the system.

Question Another thing, you're playing on consecutive weeks. Are you going to play Basel?
Answer Mm-hmm.

Question And then Bercy?
Answer Mm-hmm.

Question You seldom do that.
Answer Mm-hmm. What's the reason?

Question Sorry?
Answer What's the reason why I do that?

Question To play in your home town, right?
Answer Exactly.

Question Of course. My question is do you have special preparation when you're going to play three weeks in a row including two Masters Series events?
Answer No. I can't prepare especially for this. Preparations go more on Grand Slams and the entire season. I used to sometimes play five tournaments in a row. So now I feel like I'm fit enough to play three in a row. I don't think it should be a problem.
It's the end of the season. I think that's the difficult part, because you always have to be a bit careful with injuries. That's the problem I've had in the last couple of years. My goal is really to try to play the three tournaments and then play Shanghai. Because the last couple of years I've never played indoors, and I'd love to win Madrid. I'd love to win Basel and Paris. There's tournaments that I have not been able to win yet, so I'm trying to give myself the best chance this year.

Question The last time you played against David on such a surface was in Shanghai. If you had to compare your physical shape here and in Shanghai with numbers, what would you say you were?
Answer Well, obviously I feel way better now. I was struggling in Shanghai all the way through, but I beat him in the first round robin match. People don't remember. And then eventually I ended up losing against him in the finals.
This surface is quite different than the one in Shanghai because it's a rubber court there. Here it's on wood. I always think it favors me because he's beaten me in Basel as well on that surface before. I hope I can use this surface which is my favorite surface indoors to beat him tomorrow.

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