TENNIS INTERVISTE COPPA DAVIS – Finale di Coppa Davis, Svizzera batte Francia 3-1. L’intervista del dopo partita.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. Roger, how far away did this victory look exactly one week ago when you had to retire? How much of a team effort was in it to make this victory?

ROGER FEDERER: Good question.

STAN WAWRINKA: Good question. It was for you so you have to answer (laughter).

ROGER FEDERER: I know (laughter).

Clearly we’re very, very happy. We had a good time since match point.

STAN WAWRINKA: Right, yes.

ROGER FEDERER: It’s Stan who put us in this great position for Sunday. You did (smiling).

No, it’s been a long week, but one of the best weeks we’ve had overall as a team. We really had a good time all together. Everybody worked very well. So many team members have been on the team for almost 10 years now, some longer. So we know each other very well.

Clearly we’re very happy to win it at the end. It’s great for everyone.

Q. Stan, what was it like for you sitting at the side of the court?

STAN WAWRINKA: No, it’s amazing feeling. The best. We all know how it’s great to watch such an amazing player when he’s playing good tennis.

Yeah, Roger, I still love you (laughter).

You know, I didn’t watch the beginning. I was watching from the locker room. I knew it was important to be ready in case for the last match. And I was ready. I had a great warmup with Mishi, who is really sick.

But, no, to be serious, was good. You saw the score. You saw how well Roger was playing, how he just killed Richard today. It was an amazing feeling. I’m really happy for everybody here. I think we’re all enjoying the time.

Q. Roger, obviously it was emotional for you at the end. Can you describe how this is different from the emotion of Grand Slams and Olympic wins, other highs in your career.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, everything feels a bit slightly different. But at the end it’s a tennis match. You feel great emotions. You’re unbelievably happy and relieved.

We wanted this clearly very badly, especially being up 2‑1. You inch yourself closer and closer. Clearly seeing Stan out there, the rest of the team supporting you, you push extra.

It was definitely one of the better feelings in my career, no doubt about it. So much nicer to celebrate it all together. So thanks for running up to me and screaming in my ear. It was good fun.

Q. Roger, did you ever have a situation like this, that you go so low last Sunday and so up in one week?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, I’ve had situations like this before, but not in terms of having to retire from a finals. That’s definitely a first. That hurt a lot. I was very disappointed, you know, when I had to take the decision. I already sort of sensed it Saturday night.

But I’ve played under tough conditions in the past, Wimbledon a couple times, 2003 and 2012. I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish the match, and I did. Ended up winning Wimbledon.

I’ve been there before and I think it helped me for this weekend on Friday, and also in the doubles and today again on Sunday.

Q. Roger, I would like to know what this title means personally to you and to Team Switzerland?

ROGER FEDERER: I think it’s an amazing day for sports in our country, in Switzerland. We’re a smaller country. We don’t win bigger events every other week. So from that standpoint I think it’s a big day.

I hope it can create things for the future for sports in general. If tennis, that’s great, but even for other sports, to inspire a generation and other people to invest more into sports. I think we have a fantastic team spirit that also is something that maybe people see and appreciate.

For me personally, obviously I’m unbelievably happy because I’ve been playing in this competition for probably almost 15 years now. At the end of the day I wanted it more for the guys and for Severin and Stan, the staff and everybody involved, you know. This is one for the boys.

We had a great time. I’m sure this is not the end yet. We still have a lot of hours left today (smiling).

Q. Roger, you have been full of praise for the medical staff. Can you give us insight into the amount of work they had to do over the week? This time last week in London, did you think you could play three matches in three days?

ROGER FEDERER: Obviously we spoke a lot, talked a lot about what are the possibilities for this weekend, how I was going to feel best quickly without neglecting I have a life, I still have a career to play next year.

The body needs time to heal and recover. So we gave that time to the body. At the same time Monday, Tuesday, I didn’t feel like I was going to play three days, no way.

After Friday I thought there was a chance, for sure. That’s when I felt most confident. But up until the match, I didn’t think that three days was actually possible, to be quite honest.

Q. Roger, what is the name of your chiropractor, if possible? I’d also like to know if on Friday it was your twin brother who played or you? Thirdly, if you’re going to play Davis Cup next year? Everyone thinks you will not. But will be great satisfaction to play a final in front of 10,000 Swiss people. And, Stan, did you get a congratulations from Mirka or not?

STAN WAWRINKA: Can you choose one question (laughter)?

ROGER FEDERER: I’ll answer one. I don’t have this much memory (laughter).

Q. Which one?

ROGER FEDERER: I don’t know about next year. There you go.

Q. Roger, are you familiar with the term ‘bucket list’?

ROGER FEDERER: I heard about it. But this is not part of it.

Q. You sort of downplayed the significance of this a couple weeks ago. I’m wondering if you feel differently today.

ROGER FEDERER: No. I feel exactly the same. Unbelievably happy. Amazing feeling to be celebrating with my friends. Just a great match, great atmosphere. It was a beautiful weekend for tennis.

Had a blast playing it. I thought it was a privilege. I mean that. Can’t thank Stan enough for the effort he’s put in this weekend to build me back up. Same for Severin. Just keeping me alive really.

It’s been a great few years we’ve had together. As well as the rest of the team, like I mentioned, this is something for us to share, like it was the Olympic gold, other great moments we had in our career. This is obviously one of them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. For the whole team. Now that the match is over, there’s no secrets to be held, could you tell us how many champagne bottles did you drink in the past two weeks or did you just drink the local beer?

STAN WAWRINKA: We’re still drinking water for the time being. You took our bottles.

Well, they put the champagne bottles in the locker rooms of the French team and they forgot to bring them to our locker rooms (laughter).

No, in fact, we’re still drinking water. We’ll have more time tonight.

Q. Roger and Stan, I know it’s a bit early to say something about next year, but what percentage of chances are you going to play in Belgium first round?

ROGER FEDERER: Are you from Belgium? So, Stan, you answer because you speak better French than I do.

STAN WAWRINKA: Yes, I speak better, but I’m drunk (laughter).

The percentage? I think the percentage we’re going to drink alcohol tonight is very high.

It’s a very good question, but it’s not the right moment to ask that question. We just won the Davis Cup. We’ve been fighting for that for years, all of us. We’d rather think about tonight, what we did this weekend, than thinking about next year.

Q. Among my French friends, most of the them except two, were in favor of Switzerland.

STAN WAWRINKA: Who are the exceptions (smiling)?

Q. What was the reason, according to you? Did you feel that on the court, that the stadium was on your side, even if you were playing abroad? Maybe all the French people are residents of Switzerland.

STAN WAWRINKA: No. The reason is we have Roger on our team. Everybody loves Roger. Everybody loves seeing him play. He’s a great champion. Everybody admires him. Even when we play Davis Cup, the crowd is half for us.

More seriously, I don’t really know the reason. We focused on what we had to do this weekend, on our preparation, and we were able to manage the whole week very well in spite of the problems we had in the team, the physical problems and everything that happened. We are happy we were able to win the tie on the court.

Q. Stan, remember you are the Citizen of the Year in Switzerland. You succeeded doing everything you tried this year.

STAN WAWRINKA: No, I didn’t succeed in everything. But clearly it is an exceptional year for me. I’ve been dreaming of this Davis Cup for years. I’ve been trying everything I can to win this competition. With Severin, with Roger, Mishi and Marco, all the staff, we had many experiences together during the past years.

This year maybe was the ideal year. It started off very well in Serbia. It ends up perfectly well here in France.

We are happy. We made many sacrifices during the years to be able to win it. We did it now. We are very happy.

Q. Roger, I imagine you remember your emotions when you won your first Grand Slam title. Can you compare the emotions then and the emotions of today? Can you compare this?

ROGER FEDERER: No, you can’t compare. When I won Wimbledon, it was a total shock honestly. Davis Cup is something that I knew was possible at some stage in my career. Of course, there was the pressure of being able to manage all this and make everyone happy with all the support we had for the team and everything. So it is a totally different feeling.

Also I was not alone on the court. This changes totally everything.

Q. You took a long time before touching the trophy. Were you afraid of this huge thing? You were almost timid.

STAN WAWRINKA: We told the French not to touch it before.

ROGER FEDERER: Well, the trophy is for the players and the team. Of course, I’m a percentage of this, but we are all together. I don’t think it’s important to know when I touched it or not.

Q. Stan, you said the French players were talking too much about the Davis Cup. Do you believe this had an effect today? Did they put themselves under too much pressure?

STAN WAWRINKA: At the end what I meant when I was saying they were talking too much about it, I mean, it was just my opinion. Everyone does the way they want to do.

In the end we spoke with our racquet on the court. That is the explanation of the result. We were better during this weekend. We saw how fast things could turn around. In the beginning of the week many things were written about me and Roger, Roger’s back. The French team said they were ready to go to war, if I can quote them.

What happened was totally the opposite. We just stayed calm and prepared well. We did our best on the court. We can be proud of that.