06/05/2011 23:51 CEST - INTERVISTE

Roger Federer (06-05-2011)

Q. You must be pretty pleased with that performance, just that one slight problem at 15 – 40
midway through the second set. Other than that pretty smooth.
A. Yeah I thought I was pretty much in control throughout the match except obviously in those couple break points downs in the second set, that was the close call. But I felt I was playing well, serving well when I had to and I thought Robin played a good at least one and a half sets in my opinion. Especially when he got important he played some of his best tennis which maybe at times is frustrating because I think mayeb I was doing all the right things and couldn’t get the set to break then that I was hoping for so maybe I was in a batten and had to save a couple break points myself but I overall I thought it was a good match against a good player and obviously pleased to be through to the next round.

Q. Roger, how does that set you up for what you are going to have to do tomorrow against Nadal,
especially in this ambiance?
A. Well I mean we have played here a couple times so its not like we are playing for the first time in this stadium. This is the third time in one year, we played also the charity match here, obviously doesn’t count as much but still we have had the experience and the atmosphere and everything so its not like it use to be two years ago or last year where I felt like we hadn't hardly played each other very much. I feel like we have played a bit more now we played in the finals of London, we played the Exo in Abu Dhabi, we played those two in Switzerland, we have played in Miami and here we go again so you kind of know what to expect a bit more this time around. Depends also a bit on the conditions because today was very windy actually for Madrid standards and I was quite surprised to find so much wind out on the center court because usually it is quite a protected court and in the warmup I didn’t feel that much wind coming our way so that was a bit of an adjustment we had to make, both of us I think. I'm excited to see what conditions will be like tomorrow because that will play a role a little bit on how we are going to play tomorrow for both of us.

Q. Roger, I wonder how much your rivalry between Rafa has helped in attracting people that weren’t interested in the sport at all before?
A. I mean I hope a lot but I don’t know. We will find out in magnitude when we both retire, you know, how great the rivalry really was. In the moment itself I think we really enjoy it, we obviously like to play each other in finals so this is a bit unusual even though we have played each other on two occasions already in semi finals, twice in Shanghai at the Master's Cup. This remains different but regardless I think this is a math that many fans a media want to see especially here in his home country. Its obviously special and nice and on clay, its obviously his territory a bit more but I’ve enjoyed my time with Rafa on the court, even though I have a lot more time left on the court with more victories. Still I think we have both learned a lot form each other and its been good for the game and a lot of good juniors will come through because of it.

Q. Roger how did you later analyze the match against Rafa in Miami?
A. I didn't really analyze it much, my reaction was not really impressed, just because I kind of felt like I completely missed a match like I missed a match in let's say the Dubai finals against Djokovic and unfortunately those things an happen. You hope they don't happen against top players bu they did so you just have to live with it and there was a change in surface anyway that I actually never spoke about because there was not much reason to, it was more about organizing the whole clay court trip, how we feel, how we see because I was coming through Miami pretty roasted and I was playing a lot of tennis, almost too much tennis and I just felt I was lacking practice. And I just felt in the match that I just couldn’t come up with the shots so I hope that this time around is going to be different and we will definitely look back now tonight or tomorrow at that nights match. It was good that Seved and Paul were both there to see that match and hopefully I will take the right decisions for tomorrows match before.

Q: Rafa said today that the Davis Cup is not really working, the fact that many of the best players are not really playing the tournament. I want to know what you’re opinions are considering that you also have your issues with the Davis Cup? Are there some changes that need to be made in the format, to play every two years, the best of three sets?
A: Well it’s a never ending debate isn't it? Whatever I’m going to say is going to be taken out of context in any shape or form from the ITF. It’s disappointing they don’t listen to us enough. It’s all I can say. They ITF seems to know best, what the players want and need and we all disagree with it so it’s just somewhat frustrating for us and then they shouldn’t be surprised when the best players don’t play. Obviously we’re in a tough position, a tough spot; some players cannot afford at all not to play Davis Cup because of where they come from and the pressure they get from fans and from media and so forth. They use that at times. I’m not saying in a bad way but they could just rely on those players to play anyway and other players like me have more of a choice because I can’t chases down world no.1, Grand Slams, Davis Cup, Olympics and Masters 1000’s and all the tournaments I’d like to play so you have to cut in somewhere. It’s a tough situation, we all know that and we got live with it unless the ITF is willing to talk and I don’t think that doesn’t seem to be the case so we’ll see

Q: We have in the semi-finals a no.36, Thomaz Bellucci; can you tell us what you know about him?
A: I don’t know that much about him. I’ve practiced with him I think once at that US Open. He’s a good player. Clay is definitely his favourite surface – his results show. He always plays the South American circuit early in February when usually all the players are playing on hard court so it’s obviously his number one surface and it’s nice to see another Brazilian player since Guga who I obviously had the pleasure to play against and who has unfortunately retired now. It’ll be interesting to see how he plays his first semis of a Master 1000. It’s a big occasion for him. I think he can play well at altitude. If I’m not mistaken, I think he also won the Gstaad title in Switzerland. He’s been improving as the years have gone by. Still a bit up and down that’s why is ranking is where it is but at that ranking you also have some big results like he just showed this week. Hopefully for him it continues.

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