29.04.2009

ATP - A SOLID START

Roger strolled to victory in his first match in Rome today, defeating unseeded Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-4.

The big serving Croatian opened the match with two aces and Roger was forced to fight off a breakball when serving for the first time. Nevertheless, our champ never really got into trouble, doing exactly what he needed, to progress in just 1hour 8minutes.

Roger broke Karlovic early in both sets and had no more problems upon his own serve as from the start of the second. It is Roger's 8th victory in 9 matches against the Croat, the one defeat was last summer in Cincinnati.

Next up will be the winner of the match between Radek Stepanek (CZE/ATP 19) and Feliciano Lopez (ESP/ATP 32). Roger lost to Stepanek 6-7, 6-7 in last year's quarter final here in Rome.

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28.04.2009

OFF COURT - KIDS CLINIC IN ROME

Roger thrilled his youngest fans yesterday when he spent time with a whole group of children during a kids clinic in Rome. The kids were given the opportunity to ask questions and even hit a few balls with Roger on the opening day of the 'kids village' on the grounds of the Internatzionali BNL d'Italia.

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26.04.2009

ATP - INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

Roger received a first-round bye for the ATP-1000 tournament in Rome which starts this week. He will either meet Ivo Karlovic (ATP 23) or a qualifier in his first match. Novak Djokovic is on the same half of the draw and is a possible opponent for the semi finals.

Roger spent the last few days training with his fitness coach Pierre Paganini. "I'm expecting big things from myself, especially looking ahead for the French Open. I would like to go extremely far there and create the opportunity to win the one slam I haven't won yet," Roger said.

Our champ was upset by Radek Stepanek in the Rome quarter-finals last year. He has reached the final twice, losing to Felix Mantilla in 2003 and to Rafael Nadal in a fifth-set tiebreaker in 2006.

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21.04.2009

OFF COURT - THE WEDDING

This weeks Swiss magazine "Schweizer Illustrierte" features a 12 page article on Roger and Mirka's wedding with exclusive images and reports.

Mirka wore a wonderful Empire-dress by Oscar de la Renta and Roger was dressed in a classic suit by Tom Ford. After the ceremony at the civil registry office in Basel the 39 invited guests followed the newly-weds to a villa in an old park in the surroundings of town.

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16.04.2009

ATP - OUT AGAINST WAWRINKA

Unfortunately Roger was not able to display his best tennis today, losing to his Olympic gold-medal doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 5-7 in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters today.

Our champ had to face a total of 14 break points and eventually lost in two sets, being defeated for the first time by Wawrinka in their third encounter (2005: Rotterdam, 2006: Dubai). Roger's partner on Switzerland's Davis Cup team will next meet qualifier Andreas Beck of Germany in the quarterfinals.

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15.04.2009

ATP - NO HITCHES FOR ROGER

Roger got his clay-court season off to a solid start with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Andreas Seppi in Monte Carlo.

Roger went into his opening match with a 4-0 record against Seppi, the world number 40. He made the first breakthrough with some heavy forehands in game nine after saving two earlier break points. Two magnificent games followed from our champion as he served out the set and broke at the start of the second, going on to seal a comfortable victory.

Roger will now play his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round.

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15.04.2009

ATP - PREPARATION FOR ROLAND GARROS

Roger, Rafael Nadal, Gaël Monfils, Andy Murray... A total of 12 of the best players of the Tour will take part in the inaugural Guinot Mary Cohr Masters première tournament, set for May 20-22 at the Paris Golf & Country Club in Rueil-Malmaison on the outskirts of Paris.

Eight other players including David Nalbandian, Marat Safin, James Blake, Tommy Haas, Stanislas Wawrinka and the Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Arnaud Clément will join this dream quartet for an unusual and original set-up.

The players will meet as teammates and opponents in a unique new event that will be staged on red clay in Paris providing ideal preparation for the French Open. The team competition will feature the same balls and court conditions as Roland Garros. The 12 players will be divided up into two teams of six, Guinot vs. Mary Cohr, coached by internationally renowned captains. Two best-of-three set matches a day from 1:30 p.m. onwards will commence. Each player will play once only during the three-day tournament and the two captains will challenge one another on the Friday just before the presentation of the trophy. Because the stands are nearer the courts than anywhere else, the spectators will get a close-up of the stars in competition.

Link:
Guinot Mary Cohr Masters

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11.04.2009

OFF COURT - MR. AND MRS. FEDERER

Dear Fans

Earlier today, in my hometown of Basel, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family, Mirka and I got married. It was a beautiful spring day and an incredibly joyous occasion.

Mr. and Mrs. Roger Federer wish all of you a Happy Easter weekend.

Love,
Roger

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09.04.2009

ATP - MONTE CARLO

Dear Fans

I have decided to accept a wildcard into the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament that begins on Monday. I will head there this weekend to start the clay court season.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support.

All the best,

Roger

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04.04.2009

ATP - OUT IN THE SEMIS

Roger was knocked out of the Sony Ericsson Open semifinals by No. 3 Novak Djokovic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Friday afternoon.

After winning the first set comfortably against an error-prone Djokovic in just 25 minutes, Roger unfortunately faded badly in the second. Under windy conditions, our Swiss won just 57 percent of first serve points in the second and it got worse in the third as Djokovic broke at the first attempt.

" I definitely struggled with my timing," Roger explained after the match. "You kind of try hard, and then it's just not
working. Today it is different just because there's so much wind. Once you start feeling bad, it's kind of tough to regroup."

In the third set, although Roger won two games in a row from 4-0 down, Djokovic finished the match and could capture his third win in 10 attempts against Roger.

Roger now heads to Europe to play the next tournaments on clay.

Roger Smashed his racquet against Djokovic :

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02.04.2009

ATP - ROGER WINS THRILLER

Roger continued his domination of Andy Roddick, this time winning a tough match, topping the former world No. 1 American, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 Wednesday to move into the semifinals at the Sony Ericsson Open.

13-time major titlist Roger was locked in a battle with Roddick for more than two hours, but despite 37 unforced errors, 20 more than his opponent, the Swiss pulled through. Roger had 42 winners, compared to 15 for Roddick.

"Here I had to adjust for a little bit to the night conditions, but I thought it was much easier than in Indian Wells where the ball is flying much more during the day, and during night it's way different."

Roger will next meet Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semifinals."I have a good record (7-2) against Novak, so I hope I can play well against him again," said our star.

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01.04.2009

ATP - QUARTERS AGAINST RODDICK

Roger halted Taylor Dent’s comeback bid by defeating the American qualifier 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday to reach the quarter-finals at the Masters in Miami.

Our star needed just 85 minutes to earn a place in the final eight, but had to overcome a few delicated moments, especially in the first set: serving at 2-all, Roger fought off eight break points in a remarkable sequence to take the lead for good and realized a break in the sixth game by winning the first set 6-3. In the second set Roger broke his opponent’s serve twice and finished the match.

In the next Roger will face fifth seeded American Andy Roddick who advanced with a win over France's Gael Monfils. Roger has won 16 of their 18 matches but lost to Roddick in the Key Biscayne quarterfinals last year:
"We've had some big matches over the years. I played him at the Australian Open and played well against him. He seems like he changed a couple of things in his game so it should be a good match."

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