Federer earned his 890th career ATP Tour victory, joining Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Guillermo Vilas as the only men to have won at least that many matches in the Open era.
Federer is seeking his first tournament title of the year at an event where he has won four championships and has a 41-8 career record. He now has Tuesday off to give his back a rest.
"It's not the first time it's happened in my career, so, I know how to deal with it," said the world number two."
"I'm walking fine, I have a day off tomorrow. Everything is all right," added Federer. "It's happened during grand slams, during tournaments, in practice."
"It's just something you learn to deal with. And as long as I keep on playing, it's all right. I also know I have a longer break to recover so, from that standpoint, I'm not worried at all."
Prior to Federer's victory, a 4.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 9.55am near Indian Wells. It occurred before the day's matches had begun, although the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was busy with fans and workers, many of whom said they felt a strong jolt.
Federer, who outclassed Dodig in all areas and dictated the tempo of the match, ran out of the house where he is staying during the tournament.
"I didn't know how long it was going to last, if it was going to get worse from there, or if the worst was already past," he said.
"It was a very strange feeling to have because you see the windows shaking and you look up and realise you're under a structure. It was quite scary for a second there."
The Swiss now meets compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka in round four. Wawrinka was a 6-4 7-5 winner over Lleyton Hewitt.
Federer has a commanding 12-1 lead over Wawrinka, with whom he won the doubles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Wawrinka’s lone victory came on clay in Monte-Carlo four years ago.
Date: 12th March 2013, Source: ESPN and Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment