“I would love to win this event,” Federer told reporters Saturday on the banks of the Brisbane River. “I was close last year, after I had had a good week. I always like lifting trophies in a place that I have never been able to. I am unbelievably pumped up for this week. It’s a really good field, with a lot of promising players.”
Should the Swiss superstar win four more matches and lift his 74th tour-level title in Brisbane, he would become the third player in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach the 1,000 match wins milestone. Only Jimmy Connors (1,253) and Ivan Lendl (1,071) have done so.
Federer, who finished runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in last year’s final on his Brisbane debut, added, “I really had a great time here as a player and also as a family here last year. I couldn’t wait to be back. It really kicked off a great season for me in 2014. It was a good one to basically to the end, with victory in the Davis Cup.”
The World No. 2 compiled an ATP World Tour-best 73-12 match record on the 2014 season, including five ATP World Tour titles, and helped Switzerland win its first Davis Cup crown.
“Overall, it was a great season for me,” admitted Federer, who works with Severin Luthi and Stefan Edberg. “I was consistent and I was playing positive, attacking tennis, the exact way I want to play. I gave myself quite a few chances at the Slams. I want to go one step further, because being close is not quite good enough.”
He will play his first match of 2015 against wild card John Millman or a qualifier in the Brisbane second round on Wednesday night.
Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov also compete at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament this week.
Date: 3rd January 2015, Source: ATP
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