Roger Federer's Madrid 2011 Saturday Interview and Hot Shot

Date: 08.05.2011

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Rafa fights back to beat Federer in Madrid

Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer served up another classic in the 24th chapter of their great rivalry on Saturday, Nadal battling back from a set down to win 5-7 6-1 6-3 and secure a place in the Madrid Masters final.

The Spanish world number one, who replaced Federer at the top of the rankings, made the most of his opponent’s lack of consistency to set up a meeting in Sunday’s final against second seed Novak Djokovic or Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.

While the match under the closed roof of a packed Magic Box arena lacked the spine-tingling drama of previous showdowns, some of the shot-making, incuding one incredible exchange in the final game, drew gasps of delight from the 12,500 spectators.

“We know each other very, very well and I think we are sometimes thinking more about what to do to bother the other player rather than playing our best,” Nadal, who took his win-loss record against Federer to 16-8, told a news conference.

“Here I think Roger played great tennis for some moments but at others he made more mistakes than usual.

“But it’s always a special match and it’s a pleasure playing against him, it’s always an honour.”
The heavyweight pair, who own 26 grand slam singles titles between them, had met in the last two Madrid finals, with Federer winning in 2009 and Nadal gaining revenge last year.

SEARING WINNER

After a minute’s silence for Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros, who died earlier on Saturday, Nadal seized the initiative and got the crowd behind him when he broke the Federer serve in the opening game.

The Swiss littered his play with unforced errors but began to find his form in a commanding service game to stay in the hunt at 3-4 and then claimed a break of his own to draw level.

After saving three break points in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead he went on the attack and a searing forehand winner down the line with Nadal off balance gave him a one-set lead.

Federer was broken straight away at the start of the second set and lost his cool with the chair umpire on the decisive point when he thought a Nadal shot called good was wide.

“You think he (the line judge) has a clue?” a clearly angry Federer asked and continued his complaints while the players changed ends.

With Oscar-winning Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and Real Madrid defender Ricardo Carvalho among those watching on, Nadal stormed into a 4-0 lead and another break in the seventh game took the match to a deciding set.

Nadal’s coach and uncle Toni looked anxious in the family box as his charge saved a break point that would have given Federer a 2-1 lead before he chased down a drop shot and dinked a brilliant angled winner on the way to moving 3-1 ahead.

It seemed there might be a late twist when Federer had a chance to break back with Nadal serving for the match at 5-3 but he missed his return and the top seed converted his first match point for a memorable comeback win.

OBVIOUSLY HUGE

Federer was measured about the disputed line call when he spoke at his post-match news conference.

“If it goes my way it’s obviously huge, if it goes his way it’s huge,” the 29-year-old said.

“Look, at the end of the day I don’t know how it was. I don’t care anymore, it’s in the past.

“Yesterday I got lucky I guess at 15-40 against Robin (Soderling) when I got a good call and today I didn’t so it’s the way it goes sometimes.

“I thought Rafa played well and me too at times so it was a good match.”

Date: 07.05.2011, Source: Reuters

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Roger cruises into quarters

Roger defeated Xavier Malisse today 6-4, 6-3 and has booked his spot in the quarter-finals.

Roger played much more flexible today - just a few hours after his victory over Spain's Feliciano Lopez. He was in control of the match. He struggled only once when Malisse fought his way back into the first set but Roger eventually took it 6-4. After 70 minutes, Roger won the match with his first match ball.

"I was really happy with my performance," said Roger after the match. "I'm looking forward to the next round. Xavier is a great player, who is capable of great shots so it is very nice to get through."

In the quarter-finals, Roger will face the winner of the match between Robin Söderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Roger leads the head-to-head 15-1 against Söderling, and 3-1 against Tsonga.

Date: 05.05.2011, Source: RF Official

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Roger Federer battles through

Roger battled to get through to the third round of the Madrid Open as he had to save a match point to defeat Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (13), 6-7(1), 7-6(7).

"I got a bit lucky tonight. I had my chances early on, so it would have really been a tough loss," Roger said. "It was a tough match. I guess it will help me for the French Open, I did spend three hours on clay."

The two players were on court for almost three hours as Roger served 25 aces - his highest ever mark outside a grand slam event. Roger captured the first set of a very levelled match 15-13, did not manage to hold up in the second as he was beaten 1-7 and eventually came through 9-7 in the final set.

Date: 05.05.2011, Source: RF Official

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Federer finds family life getting 'Easier'

Roger Federer has found a winning formula for balancing tennis with family life. He became the father of twin girls, Charlene Riva and Myla Rose, 22 months ago and, like many athletes with families, was challenged with maintaining his career while adjusting to his new parental role. “A year ago I thought was extremely tough just keeping them entertained for a long time over tough flights… I think it’s getting a bit easier now again,” the World No. 3 said Monday in Madrid.

Federer is seeded third at the Mutua Madrid Open, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament at which he claimed a rare clay-court win over Rafael Nadal in the 2009 final.

He and wife Mirka have found that staying in a location for a longer period of time has made the travel demands less problematic. “It sounds like a lot of tough traveling but you can make it easier on yourself,” Federer said. “These are really short trips of just one and a half hours. If I want to plan it that I way, I could stay here for, say, nine days, which is a long time, so you can make it work.”

Benefiting from his family’s company on the road, Federer still has the drive to win and compete at the highest level. “Once you reach a good level as a tennis player or for that matter win Grand Slams or become No. 1 in the world, it really fuels you with a motivation and energy,” stated Federer. “Clearly wanting to get that feeling back of how it feels winning big tournaments and how it feels to be right at the top of the game [is something] that I´ve been able to do it for so long.”

From a psychological standpoint, Federer believes he has no motivational barriers to continue playing down the road. “I think I've always been really good mentally all the way through, even though early on in my career that was my biggest weakness,” said the Swiss. “I'm happy that consistency is not an issue, motivation is not the issue and I really enjoy my time on tour and hope to do it for many more years to come.”

His motivation will need to be at an optimum level over the next few months, as he’s in a battle for No. 1 with Nadal and Novak Djokovic. “I thought Novak has had a good reaction since the US Open, losing the final against Rafa on a hard court, which you figure could have been Novak's big chance to win it,” assessed Federer. “He didn’t do it so he took it the right way and took the positives out of it and he's gone on a really great run since then.”

Added the 16-time major champion, “I think all of [us in] the Top 5 have been playing really well for the past nine months and there's been good times in the game right now and obviously Rafa on clay is in a league of his own, and that makes it interesting for the next few months right now.”

Date: 02.05.2011, Source: ATP

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