TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – 28th of June. R. Federer d. S. Giraldo 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. An interview with Roger Federer
Q. After last year you must be pleased with the trouble-free program for the first week?
ROGER FEDERER: I’m pleased, absolutely. It’s been a good first week for me. I’ve been playing well, been feeling good. Didn’t drop any sets. Wasn’t really in danger in any of the matches.
Totally got a lot of info, you know, from the first week, how I need to play moving forward.
Q. What rituals or superstitions do you have that mean the most to you around your game?
ROGER FEDERER: Nothing really. It’s all about having a routine. It’s not something crazy.
I just try to be on time so I don’t miss the match. I try to eat at the right time so I don’t feel dizzy or anything. It’s pretty simple. I try to put my tapes on my ankles in time so I can have time to warm up.
It’s pretty basic. Pretty simple. As time has gone by I try to keep the same routines on that level. On the court you start having your own sort of little routines, I guess, you know, when you get the towel at certain times.
Today was a very fast-paced match. Giraldo was taking no time, so you’ve got to adjust to that, like I explained to the Swiss press before. As a tennis player, you have to be ready for anything. I didn’t know one minute before the match if it was going to be roof opened or roof closed. It could have a big impact. I didn’t know that.
They said Robredo might not finish. You might play on Tuesday. What does that do? Same thing. Just ready for anything as a tennis player. That’s the mindset you’ve got to have. It starts at an early age, eight years old, ten years old, playing your matches. It keeps on changing all the time, everything. You need to be really flexible in your mind.
Q. What will you do with your day off tomorrow?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, family. Tomorrow I think we’re going to go visit some friends. I’m going to come practice here at 11:00. Try to stay in a good rhythm because I have a tendency to go to bed late just because our life very often plays night sessions, late in the day. I have a tendency to go to bed at 2:00 in the morning, but that’s not really what I want to get into now. I scheduled to have practice tomorrow at 11:00.
Q. You mentioned about your new racquet in your previous interview. Are you still testing the racquet or you are 100% happy with the new racquet?
ROGER FEDERER: No, the testing is over. I finished the testing maybe it was after the Australian Open this year. I tried some other racquets. I felt like I found the right one. I didn’t have to change anymore.
Yeah, so I think it’s going to go into production at some point and the color is going to come. Yeah, it’s all happening. I’m very pleased that I found the racquet I was looking for.
Q. Given the weather today, how much of an advantage was it to know you would get your match out of the way? How much of a disadvantage might it be if you had to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I guess Stan’s section and Isner’s section, they have to play three straight days now. There could be 15 sets right there, long sets. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a bit of the unknown.
I mean, these guys are all fit enough to handle it, but it can have an impact, no doubt.
I’m sure everybody would have liked to get their match done today. So I don’t consider myself lucky or anything like that. But it was definitely good to play today, to finish today, and to stay in a normal sort of schedule now.
I might be also impacted. Yeah, so we’ll see what’s going to happen. I might not play on Monday now. I don’t know what the situation is. Yeah, you can’t choose always. It is what it is and you have to adapt to it.
