TENNIS ATP FINALS 2014 – Roger Federer d. Milos Raonic 6-1, 7-6(0). Group B
Q. Can you calculate how many millions you’ve earned with that low cross court slice of yours?
ROGER FEDERER: It’s not just that. It’s the way you cover it, too, afterwards. But it’s true that it became one of my signature shots to drag the opponents in, keep the ball low, get myself back into the point.
I guess when you have a one hander, automatically you go to the slice because it’s a shorter backswing. So, yeah, I definitely think it’s been part of my success for a long time, no doubt.
Q. It’s going to be a big ask, but you can effectively finish the year at world No. 1. What sort of target did you set yourself at the start of this year and what would it mean for you to finish the year as the world’s best player?
ROGER FEDERER: Honestly, I didn’t put any target I think on the rankings. I was putting more rather a target on trying to win an amount of titles, because last year I had only won one. That was quite disappointing actually, so I was trying to get maybe three to five at least. That was the goal.
I have five now. I think I made another five finals, then also now we’re in the Davis Cup final, so it’s been a very successful year. Better than I thought it was going to be. I figured I was going to struggle up until about March this year. Success kicked in quite quickly with Brisbane and the Australian Open.
The rankings came by surprise that all of a sudden, I have a small shot at world No. 1 after winning Shanghai. I mean, I’m happy it’s this way. But I think it’s highly unlikely it’s going to happen. If it does, obviously it’s great.
But for me personally, it doesn’t really matter if it happened at the end of the year or any other week during the year, as long as you could get back to world No. 1 for one more time. I think that would be very special because I’ve been there and I know how much it would mean, because winning a tournament is a one week thing or a two week thing, but getting back to world No. 1 is an entirely different animal.
I’ll try to get there, but obviously Novak is going to dictate as well what’s going to happen here.
Q. The poppies that people wear here, when did you first notice it? Also the show earlier this week?
ROGER FEDERER: I remember seeing it a long time ago. It’s been around forever, for a long time now, I don’t know. Especially on suits I’ve seen it a lot from different people. So that’s also one of the reasons I wanted to really go see it at the Tower of London. I was unbelievably impressed and moved at the same time because it means something so sad, but something so strong.
Yeah, I’ve been aware of it for a long time. It’s nice how people in this country remember all those people, all the heroes, as well. It’s something that Switzerland can’t really grasp. I think that’s why it was quite moving for me to go to the Tower of London this year.
Q. You’ve played Rafael Nadal 33 times, a few times here. You’ve now played Djokovic 36 times, also a few times here. Which rivalry do you think is the greatest of your career from your own personal appreciation of it, and for fans and the sport, between those two?
ROGER FEDERER: I don’t know. I mean, I feel a special connection towards Rafa just because we did, I don’t want to say come up together somewhat on the tour, but we did have a very strong, intense rivalry for many years, starting 2004 maybe. Especially we played each other that many times in finals of slams, which hasn’t been the case with the other players as much.
I know Novak, the matches and the rivalry is nice. I really enjoy playing against him. It’s very evenly matched, you know. But I played him more often probably in semis than in finals most likely. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s kind of how it felt like.
Because me and Rafa were always 1 and 2 or 2 and 1 for so long. Murray and Djokovic always ended up in our semis for so long. So there was actually more opportunities to play those guys than Rafa, quite honestly, because getting to the finals is difficult.
But then also I always like to look back and see who were my tougher players when I was coming up. In the beginning I struggled against the likes of Henman, Nalbandian, Hewitt, Roddick. So for me those were really interesting players to play against. I was lucky enough that Andre Agassi played as long as he did because I got to play him also, I think almost 15 times.
