Roger Federer Cincinnati Champion 2015 Press Conference
Roger Federer gives good press conference. If you ask anything even approaching a decent question, he’s going to give you a thoughtful, and often very extensive, answer. There may be a cool little nugget of insight you hadn’t heard before. He may say something a bit hilariously egocentric or cleverly sarcastic, and he’s known for his blunt honesty.
We live-tweeted out some excerpts of Rog’s 2015 Cincinnati Masters victory press conference, which we will share here along with some more extensive thoughts from the Maestro on his 7th Cincy win and 24th Masters title.
Rog happy that being aggressive, “asking questions after question” of Nole paid off. #Federer pic.twitter.com/n8s63rW4Io
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) August 23, 2015
There was a lot of buzz amongst press this week about Rog taking a huge step in and half-volleying second serve returns–to sometimes spectacular results. In this case, he tried it in the crucial first set tiebreaker.
RF: “Well, I mean, I was looking forward to do it again, you know, as the set progressed, but I wasn’t seeing maybe that many second serves and didn’t feel right in some of the points.
“So I thought at–was it 4-1 in the breaker? No, 3-1. I thought maybe this is the time to do it. I thought he was going to go backhand and he went big forehand. So I had to lunge and had the perfect timing on it. Ended up going in and putting him under pressure.
“That was the plan, to keep asking question after question. I’m happy it worked out very well. On the return I was able to mix things up very nicely, and on my serve I was rock solid.
“If you don’t get broken, like I explained the other day, you can do whatever you want on the return games. I was trying to do that again today, but I was happy I took care of my serve throughout the match.”
Roger should be happy he took care of his serve for the entire tournament, holding 49 games in a row.
Rog says his BH did improve w/Stefan, but he also gives a lot of credit to bigger racquet. “I’m shanking a lot less.” pic.twitter.com/HeRCjIA8uw — Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) August 23, 2015
RF: “I think the switch has done me a world of good on my backhand side. I had to get used to the slice because I think the slice was my favorite shot to hit with the old racquet. It was tough to move away from it because I was using it so much.”
Rog also noted a change related to the racquet earlier in the presser, regarding returns. “Can’t always do it … but I was very aggressive on the second serves, and I am happy to see that actually it’s also a way forward for me. In my career I was very content to chip it and be aggressive with the forehand. I’m doing different things now on the backhand, which is really good, I think.”
No fuss about Rog greeting his family after win. They were close, wanted to go over “how you say, while it was hot.” pic.twitter.com/izsZohhyR8
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) August 23, 2015
Rog seemed determined to underplay this one, perhaps because he was called out for previously saying going to his player box after a win “wasn’t his style.” Mirka will be happy to know he only stopped by because it was “convenient.” 😉 Anyone who knows what it’s like amongst fans, security, and rabid autograph-seekers at the front knows that it’s not all that damned convenient…
Rog was pleased with winning his 7th Cincy title, something he hadn’t planned on, due to some concerns about skipping Montréal.
RF: “I chose to roll the dice a little bit and see how things were going to go. If they went great here, then it was a great plan. If not, I was going to go back and practice and be really motivated for the US Open to start.
“Now I’ve got the confidence, I’ve got the matches, and I’m actually still feeling really fresh even after this week, because the matches have been rather short.
“This has always been a good week for me. Like I said on court, I think the volunteers make a wonderful tournament with the tournament director, and it’s very fan friendly as well. I get in touch a lot with the fans this week. It’s just a nice venue. Great center court. Good atmosphere. Good court speed for me.
“So many things for me to like about it. Those are the reasons I’m sure I play well here.”
Rog says #2 rank for USO doesn’t really matter, “hasn’t made a final since 2009,” knows competition will be fierce. pic.twitter.com/wzzq1dZdAf
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) August 23, 2015
There was a lot of hopefulness from Fed in this presser, as he feels there’s still room for him to change and grow his game to suit him at 34, and keep him in winning positions.
He was happy with how well he held serve, despite not hitting “all spots as perfect” as he’d like. Federer also felt good about the opposite side. “I think I was very creative on the return games. That might give me a lot of hints and information moving forward. So many things I actually can do that maybe I didn’t always know I could do or didn’t dare to do because I thought it was too crazy or too, let’s say, the percentages weren’t–I wouldn’t think they would be in my favor.
“After this week I might look at that a little bit different.”
Interested in more of Fed’s thoughts? Check out one of last year’s Cincy pressers.
