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Federer finally at home in Paris on clay

Roar Rookie
22nd May, 2010
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Roger Federer finally feels at home on the centre court at Roland Garros. That is thanks to his historic win last year when he defeated Robin Soderling in straight sets to complete his career grand slam set and equal the overall major titles record Pete Sampras at 14.

It also ended years of heartbreak in Paris for the Swiss star, who had lost in the previous four years to Rafael Nadal, three times in the final and once in the semi-finals.

He was beginning to feel he was doomed never to win the supreme claycourt title and that his memories of the Philippe Chatrier centre court would forever be bad ones.

All that has changed, he found, when he practiced there for two hours with Ivan Ljubicic on Wednesday.

“It felt different because I have so many great memories from this court now,” he said.

“Whereas in the past I played good matches, but I couldn’t come back and think this is where I’ve had my most emotional wins in my career.

“They were all at Wimbledon or the US Open or other places.

“So to come back and remembering what happened a year ago, it was very special thinking how nervous I was before the last service game I had to play, saving break point, and then in the end going down to my knees.

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“It’s knowing exactly where I left my prints, my foot marks and everything where I was.

“It’s different. So it was a big pleasure playing again on Chatrier.”

Federer opened the year in January by defeating Andy Murray to win the Australian Open – his 16th grand slam title – but since then he has gone winless in terms of tournaments and suffered unexpected losses on clay in Estoril and Rome.

He did reach the final of the Madrid Masters once again, but failed to defend his title when he was comfortably beaten in straight sets by Nadal, whose unbeaten run through the claycourt season sees him start as a hot favourite at Roland Garros.

Federer though says he would be more than happy to go up against Nadal once again in the Paris final.

“I think anywhere we play is special,” he said of their clashes.

“I don’t know if it’s more special to play him here or at Wimbledon and in Madrid or in my hometown in Basel, let’s say, if that were ever to happen.

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“But it’s always a big match regardless of where it is.

“It’s one of the great rivalries in sports right now, and obviously in our game the biggest one.

“He’s got the better record against me, so every time I play him I try to improve on it. You never know. It could be in a couple weeks already I play him again. Could be another year.

“So we’ll see how the draw falls out. I hope we can play again in the future, because a year away from each other was maybe a bit long.”

One thing for sure, he says, is that he will feel less pressure this year than 12 months ago no matter what happens in the next two weeks.

“Right now I feel relaxed, which is a good thing to feel,” he said.

“If anything, I feel a little less pressure because I’ve proven it to myself and maybe to many other people. So I feel like I’m entering the tournament in the right spirit.”

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