Roger Federer: “I Like Tough Draws, I Don’t Shy Away From Them”

by Tom Gainey | June 23rd, 2013, 2:02 pm
  • 31 Comments

Seven time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer isn’t concerned about having such a tough draw at his favorite tennis tournament. In fact, with the specter of beating Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic to win a record eighth Wimbledon, Federer enjoys the challenge.

“It was never supposed to be easy winning Grand Slams,” Federer said on Sunday. “I’m ready for the challenge. I like tough draws. I don’t shy away from them. There’s, anyway, no control over it. All you can control as a tennis player is who you play and who you face. That’s up to the draw to decide.”

Federer opens play tomorrow against Romanian Victor Hanescu.


“I’m excited that the tournament’s about to start,” Federer said. “I’m happy to be playing. I’m fit. That’s really what matters now sort of 24 hours before my match tomorrow.”

Federer won Wimbledon last year and then reached the finals at the Olympics. His only title this year cam last week in Halle, so grass has been his best surface since entering his 30s.

“I do believe grass, the more you play on it, the more you learn about it,” he said. “Today, I know what it takes, which is a good thing. The excitement is the same. [I’m] still hungry and wanting to win and wanting to prove how good I can play.”

The Swiss has never beaten his three main rivals in the same Grand Slam event, something he very well might have to do.


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31 Comments for Roger Federer: “I Like Tough Draws, I Don’t Shy Away From Them”

skeezer Says:

Now that is what I call a mans man. You tell em Fed! Doesn’t need nobody to talk for him. His “Class” will be missed when he is gone.


Bom Kelvin Says:

Roger beat Murray, Rafa and Djokovic in WTF tournament before. So nothing is impossible. Who knows ?


vidzy Says:

@skeezer. Don’t worry. Fed aint gonnna go anywhere for another 4 years..alteast till 2016 olympics ! But I do believe if his body tolds up and he can remain a top 10 player and call it due to money he is making due to endorsements or may be his tremendous love for the game or may be for his twins federer might strech his careere till 38..I mean if agassi can play till 36 why not fed ? He is the soul reason why tennis is so popular nowdays !


the DA Says:

Oh goodness, Gilles Simon is courting controversy once again. He has been dishing on fellow ATP players including Federer (bad loser), Jancowicz (bad boy – used to be Soderling, Berdych, & Almagro), Nadal (most respected, although he wants to slap him when he says he’s not the favorite), Verdasco/Lopez (the prettiest).

http://www.lejdd.fr/Sport/Tennis/Actualite/Gilles-Simon-Le-plus-respecte-c-est-Nadal-615139

(Needs google translate)

I think he needs a PR handler asap.


contador Says:

lol, like Simon’s honesty!

Does not take anything away from the entertainment of having varying personalities; such a bore otherwise.


Giles Says:

Wow! Fed is so brave!


James Says:

RT “@christophclarey Gilles Simon in interview with Journal du Dimanche says #Nadal most respected player on tour, just ahead of #Federer #wimbledon”


Kimberly Says:

http://www.globaltennisnetwork.com/tennis-tournaments/bracket-challenges/bracket-challenge-page/mainBracketPage/428-tennis-x-fans-wimbledon-atp

A shout out to all to join the bracket: kimmi, Daniel, blank, Thomas, sar, stu, HR, RFF, madmax, dave (disappeared), nadalista, brando, mat4, wogboy, all posters. SO far we have 12 entrants and a good chunk are my family! we want/need more entrants, more chat, fans of all players.

Mat4—isn’t it time to come back? After all this time. Your son loved your last bracket. Pick a bracket, post on tennis x. Roland Garros was ages ago. New surface, new tournament, your guy is still clearly #1.


James Says:

By the way, if both Ferrer and Nadal make it to the 4th round, Fed will drop to #5 in ranking.


the DA Says:

^ not only that but if Daveed goes beyond the QF, and Andy falls before the SF, he’ll be No. 2 and Andy drops to No. 3. Wild.


grendel Says:

@contador

I’m sure most people would agree with you, including me. Here might be some reasons why.

For instance, take Monfils. He enrages many of his own supporters by being so utterly unpredictable. And yet it is his very unpredictability which is the source of his charm – well, one of them. Monfils is charming in all sorts of ways. In short, a successful Monfils might not be nearly so appealing.

Consider Sharapova. My suspicion is that she is a self-absorbed bully. But she is an exciting tennis player, and the sources she draws upon to create the exciting game may not be unconnected to that dark side of her. In short, a good Sharapova might mean no Sharapova.

Already Janowicz is being touted as bad boy. Bad boy is bad, apparently. Do you hear the tut-tuts, from posters, too? So lets send Janowicz to Church and set the priests and monks onto him. 6 months sabbatical. Out he comes, full of holy smiles and “after you, Gilles”. But hey, what’s happened to the energy? End of Janowicz.

Hallo, what’s that Nadal is saying? “Easy peasy match tomorrow. I’ll slaughter the wanker!” Match progresses and – well I never did! Wanker’s on top. And here’s Serena: “she thoroughly deserved her victory, outplayed and out thought me even though I felt really good and made hardly any errors. Nothing I could do”. These attitudes are carried into Nadal’s and Serena’s next matches, with same results. The whisper is: double retirement is on the agenda.

So yes, variety is enjoyable – but also necessary, apparently. Could these two facts be connected?


the DA Says:

Brando, if you’re around, I just saw the Andy documentary in full and it was great. It was well done and gave a closer glimpse into his character off the court. What did you think?

BTW loved the bits with Rafa, especially his story about the prank he played on Andy.


Brando Says:

@the DA: Awesome stuff- gals you saw it!:-) I totally and utterly loved it! And yep: loved the Rafa prank part LOL. It was great to see even Muzza’s parents talk of Rafa fondly. Awesome. But what I really liked the most of it is: it really shone through Andy’s character and personality. I’m not the crying type, but heck: when Andy was talking about the tragedy of Dunblane I got a bit teary. I still remember coming back from school and seeing that incident on the news. Just could not understand then how such a thing could happen at all. And I think it showed why Andy was so guarded as a personality: he’s from a close knit family, small community, was affected deeply by a tragedy he lived through, hence no wonder he is as such. Clearly he is a humble, very emotional and endearing guy and TBH: his heart shone though in this for me. Big time. I really liked how all the glitz and glam of the celeb world just does not affect him at all. Signs of a man in pursuit of his passion and is completely unaffected by the side circus that comes with success. All in all: I loved the show. I think one cannot fail to see his endearing and qualities from such a documentary, as atleast it’s made me love him even more. Go Muzza!:-)


Brando Says:

Glad you saw it>. gals. LOL, I think my iPhone let onto a secret of yours truly there LOL.:-)


the DA Says:

Yes, the bit about Dunblane where he broke down was tough viewing but in a good way. Not ashamed to say my eyes welled up. If this doesn’t change perceptions about him once and for all then there’s no hope.


the DA Says:

Wow, YouTube uploads are so fast these days. Here’s the clip with Rafa describing the prank he played on Andy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dseut38-YkY


Brando Says:

@the DA: Yep, it really was tough viewing. And I totally agree: if this cannot alter people’s view of him, especially those based on baseless myth’s, then there really is no hope for them.


contador Says:

@Grendel

First of all, very happy to read you posting here again. You are a master at description and it makes me smile – thank-you.

I can read French – or at least enough of it to laugh at what Gilles Simon had to say about Federer, Nadal, ect. and I didn’t take what he said seriously but he was right on target and I disagree that he needs more public relations.

Besides he put in a good word for Paire. And I hope Paire does not fall into that trap you describe so well – too much respect and awe for the tennis gods at the top is not the best for these guys like Delpo – even Murray, to some extent at least versus Nadal and Djokovic. I know, Murray beat Djokovic at the US Open but I want to see killer instinct from Murray and others, as much as I like Mr. Djokovic. It pains me when guys like Jertzy Janowicz bow humbly and lose their bad boy fight.


TennisAviator Says:

You don’t win 17 slams by being shy.

Good luck Roger! Keep staying brave.


Danny Morris Says:

I wish Federer and Nole shied away from clay court season like Murray did this year and always does every year [it also helps that he genuinely sucks on clay like Sampras].

If Federer and Nole played Rafa 1/6 times on clay like Murray does, Nole would be having a 12-9 winning H2H and Roger would be having a 8-10 H2H. On the contrary, if Murray was as good as Federer/Nole on clay and played Rafa 1/2 their rivalry on clay, he would be 25-5 or something in the H2H.


Danny Morris Says:

+1 to what Contador said.

Contador:

Did Simon say he wants to slap rafa for his fake humility – you know always calling the other guy favorite? I have just started learning French last month and relied on google translate.


contador Says:

@Danny Morris

I didn’t get that he wants to slap Nadal for his fake humility but he does mock it by saying that Nadal arrives saying he is not the favorite even it he is playing # 100,(exclamation point included). But the paragraph lead in is “Respect + Nadal.”

and…Gilles says a bit about how Ferrer is under-rated.

and…Federer’s speed is under-rated. Gilles mentions this as one of Federer’s strong points, as well as hitting the lines, or running from line to line. Eek, where is mat4 to help! But certainly Simon says nothing negative about Federer’ which is something anti-fed posters like to imagine.


contador Says:

And…Gilles loves mentioning LaMonf, or the Rogue, for a laugh but you can tell he’s joking. He also focuses on Jo Tsonga admiringly.


contador Says:

The impression to me is: Simon would make a great commentator and journalist!

Ryan Harrison too, btw. Harrison was a revelation calling a match on Roland Garros Radio; great voice, no annoying chatter, first rate – hire him! :D


roy Says:

what an absolute joke.

”i like tough draws” from a player who hasn’t been out of the top4 for a decade. and federer minions just lap this crap up.

try missing 6months to a year with injury like copious top players, losing your top 5, top 10, even top 30 seeding, get some genuine tough draws from the beginning of tournies and then sit there and claim your love for tough draws.
in other words, actually GET GENUINE TOUGH DRAWS before you spout your falsely nonchalant, macho crap.

god, other players must just shake their heads at this nonsense.
here is what GENUINE TOUGH DRAWS look like: when you’re playing top ten guys in the EARLY rounds, which is what happens for comeback players, there’s nothing positive about it. you lose to a guy in round 2 instead of the QF and goodbye points.

roger federer really is a tool and completely out of touch with the rest of the tour, just as plenty of players have implied over the years.


I Love Tennis Says:

Goodluck Roger … hoping for the 18th


Michael Says:

Roger is seemingly sounding confident about his prospects and that should be the attitude of a player especially at the start of a major event. Having said that, I am not sure as to the kind of success he will have in this tournament. He has ofcourse won Halle which should have upped his confidence a bit. But, the line up of Rafa, Andy and Novak is a pretty tall order and I am not sure whether Roger will be equal to the task despite the confidence he espouses. Roger will turn lucky if both Rafa and Andy make early exits and that is a distant possibility. However, Roger is known for his shocks to the Tennis World and may be he has got a ace up his sleeve to fix his doubters. Let us wait and see !!


the DA Says:

Gosh, Rafa is making hard work of this first set. Showing rust. He did save 9 BPs though.


the DA Says:

And the first set goes to Darcis. No need to worry yet. I fully expect Rafa to sharpen up and take control.


metan Says:

@ TheDA. Yes he played so bad. Lost first set.. Hope he can make it trough.


the DA Says:

Oops, just saw this is the wrong thread. Going to move over to the current one.

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