Roger Federer Says He Couldn’t Stay Up Late To Watch Nadal Lose To Fognini Because He Had To Sleep!

Roger Federer is a huge consumer of tennis matches but the Swiss star was unable to catch the best match of the first week at the US Open because it finished too late.

Federer admitted that he went to bed before the conclusion of Fabio Fognini’s thrilling 5-set comeback win Friday night over Rafael Nadal which ended at 1:30am. It was a tough decision, he said, because he would have liked to have seen it.

“When I went to bed clearly thought Rafa was going to bring it home and that was it,” Federer said. “Then I heard the news when I woke up. I wish I did see the match because I didn’t expect it to be this thrilling, but that would have been bad preparation for my match today. So sometimes you have to take those decisions, you know. Last night I decided to get an hour more sleep or one and a half. I’m happy I did. Yeah, from what I heard it was very exciting. Yeah, tough for Rafa, but what a great win for Fabio, you know. He’s a great shot maker.

“I love watching tennis, but sometimes you just have to decide, you know, to be professional. It hurts, but just gotta do it. You don’t want to lose the next day and have regrets. I have done mistakes when I was younger, you know. Play, I don’t know, video games until too late and feel tired the next day, whatever it was. So I don’t really want to do that anymore.”

The loss was Nadal’s first from up two sets in a Grand Slam. But he’s lost from such a lead before, and that was to Federer in the 2005 Miami final.

After three straight set wins, Federer is pleased with his play thus far at the US Open, where he hasn’t won since 2008.

“I feel good,” Federer summed up. “I have had a nice schedule. Played, what was it, early the first day. It was a fast match. So also afternoon and nice evening there. Then the other day when I played at night I played the first slot. Also fast match. Didn’t get to bed too late. I’m still in a normal schedule, which is good to be. Because if you finish a match like Fognini and Rafa like last night, it’s hard to go to sleep right away. Plus you need treatment and press and everything. It can be 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning until you fall asleep. Thankfully I haven’t had that. And then today again we are running early, which is great. Plus, still in the tournament, so clearly I am very happy.”