rogerfederer.com - Three questions to Roger

Three questions to Roger

Roger, what are your feelings after your first victory in Madrid, your 10th one this year?

"I'm really, really happy. I missed the last two editions because of fatigue and injury and it was great to come here again and win the tournament. It is a great day in my career. Two 6-0's against players of that caliber is always a bit surprising. I played well the entire tournament, didn't drop a set. Only got broken once. There's not much I can say about that.”

How is your ankle?

"Well, I can walk now, so it's okay. And I could continue to play. It happened to me in Toronto. It happened to me at the U.S. Open against Blake as well. It's the third time it happened. Every time I could get up, continue to play. I'm confident, you know. As usual, I'm a positive thinker. I don't have pain now. That's a good sign. I hope I get over this little issue with my ankle so I can play Basel. And then I hope that I feel fine also after that tournament so then I can play Paris. That's the plan. I have a week anyway between Paris and Shanghai. We'll see what happens. At the moment I feel great. I'll try to carry the confidence over to the next two tournaments."

The tournament in Basel means a lot to you, could you tell us a bit more closely what exactly the key factors are?

Obviously the Masters Cup final in Shanghai is my top priority for the rest of the season because that's where you have the top eight guys all taking part. But when it comes to emotions, Basel is number one because of growing up there and working as a ballboy at the event. It's always been a pretty tough draw in Basel and this year's no different. That's why I'm pretty happy that I've already reached two finals and a semi-final. It shows I've actually been playing very well in Basel even when the draw has been tough on me. This year I hope it's tough again but that this time I can go all the way."