Roger Federer Wimbledon 2021 Quarter-Final Press Conference Transcript

Roger Federer: (00:04)
Hey.

Speaker 2: (00:10)
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the press conference for Roger Federer. Please, as always, use the zoom function to raise your hand if you would like to ask a question, and please state your organization when asking your question. We will take the first question from Simon Briggs.

Simon Briggs: (00:29)
Hi, Roger.

Hey.

Simon Briggs, Daily Telegraph. I just wonder what your emotions were at the end of the match, and then leaving the court to that terrific evasion.

Well, it was tough the last few games, obviously, as if you can feel that you’re not coming back from it. I’m not used to that kind of situation, obviously very much so, especially not here, but like you said, crowds were amazing and the evasion’s fantastic. Look, I love it. That’s why I play, and that’s why I still play now, so it’s nice to see 100% crowd today. Unfortunately, witnessed a straight set defeat of mine, but overall, still… Look, I’m super grateful for all the support I’ve gotten here over the years, and today again, was special. You can feel they’re happy to be out and watching tennis, and trying to get the players… The best out of them and who would play great. It was a tough, tough end, of course.

Speaker 2: (01:36)
Go ahead, Rob Mull.

Roger Mull: (01:38)
Hi, Roger.

Hey.

Roger Mull: (01:38)
Rob Mull, from Sun Sport. Was that the last time you’ll play at Wimbledon, do you think, on Center Court?

I don’t know. I really don’t know. I got to regroup. My goal was always for the last year and more to always try to play another Wimbledon. The initial goal, like you know, was to play last year. That was anyway never going to happen, plus the pandemic hit. I was able to make it this year, which I’m really happy about, and like I said, was everything that comes after Wimbledon. We were always going to sit down and talk about it, because clearly, now Wimbledon’s over. I’ve got to take a few days, obviously we’re going to speak a little bit tonight depending on how I feel, and then the next couple of days, as well. And then we go from there and just see, okay, what do I need to do, to do get in better shape so I can be a more competitive?

I’m actually very happy I made it as far as I did here and that I actually was able to play Wimbledon at the level that I did after everything that I went through. Of course, I would like to play it again, but at my age, you’re just never sure what’s around the corner.

Speaker 2: (02:54)
Russell Fuller.

Russell Fuller: (02:58)
Russell Fuller, from the BBC.

Hey.

Russell Fuller: (02:59)
Roger, do you think you were still short in matches and that therefore, your best level is still a couple of months away?

Yeah. Look, I’m not sure if it’s necessarily matches, to be honest, because the body actually overall feels fine from the matches. I’m happy I went through all the process of taking losses and trying to play in Paris and Geneva and [inaudible 00:03:26] and Halle, getting myself into match toughness and fitness here in Wimbledon, but I definitely need to be a better player if I want to be more competitive at the highest of levels. I knew that coming in, better players remind you of that, like Hurkacz and Felix did, for instance, in Halle, so it gets tough when things gets really tricky physically.

Speaker 2: (03:53)
Eleanor Crooks.

Eleanor Crooks: (03:56)
Hi. Eleanor Crooks, from PA.

Hey.

Eleanor Crooks: (03:58)
Have you made a decision about the Olympics, or if not, what’s your gut feeling right now?

No, no. Like I explained before, I’m going to take a couple of days and sit down. I’m sorry if I’m repetitive, but I said I will. Everything waits till Wimbledon is done. Wimbledon is done now, haven’t taken the decision yet where we go from here. But yeah, I can’t tell you anything more than that I will sit down and hopefully make an announcement rather sooner than later, of course, also for me, my family, and everybody on my team, and so forth.

Speaker 2: (04:41)
[inaudible 00:04:41].

Speaker 8: (04:42)
Hi, Roger.

Hey.

Speaker 8: (04:42)
Yeah. Just to kind of clarify one of your earlier answers there, where you said you’re going to assess what you do next, are you able to confirm, is retirement an active possibility for the immediate future?

No, it’s just about having perspective. You know you need a goal when you’re going through rehab, with what I did, and you can’t think of the entire mountain to climb at once. You got to go in steps, and Wimbledon was the initial first super step, if you like. And for me, now that, that’s over, you just got to reassess everything. You got to sit down, talk about it, what went well, what didn’t go so well. Where’s the body, where’s the knee, where’s the mind? Because as you can see, it was a struggle for me in putting in extra effort all the time, especially when things get difficult against Felix in Halle, or today against Hurkacz.

And I knew it was going to be really hard, to be honest. Now I just got to talk to the team, take my time, and not feel rushed by you guys or anybody else, for that matter. I got to take my time and take the right decision at the one decision I want to take, and where I feel most comfortable. That’s where it leaves me. But no, I hope not that, that’s going to happen. The goal is to play, of course.

Speaker 2: (06:06)
Simon Combes.

Simon Combes: (06:09)
Hi, Roger. Simon Combes, from The Guardian.

Hey.

Simon Combes: (06:12)
You seemed like you had quite a lot of momentum coming into the match from your previous couple of rounds. Did you expect yourself to play better today? Did you feel like you were ready to make another step?

I thought I had a decent chance going into the match. I felt like if I can protect my serve, I would get chances off his second serve, and I would get into the rallies I would like, and have them go rather, my way. But I struggled early on in that first set where I felt like it was my serve. My rhythm was a little bit off, put myself in too many difficult situations, and then take my own chances. I think that first set, I feel like I need to do better, but okay, credit to him for getting that one done. Second set, I got to find a way to win it somehow.

Obviously, being up at break, was it 4-1? I got to find a way to win that, and the breaker was a brutal first six points of the breaker, to go down 4-2 and change ends, and go against the wind. I knew that was not going to be great for me. And then being down two sets to love, and with his momentum, then swinging his way, things got complicated. Yeah, look, he was the better player, by far, at the end. He deserved a victory today.

Speaker 2: (07:32)
Willy Linebell.

Willy Linebell: (07:36)
Hi, Roger.

Hey.

Willy Linebell: (07:37)
How would you describe the work you had to put in after the surgeries, and what you learned from that in getting this far after that?

The process was incredibly slow. I was hoping for faster recovery, to be honest. Like I explained, the goal was to compete ready for Wimbledon last year. I barely made it for this year, I feel like. It was a long, hard road, but I said it many times before, I actually kind of enjoyed it, because it was always uphill, as slow as it was. It was always moving forward, and I haven’t done that kind of, how do you say, rehab in the past. I enjoy new things, even though it’s maybe more of a negative thing to go through, but I don’t know. I’m not going to get depressed doing rehab, as you’re actually trying, and have a goal. A goal is to first walk again without crutches, then the goal is to be able to start running again, from then on, it starts to do side-to-side stuff, then you’re back on the tennis court.

The process is really one I actually quite enjoyed. We always wished we would, it would go faster, but at the same time, the team and me, we all decided we only go on to the next step once it’s really solidified, so we don’t have any setbacks, and I’m happy we went that route, because I did not have any setbacks. But clearly, there’s still a lot of things missing in my game that maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago were very simple and very normal for me to do. Nowadays, they don’t happen naturally anymore. I got to always put in the extra effort mentally to remind myself, remember to do this or do that.

I have a lot of ideas on the court, but sometimes I can’t do what I want to do, so I think it’s a bit of a… It’s a bit of a tricky situation sometimes, come tough matches against great players, but I feel like I made the most of it and the team and me were actually very happy I made it as far as the quarters here, even though of course, I’m disappointed I lost today. I feel like there was a chance, but again, it’s how it goes and I’ll be fine. I have perspective about it, so it’s all good.

Speaker 2: (09:48)
Last English question from Craig Gabriel.

Craig Gabriel: (09:52)
Roger, Cross Court Nine Radio, Australia.

Hey.

If I could just ask you, we know you’ve been through a lot over the last 18 months or so.

We can’t hear you anymore. Sorry. The beginning, we heard.

Sorry, I got… I was muted.

Yeah.

What I wanted to ask you is, after all you’ve been through, is this loss just as hard as any other loss? Is it a bit easier to take because of what you’ve been through, and how long do you think it would take to get over? Thanks.

Good question. I don’t know. I felt very disappointed in the moment itself, I still am. At the same time, there’s always a weight that falls off your shoulders when a tournament is over, like a huge goal is made or missed. It doesn’t matter actually for that matter, you just feel like the weight is gone and you’re exhausted. I feel like horribly exhausted. I could go for a nap right now, that’s how I feel. And it’s a funny feeling to have, to be honest, because you put everything on the line and when it’s all over, you could just go sleep, because you’re just so exhausted from the mental pushing yourself forward and trying everything. Like you said, the last 18 months have been long and hard, but then again, if I take the perspective, I’m also very happy about a lot of things that happened the last few weeks and last few months.

I know I will find, be upbeat again shortly. I know how I am in these situations. I feel like I go maybe very hard on myself. I get very sad and then, go by a few hours late, I mean, maybe even a few days. Who knows? I don’t think so. And then I’ll be totally fine again, I’ll be my old self. But I just think I need to speak to the team, get it all out, hear what they have to say, tell them how I felt, and then we go from there.

Speaker 2: (11:59)
Thank you. We’re going to switch to native language questions. Marcel.

Roger Federer Wimbledon 2021 Quarter-Final Press Conference Transcript

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