Povratak na pobjedonosni kolosjek u Sinsinatiju. Nakon 2 vezana poraza od Delbonisa i Brandsa i pauze uslovljene problemima sa leđima, Federer ja zablistao na svom omiljenom Mastersu
(jedini teniser u istoriji koji je osvojio neki Masters bez izgubljenog servisa je upravo Federer koji je to učinio 2012. u Sinsiju) i slavio protiv Njemca Kolšrajbera sa 6:3, 7:6 (9:7). Sedmi put u karijeri Rodžerov jednoručni bekend je nadvladao Filipov.
Rodžer je imao više vinera, brejk prilika, bolji servis, manje je griješio od rivala, bio je bolji igrač tokom meča, no duel je lako mogao otići u 3. set da je Kolšrajber iskoristio set loptu u tajbreku drugog seta. Federer ju je spasio servisom i zatim iskoristio šansu da uzme i meč.
On je kao što sam i spekulisao u prethodnom postu ovaj meč igrao sa svojim starim 90-inčnim reketom, te je testiranje novog prototipa ostavio za period nakon US Opena.
"Well, I think it was a match where I had to sort of just fight to come through and hope get over the finish line sort of thing. I was playing really well at times, and then sometimes it was maybe a bit up and down. But, you know, assessing the performance overall, I’m very happy,”
“It’s good to be back and playing pain free. I don’t know, my mind’s good. I was in a good place while I was playing, so it felt nice to win at the end.”
Q:So perhaps just a little bit of rust at the start there or during the match just because it was your first match in a while?
RF: Yeah, I mean, I guess so. I guess you could call it rust even though I have played in Hamburg and Gstaad. I’ve had my matches. Then again, we haven’t been on the hard courts for quite some time.
I’ve had a tough last few weeks and months, so I mean, I’ve had to fight many things lately. It’s more than just the rust on top of it. Things are going well for me now, you know. I’m playing freely. I’m hitting the ball okay actually.
I was quite surprised how well I actually did hit the ball tonight, so that’s a good thing hopefully for the next round too.
Q:Roger, the conditions were cooler than it’s certainly been in a while. Did that affect you at all?
RF: No. Actually, not so much. I think it was actually for better tennis, to be quite honest, because the ball doesn’t fly so much. You can control it better.
So I was happy how conditions were. It wasn’t really cold. I mean, it was cooler for Cincinnati, let’s be honest. But the whole year has been somewhat cooler. If you look back in Australia, it was colder. Many of the clay court tournaments were colder as well. So it’s been a tough year, if you consider all those factors in.
Even Hamburg, I started to play once really late at night, and that was cold then too at the end.
Q:And did you like the opportunity now to have a day of rest?
RF: I think in my position right now it’s good to have a day off, even though I could play tomorrow, no problem. God, I’ve played so many matches back to back to back. I mean, six days in a row and more.
In practice, I’ve just gone, before playing my first round match, I’ve played every day since Wednesday also. So I’m used to playing every day.
But to be able to reassess my game, look forward, prepare better for the next round, I think it’s good to have a day off right now.
On playing with a new racquet…
RF: I just felt like, you know what, I’m going to play with the old racquet through the US Open right now, and I’m going to do more racquet testing when I have, again, some more time after the US Open.
Yeah, I was playing for a month with the black one, but it’s a prototype. At the end, I just felt like, you know what, right now I feel like I need to simplify everything and just play with what I know best.
I have too many things on my plate right now. So I just said, I want to definitely do my racquet testing and play more with the prototype, but right now I just wanted it to be about forehands and backhands and nothing else.
Da li ćemo u trećem kolu vidjeti duel prijatelja i starih znanaca Federera i Hasa, saznaćemo danas, nakon duela drugog kola u kojem Has za protivnika ima Granoljersa. Detalj sa zajedničkog treninga u Ohaju:
