SEOpen: Soderling and Gonzalez Trade Choice Words

Key Biscayne, Fla—During the second set of the fourth-round match between Fernando Gonzalez and Robin Soderling, the feisty pair traded choice words after the Swede sailed a forehand long to tie the match at a set a piece.

While approaching the bench to rest between changeovers, Gonzalez told Soderling—”I’m talking to you, if you have a problem, come and say it to my face, don’t talk in Swedish.”

The altercation allegedly began when Soderling questioned a few line calls by Gonzalez during the second set. Gonzalez responded by giving Soderling a thumbs up after he hit a forehand long.

The altercation ended with an unsportsmanlike handshake after Soderling struck his final service winner.

Gonzalez will remain in Miami until Saturday, when he will take part in his “Champions for Chile” event. Soderling will next face Mikhail Youzhny on Thursday for a place in the semifinals.

SEOpen: Order of Play for Wednesday March 31, 2010

STADIUM start 11:00 am
Y Chan (TPE) / J Zheng (CHN) vs [8] E Makarova (RUS) / S Peng (CHN) – WTA

Not Before 1:00 PM
[WC] J Henin (BEL) vs [2] C Wozniacki (DEN) – WTA

Not Before 3:00 PM
[6] A Roddick (USA) vs [33] N Almagro (ESP) – ATP
[8] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) vs [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
[9] S Stosur (AUS) vs [14] K Clijsters (BEL) – WTA

Not Before 9:00 PM
[8] J Tsonga (FRA) vs [4] R Nadal (ESP) – ATP

GRANDSTAND start 12:00 noon
[3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) vs B Becker (GER) / M Kohlmann (GER) – ATP

Not Before 6:00 PM
N Almagro (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) vs F Lopez (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP) – After appropriate rest

SEOpen: Andy Roddick Fourth Round Press Conference

A. RODDICK/B. Becker

7 6, 6 3

An interview with:

ANDY RODDICK

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Safe to say that sixth game was the turnaround?
ANDY RODDICK:  Yeah, for sure.  Down 4 1 and Love 40 on your serve, that’s not the way you draw it up as far as starting a match.
But in a weird way, you know if you’re gonna be down a break at 4 2, it’s almost better coming back from Love 40 on your serve where he’s thinking about, I probably could have closed this set out.
So if that’s true or not, that is what I was trying to convince myself of down 4 1, Love 40.

Q.  You were playing it that way.
ANDY RODDICK:  Exactly.

Q.  When you pull that game out, that’s a big psychological swing.
ANDY RODDICK:  I think so.  I think more so if I would have gotten through this game on an easy service game.  So that’s what I try to convince myself of, and then was able to sneak a break back.  You know, from there it was kind of    obviously it was more on even terms.

Q.  Then 4 5, Love 30, bringing out the heavy artillery.  Just nice to have at you disposal; 135s came out.
ANDY RODDICK:  Yeah, my serve percentage was down early from where I want it, and kind of started slowly inching its way back up and ended where I wanted it to.
It is nice at Love 30 to be able to make some first serves.

Q.  What did happen at the beginning of the match?  Why did you get that far down, do you think?
ANDY RODDICK:  He came out aggressive and ready to play from the first ball.  I was maybe looking to work my way into the match a little bit more than he afforded me.  He was more ready to play than I was.

Q.  What’s the difference between the surface here and Indian Wells, both surface and even playing conditions, atmospheric conditions?
ANDY RODDICK:  Indian Wells the court is grittier, so let’s say flat serves or balls hit through the court probably aren’t as fast, but it’s a lot more reactionary.
So a topspin ball, it helps a lot of people’s kick serves.  It’s a little more    Indian Wells is tough to fit into a generalization, because it’s so weather dependant.  If it’s slow at night and the ball is not jumping, it gets really slow.
Whereas the thing that make it heavy here is the humidity.  Ball stays lower here than at an Indian Wells, but they’re pretty distinctly different.

Q.  Do you think years ago, five, six years ago, you would have played down Love 30 or when you were down 4 1 you would have played any different?  Is there something about being more mature and playing more tennis that helps you come back like that?
ANDY RODDICK:  I don’t know.  I was pretty good six years ago, you know, (laughter.)
When things aren’t going my way, I’m probably better now.  I probably don’t get    six years ago it was a lot more    on the court my highs were a lot higher and the lows were a lot lower.  Does that make sense?  So it was a lot more reactionary.
So if I would have gotten down early, I don’t know if I would have stayed the course.  I still might have gotten angry and then fired up, it’s just a different way I think of navigating through the match.
Now I feel like I’ve seen most situations.  I think I’ve seen pretty much every situation on a tennis court, so I don’t know if that one’s better or worse.  You know, I guess it’s just the way you change.

Q.  Aren’t you more of a thinker now, Andy?  You always had game.
ANDY RODDICK:  Yeah, I think so.  I mean, I feel like I have more options.  My Plan A was pretty good.  If I caught fire for, you know, a month or two months, it was pretty good.
But, you know, the consistency is there now.  I think the matter of just being able to negotiate your way through a draw or tournament and winning matches you’re supposed to win, I go at it a little bit more day by day I guess now.

Q.  Mardy said he thinks the weight you lost whenever it was, last summer, that that made a big difference.  Do you feel that still?
ANDY RODDICK:  I mean, a lot of people refer to it as weight loss.  That’s fine.  You can lose weight without getting stronger or faster.  I think the strength training I did, and I think nutrition has played a big part.
I probably feel better on court more consistently.  You know, just kind of being very, very disciplined about that has helped a lot, I think.

Q.  Since you got here, you’ve played doubles with Fred…
ANDY RODDICK:  Yeah (laughter.)

Q.  You’ve been involved in the Chilean earthquake thing.
ANDY RODDICK:  Not yet.

Q.  HORSE with D Wade.  A lot of top players are so reluctant to stray from the structure of their schedule.  Has your approach to that changed over the years?  What’s your approach?  How do you feel about it?
ANDY RODDICK:  No, not really.  I don’t really leave    I don’t really    I guess it seems that way, but, you know, the Champions for Chile thing I don’t think has much to do with    it’s a bigger cause than my tournament.  It’s a bigger thing.  Even if things go great and I’m in a final I’ll still play just because it’s necessary and what needs to happen.
The thing with D, they’re almost like these    the individual circumstances, each one here was kind of    the other thing you were talking about, the clinic I did was before the tournament.  It was on a Tuesday and I wasn’t gonna play until Friday or Saturday, so I wasn’t too concerned.
But if it’s the right opportunity, I’ll do it.  I don’t really do this much, to be honest.  Probably less than I used to.

Q.  Speaking of big causes, last night people were saying if there’s anybody that isn’t Jewish that you want to root for, it’s Andy Roddick.  That’s going back to what you did for Shahar Peer last year pulling out of Dubai.  Have a lot of people come to you since then saying, We always liked you, but congratulations for taking a stand?
ANDY RODDICK:  Yes.  Yeah.  I think some of the    I mean, obviously there’s a pretty large Jewish population in South Florida, and I’m well aware of that.
But to be honest, I get kudos for that, but it could have been any religion.  It didn’t have to be a Jewish player or an Israeli player.  Could have been any player.
I just thought it was an injustice that had nothing to do with sports.  I didn’t like to see that in our little world of tennis.
I thought it was an unfortunate decision that to their credit has been rectified a couple times since then with Andy Ram last year and Shahar not only playing this year, but playing well.
Hopefully it made somewhat of a difference.  Again, it’s kind of the same thing I was talking about with the Chile thing.  It’s above what we do.  It’s more important than a tennis match.

Q.  Tell me how you’ve developed your game.  Is your attitude about clay any different these days?  What actually are your plans?
ANDY RODDICK:  Normally we get through this first part, through March or whatever, and then we kind of renegotiate.
But I played fine on clay last year.  I did okay in Madrid and made it further in the French than I ever have.  It’s never gonna be my best surface.  It’s always gonna be the most challenging.
I don’t think it’s a surface I’ve ever really hated.  I’ve had some good results on it.  I just know that those middle of road matches    like today for instance.  I got into a hole and I served my way out, and we touched on that earlier.
That’s not as easy.  I have to be playing well on clay tom do well.  Maybe on a hardcourt I can be playing okay and still manage to get through matches.
We always say we play well for 20% of the year, badly for 20% of the year, and that middle 60% that makes the difference.  That middle 60 is a lot more vulnerable on clay, I think, for me.

Q.  Have you watched Nadal and Federer play at all this week?  What do you think about how they’re playing?
ANDY RODDICK:  I haven’t watched Roger hit a ball this week.  I watched Rafa a little bit against Nalbandian the first set, and then I was warming up and kind of getting ready for my own match.
So I haven’t seen him much this week.

Q.  Speaking of clay, I guess if you’re gonna play Almagro you want it on a hardcourt.  Talk about the matchup.
ANDY RODDICK:  Yes and no.  He’s played pretty well in Australia and again at Indian Wells and he played well here.
You know, I think hardcourt is better for me.  I don’t know that he’s    he’s probably more comfortable on clay, but he’s played well on hardcourts.  He’s a guy like Ferrer, who his results almost mirror each other regardless of the surface.  But he’s playing well.
He has big shots.  He got through a brawl out there today.  I know the fans were getting into it.  And to get through that one, you know, shows match toughness.  So it’s never easy.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports.

SEOpen: Mardy Fish Fourth Round Press Conference

March 30, 2010

M. YOUZHNY/M. Fish

6 1, 1 0 (ret.)

An interview with:

MARDY FISH

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Just when things were going great.
MARDY FISH:  Yeah.

Q.  Can’t get a break.
MARDY FISH:  A little bit of bad luck obviously.  I just fell right down on my sciatic nerve apparently.  Lost feeling in my leg for about a minute, and then got it back at the changeover.
Didn’t really even notice, and got it back on the changeover.  Just excruciating pain.  I mean, I was just doubled over.  I couldn’t hardly breathe.
They tried to loosen it up.  I just thought it was like a bruise, and give me some hot cream and let’s go.
I mean, I honestly thought it was just maybe take two games to get it back, because I was probably gonna lose that set anyway, and let’s start going.  Never loosened up.
I mean, just tightened up so much I could barely walk.

Q.  How long do you think it’ll keep you out?
MARDY FISH:  I don’t know.  I mean, the smart guys will probably figure that out.

Q.  Have you had sciatica or anything in the past?  Nothing?
MARDY FISH:  I don’t think I’ve ever felt that much pain on a tennis court.  I’ve had to retire a couple times for my ankle and my knee one time, but nothing like that.

Q.  The pain, was it the in the hip?  The back?
MARDY FISH:  No, it was like my butt, but then it went all the way down into any calf.  I mean, the whole thing.

Q.  From here down…
MARDY FISH:  Yeah, into my lower back as well.

Q.  And what exactly was the motion you were doing when you fell down?  Describe the fall.
MARDY FISH:  I just slipped.  I slipped and fell.  I mean, thankfully I didn’t    I mean, I didn’t brace myself at all you my wrist, otherwise it would be talking months instead of hopefully just a little bit of time off.
So, I mean, it was all my weight down.  And I don’t know.  I’ve never done it before.

Q.  I hate it pound this, but this is your best tournament here; you’re playing as good as you’ve played in a long time; feeling great.  What do you have to do to like…
MARDY FISH:  Yeah, I don’t know.  It’s tough to    yeah, you could easily dwell on that.  I’ll try to just take it as sort of a fluke thing and still take from this tournament that my knee is feeling great.
It seems like my weight loss has helped my play a lot, and go from there.

Q.  Were you especially fired up here because of the makeover and this being more or less your home tournament?
MARDY FISH:  No, I mean, I felt good for about a month now.  Really, really good since sort of the Delray Beach tournament.  I felt good in Indian Wells as well, you know.
So, you know, I think being able to play sort of a little bit different style, being able to grind out some points instead of having to go for some stupid shots or, you know, some tough shots that I probably wouldn’t make anyway.
You know, you try to steal    I feel like I can steal a few more points than I did before sort of with my legs now than before.  So, I mean, that takes time to be able to figure out that style of play and shots that I have never hit before in my life.
Sort of being able to get to shots or putting air under balls so I can stay in points.  I’d just never done that before.  I think    obviously this is, you know, not necessarily the result of the tournament    you know, fourth round is a great result    but playing a couple great matches, playing a couple good matches, beating some good players.  The guy I played in the first round was a really good, young player that’s gonna be really good for sure.
You know, and then playing Saturday was obviously a match I’ll probably never forget.  So I’ll take that part of it for sure, and go on to next week.

Q.  You’ve talked about the diet and the hard work you put in.  But having done this makeover for yourself, is it also like more fun?  Are you happy to get out there and practice and win matches?
MARDY FISH:  Yeah, I mean, people ask me a lot, How do you feel?  Do you feel the same?  Do you feel different?  Do you have as much energy?
I mean, I just feel like a completely different person confidence wise, just being able to walk around feeling like an actual athlete that’s in pretty good shape.
Yeah, in practice I can practice longer hours, and I can do for things maybe days before tournaments than I haven’t been before.  A lot of the times I would just hit for 30 minutes or put in a lot time and then hit for 30 minutes the day before the match.
I just don’t have to do that anymore.  I can take it as a normal practice day and just play the next day and come back day after day and still feel really good.
I still feel like I recover, you know, not like a guy who    this is my 11th year    so a guy who’s not been out here that long.  Hopefully that helps a lot.

Q.  Were you envious when you would see these other guys really fit?  Did you somewhere inside you say, I should do that?
MARDY FISH:  I always wanted to do it.  Always.

Q.  What kept you from doing it?
MARDY FISH:  Maybe time more so than anything else.  It’s really, really tough to lose over 25 points in a month and a half.  I just don’t think I could have done what I did during tournaments.
I just simply couldn’t do it.  You need to eat and fuel your body.  I just felt like I    I mean, I needed to lose weight to do what I did, you know, otherwise if I worked 9:00 it 5:00 I would have been fine.  I was eating like a king.
But, you know, now it’s a little different.

Q.  At this point, do you pull for your old roomy, Roddick?
MARDY FISH:  Yeah, I just saw he won.  I mean, nothing changes there.  I always root for him.  Seems to be playing really well.  Indian Wells could have obviously gone his way, the whole thing.
I told him earlier, I said, You finally achieved something that I’ve achieved in my career:  made the finals of Indian Wells.  He said he wanted to win not necessarily to win Indian Wells, but for Larry because Larry won Indian Wells, and for me because I made the finals.
Wanted to one up me on every tournament, not just that one?

Q.  One last one on Andy.  Seems the last few years he’s just figured it out.  He used to be more of a power guy.  What do you see as the biggest change?
MARDY FISH:  I think he’s extremely fit.  He’s always been in great shape.  He never loses matches because of fitness.  I think he can rely on his legs a little bit more.
His weight loss that he had a couple years ago, I think maybe last off season, I think helped him a lot.
I’m not sure where he is right now as far as his weight, but, you know, he moves real well.  That’s just not as much weight as you need to carry on your knees and on your body.  Because he was having knee trouble as well.
I mean, if you feel really healthy    you know, he’s gonna win a lot of matches with his serve and grit, the way he fights every match.  You know, some of his results are just incredible as far as some of his stats, you know, with finishing in the top 10 for eight straight years.  That’s just incredible.
You know, so he obviously owes a lot to the way he fights on the court, I think.  Yes, he’s got a great serve, but lots of people have good serves nowadays.  Lots of people hit groundstrokes better than he does, but there’s not many people that fight harder than he does for every match.
I guess he was down 4 1, 40 Love in this first set.  It doesn’t surprise me at all that he won the set.  He’s done that hundreds of times in his career.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports.

SEOpen: Nadal Sets Up Tsonga Clash; Roddick and Soderling Move On In Miami

Key Biscayne, Fla—No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal survived a gut-wrenching first set before prevailing over countryman David Ferrer 7-6 (5), 6-4 Tuesday at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Nadal, who had lost to Ferrer twice on hard-courts, demonstrated great perseverance in capturing the one hour first set.

Both players would break serve on one occasions to begin the contest, before playing a high quality tiebreak.

The camaraderie between the two players was evident by the respect and level of play that the match was contested under. True to form, Ferrer would continue his screams of anguish as he missed a backhand, while Nadal would fist pump and signal to his corner when his forehand created a winner.

The Latin support in the crowd was nothing short of stellar, urging each man to continue their passionate play. Unfortunately for Ferrer, going down a set would become too great of a margin to climb back from, losing his serve twice in the second set, which lasted 57 minutes.

The win for Nadal was his ninth over Ferrer, who hadn’t lost to his lower ranked countryman since the 2007 Masters Cup in China.

Nadal will next play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who dismantled Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-2 earlier in the day. Nadal leads Tsonga 4-1 in career head-to-head meetings.

Nadal’s shot selection and movement was once again promising throughout his hard-fought win over Ferrer, demonstrating great court coverage and competent serving throughout his victory.

In order for Nadal to defeat Tsonga in the quarterfinals, the Mallorcan will need to keep his service games air-tight and take his chances on the Frenchman’s second serve.

Tsonga will be looking to attack Nadal’s topspin forehand at all costs, while approaching the net on numerous occasions. I’d be shocked if this match didn’t go the distance, considering the ball-striking that both players have demonstrated thus far.

Elsewhere, Andy Roddick and Robin Soderling overcame a slow start, and the loss of the middle set to defeat Benjamin Becker and Fernando Gonzalez, respectively.

Trailing 1-4, 0-40 in the first set, Roddick used his court guile and tremendous serve to regain momentum against his German opponent.

“When things aren’t going my way, I’m probably better now,” he said. “Six years ago on the court my highs were a lot higher, and the lows were a lot lower. If I would have gotten down early, I don’t know if I would have stayed the course.”

Finding himself in a similar situations later in the set, Roddick trailed 4-5, 0-30 before engaging in his serve to recover.

Winning the first set in a tiebreak, Roddick cruised through the second set to gain his 24th match win of the season with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 score-line.

Striking eight aces throughout his victory, the highest ranked American in the draw will next face Nicolas Almagro for a place in the semifinals.

Almagro won a rowdy encounter in the Grandstand earlier in the day over Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3).

Roddick will be the favorite ahead of his match with Almagro, having never played the Spaniard on the ATP World Tour.

Roddick’s serve and flatter strokes should translate well against the spin-oriented game of Almagro.

Mardy Fish’s great run at the event came to crashing halt against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, retiring in the early stages of the second set with a back injury.

Fish was trailing 6-1, 1-0 when he retired. The American had defeated Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez in-route to the fourth-round.

Youzhny, who has been in sensational form this season, advanced to his best result in Miami with his 12th win of the year. Previously reaching the third-round in 2008, Youzhny will best be remembered in Miami for smashing his racket on his head during a second-round victory over Almagro the same year.

Youzhny will next face Robin Soderling, who defeated crowd favorite Fernando Gonzalez 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-2 in one hour and 40 minutes.

Blitzing through Gonzalez in the first set, Soderling took advantage of a fatigued and occupied Chilean. Gonzalez, who had missed last week’s Indian Wells event in order to aid with relief work for the earthquake victims in Chile, prevailed in a long three set match last night against Juan Monaco.

Gonzalez will remain in Miami and prepare for his “Champions for Chile” event, which will take place on Saturday evening with Gustavo Kuerten, Jim Courier, and Roddick.

Throughout his 15th match win of the year, recent Indian Wells semifinalist Soderling displayed his renewed belief in his outdoor game. Previously obtaining minimal results on outdoor surfaces, Soderling’s  guidance from coach Magnus Norman has allowed the Tibro native to excel on any surface.

Striking 15 aces, while winning 85 percent of his first serve points, Soderling controlled the baseline tempo against Gonzalez, irrespective of his second set loss.

Soderling and Youzhny have met on three occasions, with Soderling leading 2-1.

I’d say that Soderling has the slight edge against Youzhny taking into account his ability to use the quick courts in Miami to his advantage. Soderling’s forehand and serve hold much more power than the Russian’s, and the Swede appears to have his backhand and court movement adjusted to the Key Biscayne heat.

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco joined the quarterfinal line-up in Florida by upsetting No. 7 seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the Grandstand.

Entering the match with much to prove, Verdasco broke Cilic once in the first set on the strength of his turbo-charged forehand wing.

Trading brakes of serve in the second set, Verdasco benefitted from the poor play of Cilic in the tiebreak to capture his third victory in five meetings with the Croat.

Letting out a yell of relief when Cilic overhit his final forehand, Verdasco will next meet the winner of the day’s final match between Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych.

Federer owns a decisive 8-1 head-to-head lead over Berdych in career meetings.

Quotes courtesy of ASAP.

SEOpen: Tsonga and Almagro Reach Quarterfinals

Key Biscayne, Fla—No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga wasted very little time on Tuesday in reaching the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Needing exactly one hour to dismantle Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-2, Tsonga won 83 percent of his first serve points, while striking eight aces.

Keeping the pressure on Ferrero throughout the duration of the match, Tsonga’s return-of-serve prowess allowed Ferrero only 38 percent of his first serve points won.

Improving to 14-5 on the season, Tsonga remains in contention of reaching his first Tour final of the year. Previously reaching the semifinals in Australia (l. Federer), and Marsielle (l. Benneteau), Tsonga will be contesting his second straight quarterfinal in Miami.

Reaching the final eight last year, Tsonga was upended by eventual finalist and 2007 winner Novak Djokovic.

Tsonga’s play on Tuesday at the Tennis Center in Crandon Park, sent out a clear message that he’s ready to battle for his second career Masters 1000 title, while continuing his bid to reach the top five in the world.

Overwhelming Ferrero from start to finish, Tsonga took apart a quality opponent, who had reached three ATP World Tour finals last month (albeit on clay-courts).

Tsonga’s go for broke game-style, which can be lethal against any foe, will be hard to defeat for the remember of the event.

The high flying Frenchman will next face Rafael Nadal or David Ferrer. Tsonga trails Nadal 4-1 in career head-to-head meetings, while never facing Ferrer in Tour competition.

Elsewhere, an exhilarating contest took place on the Grandstand earlier in the day against Thomaz Bellucci and Nicolas Almagro.

In front of a standing room only crowd—full of Latin support—Bellucci and Almagro dazzled their supporters for over two and a half hours. In the end, Almagro’s bigger serve and more competent backhand were too good for his Brazilian opponent.

Defeating Bellucci 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3), Almagro used 14 aces, and 80 percent of his first serve points won to capture his 12th victory of the season.

Overhitting a final forehand on match-point, a valiant effort from Bellucci was overseen by his poor play in the later stages of the match.

Reaching the round of 16 in Indian Wells, Almagro progressed to his best ever finish in Key Biscayne. Although both players hit more unforced errors than winners, it was Almagro’s fight and determination (which has been questioned in the past), which propelled him to victory.

Almagro will next face Andy Roddick or Benjamin Becker.

SEOpen: Nestor-Zimonjic Ousted in Second Round

Key Biscayne, Fla—Recent Indian Wells finalist Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic were defeated in the second-round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Monday.

Losing 4-6, 6-2, 10-5, the Canadian-Serbian team squandered a set lead to the Spanish duo of Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo.

Capturing their first win as team in Miami a day earlier, Nestor and Zimonjic captured two titles this year at Sydney and Rotterdam. They were also finalists at the Australian Open in January, losing to the Bryan brothers.

SEOpen: Roger Federer Third Round Press Conference

R. FEDERER/F. Serra

7 6, 7 6

An interview with:

ROGER FEDERER

THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Do you have a preference, to have a match like this, being tested in a longer match as opposed to having a quick match in the earlier rounds?
ROGER FEDERER:  Well, I mean, most important is to come through the rounds, you know.  So I don’t have a preference how it’s done.
I always like to come out with confidence, that’s for sure.  So it’s nice to having won two breakers, because that doesn’t happen every match you play.
Sure, I still have to tidy up my game a bit, you know, having had one break up in the first and two breaks up in the second, it’s normally something that doesn’t get away from me.
But I thought he came up with some good stuff, and that made it difficult for me, you know, to close it out.
That’s why I’m happy to still be through.

Q.  Obviously quite a few players have fallen by the wayside, Djokovic and Murray.  Can you talk about how hard it is to come out, even for the top guys, and repeat week after week?
ROGER FEDERER:  We don’t play every week.  Maybe that’s the tough part, too.  If we were to play many more weeks we’d have more matches and we would have more momentum, but then we’d also have more injuries.
You have to be smart and clever about how you schedule.  Sometimes it’s also not in your control.  Simple as that.
Because if the guy takes time away from you and he’s playing the match of his life on a particular day in the best of three set match, it goes very quickly.
You saw it very clearly with me last week.  I was up set, couple break points, and five minutes later I’m down one set all and starting a third set and momentum on my opponent’s side.
It’s just something you have to try to have a cushion like today.  I was a break up in the first, two breaks up in the second, and I still was able to come through in straight sets.
It doesn’t always happen that way.  It just shows how deep, you know, men’s tennis is right now.

Q.  There were maybe a few patchy moments, but you also hit a few shots for the highlight shows.  I’m wondering how often do you hit a shot that surprises even you at this point in your career?
ROGER FEDERER:  Well, I mean, it’s nice when you do hit amazing shots, you know, especially in an important stage.  It’s not as important if you hit it at 40 Love, you know.  But what you try to do is put yourself in a position and sometimes improvise when you’re in a very    in a tough spot.
He definitely pushed me a little bit by playing really aggressive, so I had to come up with some good defensive stuff.  I dug out a few I think incredible things, and especially at crucial moments especially in the first set, as well.
So I was happy with some of the moments I had today.

Q.  Were you surprised being down a double break that he was still mentally pretty strong and still fighting?
ROGER FEDERER:  Well, I don’t —I didn’t have the feeling he was playing the score too much.  He was just playing his style, which is aggressive, you know, taking chances.
Sometimes missing by many feet.  Sometimes, you know, hitting it right in the corners.  So I knew that was gonna happen kind of thing, but it’s still impressive to see when it does happen against you.  You know, that he hits the spots three, four, five, six points in a row, and there’s not much you can do sometimes.
I wish I would have maybe served better, you know, at the crucial stages of the match, which I wasn’t able to do.  But then he took advantage of that and was able to come up with some amazing stuff.
Then you can only hope that, you know, he’s gonna cool off again and that yourself you’re gonna get your act together so you don’t allow him maybe to play that way.

Q.  Were you unhappy?  Like when you were serving for the set and then serving for the match and you lost your serve, were you unhappy or frustrated?
ROGER FEDERER:  Unhappy?  No, not really.  I don’t think I gave it to him.  I think he went to get it, which is a big difference, you know.
I definitely could have played a bit better during those moments, but maybe knowing that he was gonna go for extremely big stuff maybe I got a bit passive.
And my serve, like I said, let me down a few times.  But all in all, I’m thrilled to be through.  Again, you know, at the end of the day, that’s what counts, and not all the stuff we did in between.

Q.  I don’t know if you’ve been asked this since Australia, but you’ve got your family here; your children now probably about nine months I think.
ROGER FEDERER:  Almost, yeah.

Q.  How is that sort of challenge evolving of fitting your tennis around having a family with you as they get a bit older?
ROGER FEDERER:  Well, the traveling has been real easy, to be quite honest.  I’m surprised how easy it’s been, because I expected it to be hard, to say the least.
So for that side we’re very happy.  Little ones had issues after Australia, the teething, the ear infections and stuff.  That was kind of rough, but at least we weren’t traveling too much.  Mirka was sick; I was sick, as well.  So it was something maybe we had in the family.
But, you know, now everything is great again.  And as days go by, they become more and more active, so it’s a lot of fun to interact with them.
Yeah, everything changes in the room, you know, whereas before you had tables and chairs, you know, it’s empty space now so they have room to move.  So it’s a lot of fun.

Q.  What is the most important thing for you as a tennis player:  to win a Grand Slam?  To be No. 1?  To win Davis Cup?  Or to win medal in the Olympics?
ROGER FEDERER:  To me now?

Q.  Yeah.
ROGER FEDERER:  To win Wimbledon.  But then again, every player is different, you know.  Sometimes many of those dreams go hand in hand, you know.  Like the ranking.
I guess for me, if I could have picked two things, Wimbledon and No. 1 in the world.  I was able to do that in 2003 and 2004.  Did that a long time ago.

Q.  Are you missing playing Rafa?  Because it’s like one year that you and he played.
ROGER FEDERER:  I see him play a lot.

Q.  Play against him…
ROGER FEDERER:  Sure, playing against him is always a lot of fun, too.  I think it’s great for the game.  I think it’s great for our own game, because I have the feeling we always have tendencies to go back to the practice courts and say, Okay, whoever has won or lost has to go work harder, even though I don’t think we were ever slowing down.
It’s been always a lot of fun playing against him, and I hope that day is gonna come soon again where we can play.

Q.  Here maybe?
ROGER FEDERER:  Maybe here; maybe next week; maybe the following week.  We play many of the same tournaments.
Now obviously that he’s not No.  2 in the world anymore, the chances that we play earlier in the tournament are greater today.

Q.  He was out actually watching the match earlier on.  Do you ever go out and watch his matches?
ROGER FEDERER:  No, I don’t.

Q.  The day started out rather miserably with lots of rain.  Could you tell us how you spent that time and how you weren’t supposed to come out until the second match, but…
ROGER FEDERER:  Yeah, well, that’s the thing.  You always got to be expecting to play right away.  Sure, they give you a notice of maybe 30 minutes to 45 minutes usually.
This time around there was one hour 15, which was kind of good to know, because all of a sudden they said they’re moving the first match away.
But, you know, it’s something we’re quite used to.  I’d rather come out and wait and have enough time to tape my ankles, eat, warm up plenty, because we couldn’t warm up today.
You know, sort of what the players like to do is go out and hit for 30 minutes and then go back and eat and rest and take a shower.  Kind of get ready for the next match.  We didn’t have those 30 minutes.
Yeah, so we kind of warmed up only for five minutes and off we went.  Maybe that’s one of the reasons rhythm was lacking for both of us in the beginning.
We had the gusty winds, and it makes it even harder.  I played some cards with my friends and just hung out and waited and saw the rain over center court, so I knew I was not gonna play for a while.
Next thing you know it’s like you’re on court, so you have to be mentally very ready for those kinds of things.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports.

SEOpen: Order of Play for Tuesday March 30, 2010

Tuesday order of play will feature all eight round of 16 matches. The action packed day will commence at 11 am at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park.

The full order of play can be seen below.

STADIUM start 11:00 am
[8] J Tsonga (FRA) vs [12] J Ferrero (ESP) – ATP

Not Before 1:00 PM
[3] V Williams (USA) vs [6] A Radwanska (POL) – WTA
[6] A Roddick (USA) vs B Becker (GER) – ATP
[15] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [4] R Nadal (ESP) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
[13] M Bartoli (FRA) vs [12] Y Wickmayer (BEL) – WTA

Not Before 9:00 PM
[1] R Federer (SUI) vs [16] T Berdych (CZE) – ATP

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
[33] N Almagro (ESP) vs [27] T Bellucci (BRA) – ATP
M Fish (USA) vs [13] M Youzhny (RUS) – ATP
[9] F Gonzalez (CHI) or [22] J Monaco (ARG) vs [5] R Soderling (SWE) – ATP
[10] F Verdasco (ESP) or [23] J Melzer (AUT) vs [7] M Cilic (CRO) – ATP

COURT 1 start 3:00 pm
[8] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) vs I Andreev (RUS) / M Youzhny (RUS) – After suitable rest
M Kirilenko (RUS) / A Radwanska (POL) vs G Dulko (ARG) / F Pennetta (ITA) – After suitable rest

COURT 2 start 11:00 am
J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) vs [4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Mirnyi (BLR) – ATP
[5] A Kleybanova (RUS) / F Schiavone (ITA) vs [4] L Raymond (USA) / R Stubbs (AUS) – WTA
[3] N Petrova (RUS) / S Stosur (AUS) vs J Coin (FRA) / V King (USA) – WTA
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) vs [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) – ATP
M Damm (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) vs B Becker (GER) / M Kohlmann (GER) – ATP

SEOpen: Federer Struggles to Victory; Cilic Wins in Routine Fashion

by: Nima Naderi

Key Biscayne, Fla—Perhaps it was Kim Kardashian, who present at the coin-flip, or the heavy rain that postponed play for nearly four hours—how about Rafael Nadal watching from the stands?—whatever the case, top seed Roger Federer needed two tiebreakers to defeat Florent Serra 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) to reach the fourth-round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Monday.

Beginning the contest in stellar form, Federer’s forehand and pinpoint serve allowed for a quick 5-2 lead. However, Federer’s day would turn from easy to difficult in a heartbeat while serving for the set at 5-3. Donating two-unforced errors from his forehand wing, Federer lost his serve at 30-40 when Serra hit a winning return.

Tying the affair at 5-5, Serra’s workmanlike game provided continued adversity for the top seed by forcing a first set tiebreak. Coming through with limited bruises after the first set, Federer stormed to a convincing tiebreak scoreline.

Continuing his momentum to begin the second set, Federer grabbed a 1-0 lead before stretching his lead to 2-0. Although Federer’s level of play wasn’t particularly high on the day, it was quite surprising to see him lose serve on two occasions throughout the second set.

Winning another tiebreak to end the match, Federer stepped up his game to prevail in straight sets.

The consensus around the stadium and the locker room for that matter suggested that Federer’s level of play continues to differ when competing at a Masters event from a Grand Slam tournament.

Although the Swiss enjoys the competition of a Masters 1000 tournament, his commitment at capitalizing on his oppourtunites is not as fierce as when he’s playing a Grand Slam.

Nevertheless, Federer survived a scratchy performance and will next face Tomas Berdych, who defeated Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 7-5.

Federer owns an insurmountable head-to-head lead over the Berdych, winning eight of nine meetings.

Federer told the media after his victory that he was well aware that his level of play would need to improve as the week progressed.

“Sure, I still have to tidy up my game a bit, having had one break up in the first and two breaks up in the second; it’s normally something that doesn’t get away from me. But I thought he came up with some good stuff, and that made it difficult for me to close it out… I don’t think I gave it to him. I think he went to get it, which is a big difference.

“The most important [thing] is to come through the rounds. So I don’t have a preference how it’s done. I always like to come out with confidence, that’s for sure.  So it’s nice to having won two breakers, because that doesn’t happen every match you play.”

Elsewhere, young Croat Marin Cilic won his 20th match of the year by capturing a confident win over inform Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Defeating the Limassol native 6-3, 6-4, Cilic pounded five aces while winning 86 percent of his first serve points.

To his credit, Baghdatis played a high quality match which included striking six aces while winning 85 percent of his first serve points. The difference, though, became Cilic’s return of serve, which created two break point conversions during the one hour and 16 minute encounter.

Cilic will next face Fernando Verdasco, who defeated Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

Verdasco overcame 12 double faults and a set deficit to advance to the fourth-round.

Cilic and Verdasco have split four previous meetings.

Other completed matches on Monday included: Robin Soderling defeating Philipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-2; Mardy Fish ousting Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3, and Mikhail Youzhny dismissing Stanislas Wawrinka 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

The final match of the day will feature crowd favorite Fernando Gonzalez taking on Juan Monaco of Argentina.

Quotes courtesy of ASAP.

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