Nole:
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=84933
...
Q. You won without losing a match. Do you think you made Roger
anxious, to try to hit so much, too much, because he made so many
mistakes with the forehand? Do you think it was your patience?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: The level was very high. I thought that we both played
really well. The momentum was changing, coming to his side and my side
throughout the match.
I knew that the only way for me to really win the match is to be
consistently focused and committed to every point. You know, he's
somebody that is very aggressive, that likes to finish his points very
quickly. Especially when he's a break up, he's probably the best player
I've played ever against. He comes up always with his A game when he's
up. It's very difficult to handle that.
But, you know, I managed to get a lot of his shots back into the court,
being passive, a couple meters behind the baseline, coming into an
aggressive position. That was one of the goals tonight, to always try
to get him into the longer rallies where I think I had the better chance.
...
---
Fed:
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=84934
...
Q. Could you maybe try and explain to people what it's like being at
the other end of the court from a guy who covers it so phenomenally well
as Novak does and the problems that causes you every point.
ROGER FEDERER: I mean, it's no problem. I mean, I expect tough
opponent, a guy who moves well. It's not like you're going into the
match thinking, Wow, that's amazing he got that ball back. I mean,
we've played 30 times, so you know what to expect.
And then there is many other guys moving very well on the tour, as well.
It's not just him. But what he does well, you know, even in defense,
he stays somewhat offensive. That's what I mentioned before the match,
that, I think, is what separates him from the rest a little bit.
Maybe for some players it's easier if a guy defends this way than maybe
another guy who just gets the ball back one more extra time and really
keeps you doubting. He kinda stays on the offensive, so he really takes
time away from you.
Yeah, so today we had times where we had longer rallies, we had times
where we had shorter rallies. Like I mentioned, I think we had some
great stuff out there. Yeah, it was good playing such points.
Obviously, you need a guy who retrieves well, such as Rafa or Ferrer or
Andy or Novak, for that matter. It's great playing against those guys
because the ball does come back a few more times than against other
players from time to time and you get those great rallies going.
...
Q. When you were winning your original Masters Cups and these kinds of
titles, we were talking about being attacking tennis being to the fore.
Now we're talking about defensive tennis as the norm. Would you like
to see or could you see a day when we talk more about attacking tennis
than defensive tennis?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, it's easy fix. Just make quicker courts,
then it's hard to defend. Attacking style is more important. It's only
on this type of slow courts that you can defend the way we are all doing
right now.
I think it's exciting, but no doubt about it, it's tough. What you
don't want is that you hit 15 great shots and at the end, it ends up in
an error.
So I think sometimes quicker courts do help the cause. I think it would
help from time to time to move to something a bit faster. That would
help to learn, as well, for many different players, different playing
styles, to realize that coming to the net is a good thing, it's not a
bad thing.
Then again, the tour has to decide, the tournament directors have a big
say in it.
I'm happy with this court. It's faster. It's fine, too. I've played
on all different speeds. But I think some variety would be nice, some
really slow stuff and then some really fast stuff, instead of trying to
make everything sort of the same. You sort of protect the top guys
really by doing that because you have the best possible chance to have
them in the semis at this point, I think.
But should that be the goal? I'm not sure.
...