Roger Federer: 'I think I played well, I had to against rival like Denis'
"I think the mistakes I did had to be made, you know, for the learning experience. I think I was fortunate to have the right people at the right time every step of the way. Because in the beginning, you know, your parents choose for you. Later, the Federation chooses for you maybe who is around you. To some extent, of course, you can have some say, or your parents have some say, so I was lucky there. And same with the fitness coaches. I met Pierre already when I was 14. He had an idea of who I was and what my strengths and weaknesses were, et cetera. And then, you know, I made so many mistakes maybe by playing certain tournaments and losing instead of maybe not playing, but these are little mistakes.
In hindsight maybe a good thing I did them because I guess you don't make them the second time around. The important thing is to learn from mistakes and not repeat them. I think I did pretty well there. But I also had good people around me who always wanted the best for me. I think that's great when you have that. The key is just to be able to know who is there really for you and who is not. At the beginning of the career is difficult, just because when you're rising, like the young guys now you see, all of a sudden you have guys jumping on the train and you don't know why they're there. All of a sudden they happen to be friends, you know. You have to figure it out who is going to be part of the core team and who not.
That's tough when you're young. Well, this is different because Denis is so young. It's not like I have had a million chances to play him and then it finally happened after years. So, you know, this is a common thing to happen when you're playing against the youngster. It's more playing a young guy than a guy you have never played against. I enjoyed it. I think I played very well. I had to. Because I think when you let Denis play, he's got some serious power and he gets rhythm going. He can put you in uncomfortable situations. So I think I did well, and I'm very happy with how I played. I thought it was a good match. It was a good level."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2WB3ydU
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