Roger Federer feels excited but realistic ahead of clay season
"I'm not very confident going into this clay court season because I don't know.. I didn't even remember how to slide anymore. I'm taking baby steps at this point and, to be honest, I didn't play one point - not one shot on clay last year. Two years ago I played on it for two days. Three years ago, I didn't feel great in Monaco and Rome and all that. So it's been so little that I really don't know what to expect. And I think what this win does for me, it just takes even more pressure off from the clay court season. And I wanted to play the clay anyway, although not in a relaxed fashion but after serious preparations.
That's what I'm looking at now, spending the next four or five weeks with my fitness coach and coaches Ivan and Severin and Pierre, figuring out how we are going to go about it. I don't have big expectations in Madrid anyway, just wanting to be ready for Paris. I hope all of that work is going to pay off for the season on grass and hard. The way I've been playing and moving in Miami makes me believe and I'm just going on vacation now, taking a bit of a break and then to start with preparations, the things should be fine physically but again, we'll see how the body is going to react. I'm very excited, it's a good challenge, a good test. Confidence, I don't know, it's in no man's land. It's just there if I play well. I have to gain it all again, starting from scratch."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2TQyll5
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