Roger Federer: 'French Open may be the event where I felt most pressure'
In a press conference Roger Federer was asked if French Open was the tournament where he felt most pressure having lost several finals against Rafael Nadal before eventually triumphing ten years ago and achieving the Career Grand Slam. "Possible. It's difficult to compare to Wimbledon in 2007, 2003 or 2009, especially after Rafa lost. This is where these expectations started when the journalists started saying it's this year or never. From then on, the next nine or ten days felt like forever. I had matches against Gaël. Soderling had beaten Rafa. In fact, he beat me the year after. But I knew that instead of the tournament becoming easier, it was going to become more difficult because of the pressure. But it was nevertheless interesting and I felt better, and I feel proud that I was able to manage the pressure."
Federer also recalled his maiden Grand Slam appearance in 1999 French Open: "I was doing well. I was really happy to play against Rafter, who was one of the most popular players on the tour. He had this aura, being nice, fair play. So it was great being able to play him on the Suzanne Lenglen Court rather than on Court 23. So I played a good match. I wanted to play on a big court. I remember at the time you still had bonus points. I don't know if you remember that in a Grand Slam. The No. 1, you had 50 points if you beat him in Bercy, and Rafter was around No. 5, so it was 90 points if you beat him. So you were playing him and trying to get a lot of points knowing that you would never get them like the donkey and the carrot, you know. So I don't know if I got to 120 points, but you knew that if you managed this feat or if he twisted his ankle, you would get the points. But it didn't happen. Nevertheless, it was a great experience for me.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2M3UKwy
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