Roger Federer: 'I asked the French Open to play on Sunday'
In an interview to Tennis Channel Roger Federer commented on why he played his first match in the French Open on Sunday. The Swiss said: "The first time around, they said like, We would like you to play on Sundays. I said, I am not going to be that first guy who is going to play on Sunday because it was more of a whole players thing, to not allow Slams to go even 15 days long now. It's already 14 days, it's already so long but we just thought that was a bad move and what is that gonna lead into. Everybody is just gonna start eating days away from the rest of the Tour and that's why I fought it. This year now we have had this Sunday and it makes sense to start a tournament on a Saturday or Sunday and not on Monday when everybody goes back to work. I asked to play on Sunday but I said, Look, only if it works out for you. I felt ready, I did not have any more issues, I came here early on Tuesday already, and if I won I had an extra two days off, so when I play on Wednesday it feels like it's the first match but it isn't and so I get more days off."
On being the only active player still competing in the French Open draw, Federer added: "It makes me happy and I know I have got a lot lucky as well to get a wild card because for a Swiss guy to get a wild card was a big deal at the French Open. I was world No. 1 junior the year before and I played the junior French Open in '98 and lost the first round but for me it was a big deal. A bigger deal for me was to play Pat Rafter on Suzanne Lenglen, that was a big deal because I thought Pat was one of the great guys on the Tour and then after that I played him a few couple of times. So for me looking back now, being the only male player still in the draw today makes me really happy. I know Serena and Venus probably also did the same and I do not know if there is other women players as well did that but it's fun to be maybe the bridge between that really older generation and the players today who cannot almost relate to the other guys, how they used to play tennis."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2HFCWDV
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