In Roger Federer's words: 'I got my confidence back, this is how I should play'

Roger Federer claimed the first Masters 1000 title in May 2002, lifting the trophy in Hamburg and cracking the top-10 on the following day. The young Swiss couldn't shift that form into the upcoming events, though, losing in the first round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and winning only one out of seven matches ahead of the US Open. Besides an evident struggle on the court, Roger lost his dear friend and the first coach Peter Carter who died in early August, making things even worse for one of the most promising upcoming stars. In New York, Roger managed to find at least some form and results, beating Xavier Malisse 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in two and 13 minutes to advance into the last 16. The Belgian broke Roger thrice but the Swiss responded with five successful return games to control the pace after the opener and earn another much-needed triumph after a mediocre couple of months where he couldn't compete at his best. 

"I wasn't playing well at all lately. That's why I need to pass the opening rounds and get that winning feeling again. It was a difficult match for me as I didn't play that well, getting a little nervous in the end. I played on a high level versus Michael Chang and I could feel I'm on the right track despite some problems today. After losing the opening set, I stayed positive and tried to make a strong comeback in the second set; that worked really well. In the last couple of matches, I got my confidence back; this is how I should play. I think I'm not far away from the level from the start of the season; I still think maybe I can do a few things better.

I have to take one match after another as I didn't play enough encounters lately. I didn't expect much from this tournament. My only focus was just to win that first-round singles, then play doubles, have some fun. That was totally missing lately, we know the reasons for that. There's not much I was doing; I was just practicing. Between Long Island and US Open, I felt like I can't play anymore. Now I'm also starting to struggle in practice. Before, I was telling myself to work hard in practice, it comes back in the match. Then I was practicing good, it was terrible in the match. Then suddenly I had terrible in practice, terrible in the match. I was like totally playing the worst ever. I guess that maybe helped that I played so bad in practice, really no expectations for the singles. Now suddenly I'm playing good again. That's just the main thing right now." 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3eWWTES