Tennis Special Report: Roger Federer enjoys fast courts and looks to improve his Paris record
The Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer who has successfully made his way into the quarter final round of the BNP Paribas Masters Men’s singles competition back in 2002, 03 and 08, accepted on Tuesday that he is expecting to perform better this season at
the last ATP World Tour Masters 1000 championship of the year.
“This has been by far my worst ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, so I hope I can do well this season. I won't have much of a preparation. I will hit an hour later on today, and that is about everything I will get before my match tomorrow. However
I am happy that I am feeling so well and I am playing so well,” reflected Roger who won his 65th tour-level crown at his home competition, the Swiss Indoors Basel Men’s singles tournament last Sunday.
His comments truly suggests that the sixteen time Grand Slam champion is anxious to improve one of his most modest records at a major competition, as he said on Tuesday that a career best quarter final run in Paris is surly not up to the standards.
"It is always going to be a tough tournament physically. I have struggled here in the past with the feel of the small centre court dimensions, like at Roland Garros actually. I just need one good tournament here. The quarters are just not good enough
for me. That is what I hope to change this year. We will see how it goes,” said the number one seed Roger who will start his tournament’s campaign on Wednesday in the round two versus Richard Gasquet of France.
The professional tennis ace from Switzerland who made his ATP World Tour debut back in 2002 admits he always comes to Paris short on specific preparation, as it follows the competition in his hometown, which the right hander will never skip.
His winning intentions this week could also be affected by the practicality of actually getting a sustained hit on the fully booked showcase court, where play starts at 11am in a championship week and continues nearly uninterruptedly until late at night.
As the 29 year old prepared for his first match of the competition versus Richard Gasquet, Federer was well aware of the fact that the Bercy surface has changed since last year and is now rated as lightning-fast by players - which is fine with the former
world number one.
While commenting on the court, the current second ranked tennis ace added that it is nice that some championships have made the surfaces quicker again. The Swiss supported the idea of fast courts particularly at the indoor events.
Federer leads the pair’s head to head series at 6-1however both of them have not faced each other since 2007 at the grass court Grand Slam tournament in London.
In some on- court action on Tuesday, Mikhail Youzhny who was hoping to grab of the three remaining places in the ATP Tournament in London withdrew from his match against Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4 3-0 as a result of his back injury.
Fernando Verdasco of Spain did well to take the final ten games to make his way into the third round in Bercy with a three setter win over Arnaud Clement of France. The final match score was 3-6 6-3 6-0.
Meanwhile, the twelfth seed Gael Monfils dispatched off Benjamin Becker in three sets where as world number three Novak Djokovic will meet Juan Monaco, who surpassed Sam Querrey from the United States of America with a final score line of 7-6 (9-7) 6-2.
The number one Brit Andy Murray, who is seeded number three to win the title at the BNP Paribas Masters will take on David Nalbandian, the 2007 winner, who overpowered Spain's Marcel Granollers in straight sets. The final match score was 6-3 6-1.
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