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I Am Thinking More And More About What I Want To And Can Do After My Days As An Active Athlete. Thoughts Like Family And Marriage Also Cross My Mind More And More Often.

-Roger Federer

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I Am Thinking More

Roger Federer

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I Am Thinking More And More About What I Want To And Can Do After My Days As An Active Athlete. Thoughts Like Family And Marriage Also Cross My Mind More And More Often.

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More From Roger Federer

I Have Two Lives, And All The Problems I Might Have, I Feel Like I Drop Them Once I Step On To The Match Court.

I've Always Been Aware That The Image You Patiently Construct For An Entire Career Can Be Ruined In A Minute. It Scares You A Bit, But That's The Way Things Are.

I Have To Fit Holidays Around Tournaments, Particularly The Grand Slams, In Melbourne, Paris, London And New York.

I'm At The Top Of My Game So, When I Win Or Lose, I Don't Freak Out...i Don't Think We Can Call It A Rivalry Yet. There's Just To Many Great Players Around.

For Me, It's Important That A Fan Can Buy Something That Is Related To Me. Like In Soccer, You Buy A Shirt And It's Got Somebody's Name On The Back. That's Kind Of A Cool Thing.

I Can't Stay No. 1 For Fifty Years, You Know. We'll See What Happens.

It's Not So Simple To Just Stay In The Moment And Trust Your Game And Your Strength That You Can Turn It Around.

I Am Very Blessed To Be Able To Play Tennis, The Sport That I Love And Very Grateful For The Opportunities To Play In The Finals Of Big Events, When The Season Starts You Are On The Roll Constantly And Obliged To Be Committed To Daily Routines On And Off The Court.

I Have A Great Record Against Anybody Right Now, So It Doesn't Really Matter Who I Play In The Final. I'll Be In There As The Big Favorite. But I Play My Best In The Finals, In The Important Matches. That's Why I'm Number One. There's No Secret...i'm Not Overconfident, But Very Confident.

Oh, My God, I Don't Think Any Player Can Look Forward To Or Expect To A Career Of So Many Grand Slam Wins Or Title Wins Or Being So Long At The Top Of The Game.

Seriously. I'm Not Playing To Prove Anything To Journalists. I'm Playing For Myself, For My Fans,to Make People Happy.

I Always Knew I Had Something Special.

Something Special

I Don't Mind Fans Coming Up In A Friendly, Respectful Way. That's All Part Of The Fun Of Being A Top Tennis Player. But If People Take Pictures Without Permission, Particularly If My Children Are In The Shot, I Feel Uncomfortable.

Being Down Match Point, It's Just Not Fun.

The Serve, I Think, Is The Most Difficult, You Know, In Terms Of Coordination, Because You Got The Two Arms Going, And You Got To Toss It Up At The Right Time So.

I'm Playing Great Tennis. I'm Enjoying The Tour, Having Fun With The Fans Off The Court. I'm Loving It Now.

I Definitely Feel There's Room For Improvement.

I Used To Do A Lot Of Video Analysis Early On, But More For Pleasure And Looking At My Own Technique.

Clearly, When You Win Everything, It's Fun. That Doesn't Necessarily Mean You Love The Game More.

To Handle That Stardom, The Red Carpets, The Photo Shoots, People All Of A Sudden Recognizing You And Following You In Everyday Life, It's A Bit Weird. It's Strange, And It Can Have Funny Effects On You In Terms Of Do You Like It Or Don't You Like It. Some People Run Away From It, Some People Embrace It; I Found A Good Middle Ground.

I Think It's Very Hard For Coaches To Work With Me. They'll No Doubt Have A Good Cv Afterwards, But At The Same Time They're Under A Lot Of Pressure.

I Definitely Need To Use My Chances When They Come Because Definitely There Wont Be Many.

One Of My Big, Big Strengths I Think Early On In My Career Was That I Could Learn Very Quickly. You Wouldn't Have To Tell Me The Things 10 Times Or 50 Times Until I Would Understand Them. You Would Only Have To Tell Me Two Or Three Times.

Sometimes You Have To Accept That A Guy Played Better On The Day Than You.

I Never Expected I, In The First Place, When I Started Playing Tennis, That I Would Ever Carry The Flag Into The Olympic Stadium For An Olympic Games... So For Me That Was A Surprise And A Huge Honor In My Life To Be Able To Represent Switzerland.

Confidence? Are You Kidding Me? I Mean, Please. Look, Some Players Grow Up And Play Like That. I Remember Losing Junior Matches. Just Being Down 5-2 In The Third, And They All Just Start Slapping Shots.

With All The Injury Problems We Have In Men's Tennis At The Moment, I'm Happy To Still Be Standing.

I'm Proud To Be A Symbol Like The Army Knife Or The Mountains.

The Week Before The (us Open) I Gave A Few Interviews For Cnn, Usa Network, New York Times, Usa Today And Sports Illustrated Which Had Been Arranged Beforehand. The Reason For Giving These Interviews Is Not Only Because Working With The Media Is Just Part Of The Job, It Is Much More My Desire To Contribute To The Promotion Of Tennis In The U.s.

Once You Reach A Good Level In Tennis It Fills You With A Lot Of Motivation. I Hope I Can Do It For A Long Time.

You Live During The Match, And You Have Strong Emotions, But You Don't Want To Get Too Overexcited. My Body's Totally Flat Now. I Cannot Move Anymore. I'm Totally Exhausted, Just Because Of The Tension Out There.

I'm As Patient A Father As I Am On The Tennis Court. It Takes A Lot For Me To Get Really Upset, But Sometimes Kids Can Get You Really Cross If They Really Keep Bugging You.

For Me, I'm In The Driver's Seat; I'm No. 1 In The World. I've Won The Last Couple Of Meetings, And I've Won The Big Tournaments Lately. Whoever Comes, I'll Try To Beat Him. But It's Almost Up To Me To Decide Who's My Rival, Isn't It?

A Man Who Wins, Is A Man Who Thinks He Can.

It's Just Unreal, I'm Shocked Myself. I've Played Good Matches Here, But Never Really Almost Destroyed Somebody.

Success Is A Nice Thing Because It Always Means You've Taken A Step Forward And It Gives You A Sense Of Pride, Which In Turn Gives You Confidence And Experience-a Positive Circle, So To Speak.

Previously I Always Thought It Was Just Tactical And Technique, But Every Match Has Become Almost Mental And Physical - I Try To Push Myself To Move Well. I Try To Push Myself Not To Get Upset And Stay Positive, And That's What My Biggest Improvement Is Over All Those Years. Under Pressure I Can See Things Very Clear.

My Dad Said If You Become A Tennis Professional Just Make Sure You Get Into The Top Hundred, Because You Have To Make A Little Bit Of Money. You Make A Living So You Can Pay Your Coaching And, You Know, Your Travels.

Obviously, Matches And All That Stuff Takes Its Toll On Your Body And So Forth. But As You Get Sort Of A Bit Older, A Bit Wiser, And A Bit More Experienced, You Know Also How To Handle It.

I Was Aware Of How Incredible The Match Was. Unfortunately There Had To Be A Winner. From My Point Of View Many Left Feeling Sorry For Me Instead Of Being Happy For Rafa. Which Hurts.

Early In My Career, I Had No Consistency. Now I'm The Most Consistent Player On The Tour. It Feels Pretty Good.

My Heart Is In South Africa, Through My Mum. My Mum Being From Here, Me Spending A Lot Of Time Here As Well, I Feel Most Connected To This Part Of The World.

Sometimes I Am A Different Character In Different Languages. I Have Different Enjoyment From Them. Sometimes Different Answers Come Out Of Me. Like, I Didnt Even Know That About Me. I Get To Know Myself Through Different Languages, Actually.

You Have To Believe In The Long Term Plan You Have But You Need The Short Term Goals To Motivate And Inspire You.

Mentally, I'm Not Ever Going To Go Away.

When You're Good At Something, Make That Everything

You Can't Expect Yourself To Be Already Peaking Like Crazy In An Exhibition Tournament.

Early In My Career, I Struggled With Consistency, But I Couldn't Get More Consistent Than This Year.

I Always Had The Dream That, Once I Became No 1 In The World, That If I Had A Child I Hoped I Would Have It Early Enough So The Child Can See Me Playing.

When You Do Something Best In Life, You Don't Really Want To Give That Up - And For Me It's Tennis.

Watching A Movie A Couple Of Weeks Ago. An American Movie. I Can't Remember The Name, But It Wasn't Even A Sad Movie. It Caught Me Off Guard. I Was On An Airplane.

You Always Want To Win. That Is Why You Play Tennis, Because You Love The Sport And Try To Be The Best You Can At It.

My Wife Doesn't Like Football But She Watches It Just For Messi.

I Let The Evening Unfold. I'm The Sort Of Guy Who Likes To Sit In The Chair And Look At The Wine Glass.

I Feel A Bit Awkward Playing In A Red Shirt Out At Wimbledon. But I Don't Dislike It.

I Went To Phuket Already, But Would Love To Go To Chiang Mai One Day.

The One Thing You Can Do For Sure Is Push The Luck On Your Side

When I Won In 2003, Never In My Wildest Dreams Did I Ever Think I Would Win Wimbledon And Have My Kids Seeing Me Lift The Trophy, So This Is Pretty Surreal. And Yeah, I Was Almost Shocked In The Moment That It All Came Together So Nicely.

I Had A Nice Dinner. I Let The Evening Unfold, Flow. I Like To Sit In A Chair With A Wine Glass. When I Woke Up, I Thought, 'why Didn't I Go To Bed At 11?' I Came Back At 3 And Went To Bed At 5.

What I Think I've Been Able To Do Well Over The Years Is Play With Pain, Play With Problems, Play In All Sorts Of Conditions.

It Is Always In My Mind Still That I Can Crush Anybody. That's Not An Issue. But I Think That Is The Same For Most Athletes. If You Don't Believe You Can Win Tournaments Anymore, Then You Can't Do It.

I Fear No One, But Respect Everyone.

You've Never Seen Me Dance, Have You?

There Is No Way Around The Hard Work. Embrace It.

When I Was 12 Years Old, I Was Just Horrible. My Parents Were Ashamed To Watch My Matches. I Would Play On A Court At The Local Club And They Would Watch From The Balcony. They Would Scream, 'be Quiet' To Me And I Would Scream Back, 'go And Have A Drink. Leave Me Alone.' Then We Would Drive Home In A Very Quiet Car. No One Speaking To Each Other.

You Know, I Don't Only Play For The Record Books.

My Aim Over The Next Few Months Is That I Have A Lot Of Points To Defend In Miami And Hamburg, After That I Can Set My Sights On No. 1.

I Hope So. God, I've Practiced So Much That I You Don't Want To Be Worse Five Years Later. I Feel I Have A Great Game Today. I Know How Hard It Is To Pull Off Those Great Shots, And I Know How Easy It Is To Miss, So I'm More Aware Of These Things. But I'm So Happy I'm At The Age I Am Right Now Because I Had Such A Great Run And I Know There's Still More Possible.

Having Twin Girls Is A Life Changer - That's For Sure. But I Like Getting Up And Changing Diapers. It's The Things You Do.

Every Match I Go Into, I'm The Huge Favorite. I Lose A Set And It's, Like, Crazy.

When They [court Announcers] Say, 'this Is The World No. 2,' It Just Doesn't Sound Right To Me Because Either I'm No. 1 Or I'm A Grand Slam Champion. I'm Not World No. 2. I Just Don't Like The Ring Of It When I'm Introduced On Court Because I've Been Up There For So, So Long.

I've Done So Many Interviews Over The Years In So Many Different Languages. Radios. Papers. Magazines. There's Always Another Interview To Do. It's Quite Something, I Have To Say.

In The Locker Room I Was Getting Impatient To Get On The Court, I Had To Warm Up Several Times.

Simple Version For Me Is, Umm, Started Bad And Finished Bad Basically.

Hopefully I Can Just Have Another Terrible Year With Only The One Grand Slam And That Will Be Just Fine.

I Always Believe If You're Stuck In A Hole And Maybe Things Aren't Going Well You Will Come Out Stronger. Everything In Life Is This Way.

But So Far I Have The Feeling That The Chances Are There To Repeat Last Year's Season.

I Can Walk Around Screaming, 'i Have 17 Grand Slams. I Have The Record Here Or There.' When You Can Play For History And You Do It, That's What Is So Really Cool, Is That You Can Then Be Compared To Other Greats Or You've Passed Another Great, Even Though It Doesn't Mean You're Better Than Him. But It's Just Like That Moment You've Gone Into The Unknown Where Nobody Else Has Ever Been Before.

The Crowds Are Very Important For Tennis. It Makes You Play Better, But It Can Also Make You Nervous And That's The Beauty Of It.

Once You Find That Peace, That Place Of Peace And Quiet, Harmony And Confidence, That's When You Start Playing Your Best.

Places Of Peace

It Doesn't Need To Be The Same Every Day, Doesn't Need To Be The Same Shower I Use, The Same Restaurant I Go To, The Same Hour I Go To Sleep. I've Always Been Very Flexible. I Don't Care If I Practice At Nine In The Morning Or 10 P.m.

The Nicer The Point, The More -- The Better I Feel, The More Excited I Get. But I Never Play That My Opponent Looks Stupid. I Think That Is Wrong. I Have Too Much Respect For Every Opponent I Play.

I Had Set A Goal With My Team To Try And Get Back To The Top Of The Rankings, But I Never Thought With The Depth In The Game This Year That I Would Have Been Able To Get It Back So Quickly.

I Did All The Right Things In So Many Tournaments. But Like I Said, Sometimes In Sports It Just Goes The Other Way. Maybe You've Already Won So Much That It Evens It Out A Bit Sometimes. I Don't Know.

Before, I Guess, Mum And Dad Were Everything, But Now, In My Case, I Had Two New Girls And All Of A Sudden They're Completely Dependent On You And There's A Third Generation. It's A Funny Shift All Of A Sudden. You Have The Babies, You Have Yourself And Then You Have Your Parents.

I'm Shocked Every Time That I've Reached So Many Finals Or Won Against So Many Players Or Whatever Record It Is. It Strikes Me And Makes Me Obviously Very Happy And Very Proud That I've Been Able To Do It For So Many Years At The Highest Of Levels.

When I Think Of The Olympics I Only Think Of Good Things. I Think Of What A Great Event It Is And What It Has Done For Me And My Career, And Changed My Personal Life, Too.

I Haven't Had A Cramp Since '99. That Was My Only Time, In Davis Cup, When I Was Panicky. I Was Young. I'm Very Proud Of That. Never Pulled Out. Never Had Cramps. Never Lost Very Much Because Of Fitness, Especially Later On In My Career Where I Knew I've Put In The Hard Work. I've Done That. I've Been Very Fortunate And Clever As Well To Understand How I Need To Work, When I Need To Work. So I'm Very Happy To Have Stayed Injury Free For So Long. I Hope I Can Still Maintain A Few Good Years On The Tour. I Really Hope So.

I Enjoyed The Position I Was In As A Tennis Player. I Was To Blame When I Lost. I Was To Blame When I Won. And I Really Like That, Because I Played Soccer A Lot Too, And I Couldn't Stand It When I Had To Blame It On The Goalkeeper.

Winning Or Losing, It's Always Something Special And Something You'll Remember, Even More So When The Match Was As Dramatic As It Was Today. It's Even More Memorable When I See My Kids There With My Wife And Everything. That's What Touched Me The Most, To Be Quite Honest. The Disappointment Of The Match Itself Went Pretty Quickly.

The Problem Is Not The Claycourt. The Problem Is, You Know, Rather Something To Do With The Conditions On Center Court. Because I've Played Well On Suzanne Lenglen, On The Other Courts. But The Chatrier Court Is Really, Really Big, And I Just Haven't Had Enough Play On It. Maybe I Come Here Next Year And Play A Week On This Court, If I Can, If The French Federation Lets Me. We'll See. I've Been Playing Well In Other Tournaments, In Davis Cup On Clay. So For Me It's Not The Surface, It's Rather Maybe The Court.

I Am Thinking More And More About What I Want To And Can Do After My Days As An Active Athlete. Thoughts Like Family And Marriage Also Cross My Mind More And More Often.

Maybe Further Down The Road In My Career, In A Couple Of Years When I'm Maybe Not That Fast Any More Around The Court, Then Maybe It Would Be Good To Come To The Net A Little Bit More Often

Being A Husband Is For Me As Big A Priority As Being A Father.

One Or Two Years Ago, I Didn't Know Who I Was On Court And I Used To Swear A Lot. But Now I've Learned How To Cope And Can Therefore Win 10 Matches In A Row. I Want To Be Remembered As A Good Player Rather Than An Idiot On Court.

My Game Is A Lot About Footwork. If I Move Well, I Play Well.

I'm Not Angry. As An Athlete ... You Should Be Open To Criticism, And You're Allowed To Be Criticized, Because Not Everybody Has The Same Opinion, Not Everybody Likes The Same Players. The Rankings Are Quite Volatile: Today You're 'great,' Tomorrow You're 'not,' But Then You're 'great' Again. It Makes For Great Stories. Now, I Always Look At The Long Term And By Doing That, Obviously, I Can Stay Calm Through The Storm.

I Am A Sucker For Those Old Traditional Places, And Rome Is As Good As It Gets, Particularly When You Throw In Italian Food.

Good As It Gets

I Would So Like To Be Lenny Kravitz.

I Love Tennis! I've Always Felt Like This Because It Is Such A Classy Sport With A Great, Competitive Flair To It.

I Am A Very Positive Thinker, And I Think That Is What Helps Me The Most In Difficult Moments.

One Should Just Be Able To Play A Perfect Game.

I Don't Need To Come Back To Wimbledon Every Year Because I Can't Live Without It. I'd Be Totally Cool Without Tennis.

My Advice Is You've Got To Make Sure You Wear The Clothes And Not [let] The Clothes Wear You. It's Quite Simple In A Way. Don't Wear Something You Totally Feel Uncomfortable With, But Take Some Chances. Play Around A Bit. I Felt Very Uncomfortable In Suits When I Was Younger, So What I Just Started Doing Was Wearing Suits When I Was Going To Dinner. I Used To Overdress A Little Bit So I Got Used To Wearing Suits. Now Wearing A Suit Is Like Wearing A Track Suit For Me. So It's All Good.

My Family Is The Thing I Miss Most On The Tour.

I Have Learnt To Be Even More Patient.

You Can Be Stubborn And Successful Or You Can Give It Up A Bit And Change Things Around. For Me It's Important To Have A Bit Of Both.

The More I Lose, The More They Believe They Can Beat Me. But Believing Is Not Enough, You Still Have To Beat Me.

I'm Not The Kind Of Guy Who Wakes Up Angry.

Tennis Can Be A Very Frustrating Sport. There Is No Way Around The Hard Work. Embrace It. You Have To Put In The Hours Because There Is Always Something You Can Improve. [y]ou Have To Put In A Lot Of Sacrifice And Effort For Sometimes Little Reward But You Have To Know That, If You Put In The Right Effort, The Reward Will Come.

I Have A Very Strong Opinion. I'm Absolutely Against It. I'm Against The Challenge System. I'm For The Way It Is Right Now. Don't Change That.

I Never Waited 27 Years, Because 27 Years Ago I Was Just Born. My Parents Never Told Me, 'if You Don't Win Roland Garros We Take You To The Orphanage.

The Serve, I Was Too Young And Too Small And... Not Enough Powerful To Have A Good Serve When I Was Young, So My Forehand Was Always My Signature Shot. So I Used To Always Run Around My Backhand, You Know, Use My Forehand As Much As I Could, And So That's Why I Think It's My Strength Also Today, You Know.

I Don't Know How You Can Go Through A Four-hour Match With Rafa And He Never Gets A Time Violation.

No, I'm Not (disappointed). There's No Reason To Be Because I'm On An Incredible Run. You Always Expect A Loss Once In A While. So When It Happens, Why Be Disappointed If I Win Over 90% Of My Matches.

I Used To Get Nervous, You Know If My Parents Would Come Watch. And Then I Would Get Nervous If My Friends Came And Watched. Today It's Not A Problem Anymore Actually, Because Now I Enjoy It. I See That They, You Know, Respect Me Immensely, And I Try To Put On A Good Show And Show That I Can Still Play Very Good Tennis.

My Favorite Shot Is Always Gonna Be The Forehand. It Used To Always Be My Favorite Shot When I Was Young, So It's The One I've Won All The Points With.

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