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Federer recovers from loss
28/03/2008 08:15 - (SA)
Miami - World number one Roger Federer said on Thursday he had fully recovered from his semi-final loss to Mardy Fish at last week's Pacific Life Open.
"You move on, you analyse it, then you look forward. I feel fine now. I'm motivated and I'm confident on the practice courts," Federer told reporters at the Sony Ericsson Open.
The 26-year-old Swiss, who has won 12 grand slam titles, has
made a slow start to his 2008 campaign due to a bout of
glandular fever.
He has played in only three tournaments and is still looking
for his first title of the year in Miami.
Federer reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open where
he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic and lost in the
first round in Dubai to Andy Murray.
"The sickness just before the Australian Open was the
biggest problem for me, because that really sort of set me back
a little bit," he said. "But I still played, I thought, very well throughout the event, and I just felt a little slow
throughout."
Closest competitors
Federer said he believed that once he got back into the
swing of playing matches on a regular basis again his game would
flourish as it had in the past.
Most of Federer's closest competitors agree with his
positive outlook as his health improves.
Second-ranked Rafael Nadal said: "You know how difficult it is to play four years losing three, four, matches, five? So he
didn't have a bad start of the year. He played semi-finals in
Australia. He played semi-finals in Indian Wells.
"So I think any one day you have to lose some matches, no? You have to be always very strong mentally."
Sixth-ranked Andy Roddick added: "I'm sure Roger would tell you he's probably not playing his best right now. That being said, you know, I think Roger's earned the right for us to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"It's just, Roger has kind of created a monster similar to Tiger Woods, where it's not really a story about the guy winning."
While Federer is hoping to pick up his third career Sony
Ericsson Open a week on Sunday, he is already looking ahead to
Roland Garros, where he hopes to win the French Open for the
first time, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.
"I picked this schedule to be in my best possible shape for what's coming up, and that's in the next few weeks and months ahead of me," Federer said. "Especially through the French Open until the US Open where I'll have four massive tournaments in a short span.
"This is really when I want to be at my peak."
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