U.S. Open - Federer relishing underdog status

Eurosport - Sun, 24 Aug 14:33:00 2008

Roger Federer, shorn of the favourite's tag for the first time in four years, said being a relative underdog could inspire him to victory at the US Open.

TENNIS Nadal Federer Don King - 0

He goes into Monday's tournament looking for a fifth successive US Open crown but without a Grand Slam title in his bag for the first time since 2002.

Federer (pictured left with Rafael Nadal, right, and boxing promoter Don King) was beaten by Nadal in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon and also watched the Spaniard take the gold medal at this month's Beijing Olympics.

The Swiss player's record run of 237 consecutive weeks at the top of the rankings was ended by Nadal last Monday and Federer said he could prosper with the pressure of being the favourite now off his shoulders.

"I would think it does [reduce the pressure]," he said at Flushing Meadows. "Five years almost, I was expected to win every tournament I entered so maybe now it changes a little bit.

"Rafa will now feel what I had to feel for a very long time. It will be interesting to see how he handles it but so far he's been great and he's played so well on all surfaces.

"Maybe it's nice to go into a Grand Slam for a change not having number one next to me."

By most people's standards, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the final at the French Open and Wimbledon would represent a good year.

But having won three grand-slam crowns in both 2006 and 2007, Federer set himself the highest of standards and he said a bout of glandular fever at the beginning of the year had a bigger effect on him than he first thought.

"Maybe I've been playing a little bit of catch up all the way through the season," he said. "It took away maybe a Slam, took away 20 days of practice. That is a lot for us.

"I have to take it a little bit more step by step. I've been very consistent even this year in Grand Slams.

"Rafa has played great so he deserves the number one position. He's in a way the favourite now all of a sudden, even on hard courts, because he's played so, so well."

Federer said he hoped that having fallen from top spot the crowd would be on his side this year.

"I've had some legendary matches here, from me playing Andre [Agassi] in the final [in 2005], or Andy [Roddick]," said the Swiss. "The night sessions are electrifying and the crowd have always been very good to me.

"So especially this year I hope, maybe not playing my best tennis, maybe this year they will come out and support me and carry me through to another US Open win."

Reuters

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  1. phau U MAKE ME proud!!!u amaze me wif ur huge serve n­ power groundstrokes..

    From nthk8, on Mon 25 Aug 8:37PM
  2. RAFA WILL WIN MORE MONEY IF HE LOSE ON PURPOSE...MORE­ THEN 1.25MILLION...

    From nthk8, on Mon 25 Aug 8:27PM
  3. Go Fed, u can do it again! U r a champ

    From Amaks N, on Mon 25 Aug 4:21PM
  4. I totally agree with scourge_werepire.. Fed was­ invincible and players sometimes were beaten even­ before entering the court.. Don't get me wrong, Fed­ has played great tennis over the past number of years­ and has deserved his wins, but maybe he had that 1-5%­ edge because his opponents ultimately thought they were­ going to lose no matter how well they played.. James­ Blake was a good example of that..

    Now that people­ have belief they can beat him, something will have to­ change on Rogers side of the net.. He will have to­ fight a little more and try and add a bit of an edge­ and fight to his game.. A little bit of mental­ toughness for sure..

    For the second time in his­ career, he will have to try and achieve the number #1­ ranking again.. Good luck to you Fed!! You have your­ hands full, the field is a lot stronger now than it was­ the first time you became #1..

    From dion.legge, on Mon 25 Aug 3:40PM
  5. I hope Federrer will finally do it this year and win­ the US Open title, he really deserve this title and to­ get the number one rank in the world, he is the­ greatest player ever.

    From alisissa, on Mon 25 Aug 3:18PM
  6. krv mi plavim venama tece
    meni je srpstvo od svega­ prece
    mene cuva bog imam svoj pravac
    ja sam srbin
    ja­ sam pravoslavac

    From aleksicn93, on Mon 25 Aug 3:12PM
  7. yes nadal to lift us trophy easily

    From ekaterinabell, on Mon 25 Aug 1:23PM
  8. Really interesting tournament with Nadal as N°1 and­ Federer trying to conquer his first Grand Slam of the­ year.
    Djokovic has already beaten Federer in the­ Australian Open 1/2 finals and the challenge does not­ afraid him at all.
    As for Nadal it will be the revenge­ of the Olympics because I think that Djokovic was more­ angry that he seemed not to win the gold medal against­ a player he already beat.

    I'm not sure that Nadal­ is gonna win the tournament. He is very exhausted and­ his main goal will be to play at his level, like every­ time, and reach the 1/8 finals as in 2007. He does not­ want to put pressure on him because he knows that it­ will be tough to win the points he granted this year in­ 2009.

    Let's see if someone like Murray or even­ Blake will be much strong to win a Grand Slam, but I­ don't think so.

    Can't wait !!!

    From teddy.bear19, on Mon 25 Aug 11:50AM
  9. OVAKO tejapirateja NEMOJ DA SE GUBIS, FEDERER SVOJU­ MENTALNU SNAGU I DALJE IMA, A TEBE UOPSTE NE ZANIMA KO­ JE NJEGOVA DEVOJKA NITI S KIM ON SPAVA I KAKO, TO JE­ SAMO NJIHOVA STVAR, I STA AKO JE MIRKA DEBELA POSTOJI­ JOS FAKTORA U VEZI, DA TI NIJE MOZDA PALO NA PAMET DA­ JE ON VOLI, A DRUGA STVAR JE DA CE ON POKUSATI DA­ POBEDI A TO JE ONO STO JE VAZNO, A TO STO KAZES DA KAD­ IZGUBI DA IZGLEDA KAO POSRAN RAZMISLI MALO KAKO BI TI­ IZGLEDALA KAD BI IZGUBILA SVOJ OMILJENI TURNIR KOJI­ OSVAJAS VEC 5 PUTA ZA REDOM I MOLIM TE MI OBJASNI KO SI­ TI DA KAZES DA SE ON SKENJAO, JESI TI MOZDA BOLJA OD­ NJEGA CAK I SAD KAD IMA LOSU GODINU???I JOS SAMO NESTO­ TO STO SE NIJE POVUKAO POKAZUJE DA IMA MENTALNU SNAGU­ ZATO STO NE ODUSTAJE KADA JE NAJTEZE. ZATO TE MOLIM DA­ NE PISES NEKE STVARI KADA NE ZNAS STA SE USTVARI DESAVA

    From tevkos93, on Mon 25 Aug 11:19AM
  10. Fed is not finished, not yet. And don't you all­ Nadal lovers out there start wetting your pants when­ A-Rod will kick his behind to Mars and back. W O R D!

    From Teddybear, on Mon 25 Aug 10:24AM
  11. FEDERER JE SVOJE ODIGRAO... SKENJAO SE ZESTOKO...­ IZGUBIO JE TU NJEGOVU MENTALNU SNAGU KOJOM JE PRSTO­ LOMIO PROTIVNIKE
    ALI SADA SE POJAVIO RAFICA NADAL KOJI­ JE POCEO DA POKAZUJE KAKO IZGLEDA BITI PRAVI BROJ 1...­ I BICE TESKO FEDERERU DA SE VRATI NA TU POZICIJU. BOLJE­ DA SE POVUKAO DOK JE BIO BROJ 1...

    SAD CE FEDERERA­ NEKO ISECI NA US-OPEN-U I IMA DA IZADJE PONOVO POGNUTE­ GLAVE KO POSRAN..

    BOLJE DA IDE SA ONOM NJEGOVOM­ DEBELOM MIRKOM NEK PRAVE SENDVAJE I NEK LEZE I­ JEDU......

    A I TA NJEGOVA DEBELA MIRKA NEK MALO­ PREKINE DA SALJE SMS-ICE DOK JOJ DECKO IGRA MECH..­ IZGLEDA DA NEMA KREDITA DA PRICA UZELA JE SAMO PAKET SA­ SMS-ICIMA HAHAHAHAAHHAHAAAHA

    AL NEKA JE JADNA DEBELA­ .... NE SMEM NI DA ZAMISLIM KAKO ONA I FEDERER­ IZGLEDAJU U KREVETU

    HORORRRRRRRRRRR­ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAA

    From tejapirateja, on Mon 25 Aug 4:19AM
  12. yup federer, less pressure but if he realized, so far­ nadal as no 2 seed always got the tougher draw. murray­ and djokovic always on his way before finals. those 2­ are the most inform player beside nadal. so lets see­ how far can federer go this time.

    From gun rosses, on Sun 24 Aug 11:12PM
  13. When Roger Federer took the number one spot on the 4 of­ February/04, his style of play was amazing and mind­ blowing...the softness of his strokes brought a new­ level of intensity and beuty to tennis. Altough i­ wasn´t into tennis much from 2002 to 2005 i remember to­ hear the sports results on tv, the name Federer was­ always anounced, but too briefly for an athlete like­ him, making his triumphs look easy, making him­ invencible. When he entered the court, he couldnt be­ defeated, the other players weren´t able to believe­ that winning was possibly. In 2008 we have a different­ Roger Federer, altough some of his defeats may be due­ to the illness in the beginnig of the year, we have­ also watched a decrease in his style of play, making­ the swiss at some times look like a "normal"­ player. The point is, one of Federer´s strenghts is­ away from him, the aura of "godlike" player­ he had in the past is gone, which makes him have to­ struggle to win some "easy" matches. He HAS­ to find his mental strenght if he wants to keep playing­ on top standard game. Untill this happens he wont be­ able to win like before. Sorry for the long post. I­ dont think Roger will win the US Slam.

    From scourge_werepire, on Sun 24 Aug 11:08PM
  14. The Dkoker? Are you djoking? no way... he is too­ unstable ... mentally that is... Federer? Past his­ prime. Though he wont admit it...
    Nadal? Yes!!! 2008­ records would show!

    From Emmanuel, on Sun 24 Aug 10:39PM
  15. nadal to win 1.25million RUPIAH

    From nthk8, on Sun 24 Aug 10:35PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Nadal will emerge victorious. When you are on a roll­ everything seems to fall in place. Definitely, 2008 is­ the season of Nadal ( French, Wimbledon, Olympics...who­ can argue with results) Go Nadal!
    I like the way you­ guys call Djokovic DA DJOKER - It fits him.
    Federer­ cant accept the fact that his time is over... its time­ to give way man!!! Maybe Federer can produce good­ results in Doubles ( like the Olympics).

    From Emmanuel, on Sun 24 Aug 10:31PM
  17. yes Nadal to win with ease to pocket CHEQUE ­ 1.25$$ millions

    From Lucie D, on Sun 24 Aug 8:47PM
  18. HI DARLING JESSE ~~~ EVERYONE IS SEEDED NOWADAYS 1­ TO 32 ------- ! /^^

    BEST WISHES FOR YOUR ­ "DREAM"

    From ballerinastar22, on Sun 24 Aug 7:14PM
  19. I think the US winner may go to an unseeded player­ thios time. That's just my guess.
    Rafa is really­ tired. Federer is mentally ffukk'ed up. Djoko is­ too desperate to win. So somebody else more collected,­ in control of his emotions, good on serve and volley­ plus great resilience on long rallies is my guy to win.­ Sounds familiar? Your vote.

    From AndJustice4All, on Sun 24 Aug 7:04PM
  20. §§§§ WE ARE BACKING M SAFIN & ADORABLE PRETTI ­ ELENA DEMENTIEVA

    WONDERFUL TO SEE MORE THAN ONE ­ PARTICIPANT CAPABLE OF WINNING ~~ V. INTERESTING

    From Sfa D, on Sun 24 Aug 6:00PM
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