Roger Federer’s feat in reaching the semi-finals, or better, at 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments means much to him.
As does his record 15 Grand Slam titles, a total that may be increased at Australian Open 2010.
In general, though, statistics leave him cold.
“I never look at the stat sheet,” Federer said after beating Russian Nikolay Davydenko in a quarter-final on Wednesday.
“You know, some people are fanatics about it. How many aces and double-faults did I hit? How many points won, or first serves? I couldn’t care less about all those stats.
“Same with winners and errors did you hit. I don’t care if I was in the positives or the negatives. What matters is how you play your opponent, and the wind and the tactics and everything. There are so many more important things, you know.”
Federer said he read newspapers to keep up with what was happening in tennis. But he was by no means an analyst, and sometimes preferred listening to television commentary.
“It’s not really to study opponents,” he said. “I watch it more as a fan.
“I didn’t watch last night’s (Andy Murray v Rafael Nadal) match saying, ‘Hm, that’s interesting how they’re playing’. I couldn’t care less. I just like to see a good tennis match and see how they battle it out, and see the intensity of both players, and watching how important it is for both of them to come through.
“So I see it more that way than, ‘What’s he doing exactly when I play him next time?’ That would be way too stressful, watching every single tennis match just thinking of my own game, how it would match up.”
When he was younger, Federer said his idols were the players “reaching for the stars”, such as Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras. He also enjoyed watching Marcelo Rios, Pat Rafter and Tim Henman.
Trengove’s Fearless Forecasts
Federer (1) v Tsonga (10)
They met last year in Montreal, where Federer lost the first set in a tie-break, then swept to 6-1 5-1 over the next two sets only to lose the match a third-set tie-break. Tsonga came into this tournament having never played a five-setter, and he’s played two in last two matches against Nicolas Almagro and Novak Djokovic. It hasn’t hurt him up to now, but he hasn’t had to play such a complete player as Federer, who frequently finds a way to beat difficult opponents over the longer distance. Federer in four.
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