Roger Federer announces his retirement from the ATP Tour and grand slams.
I had to speak to him. I knew it wasn’t going well with his knee; it was still hurt a bit but was getting stronger. Still, what we had was what we had. We had the best of the best. We had all the best, and that was enough.
I was looking forward to the Grand Slam I was supposed to host at Indian Wells, but I didn’t get him to go. Still, it was a good thing to be able to compete in Dubai at a Grand Slam, and I did well there.
That was my first Grand Slam final. I didn’t come out of that completely broken. I was happy to play in a final, that was a good feeling. I knew I could do it on the clay. That helped me a lot. It was the first time I played in a Grand Slam final.
The year after Indian Wells, I played in the French Open and came back to get broken at the quarter-finals. It took a while to break into the top ten again. It was more difficult this time, because it was the last time I played the French Open. I tried to get my mind off the tournament the week after — you never want to get into that mindset. I was looking forward to more time. I started losing a couple of matches at the end of the season.
I said to my family and friends that at 40 years old, I was happy I could still win a Grand Slam. I was still a very capable player, but you can’t do everything to help your chances.
It was a great moment, the biggest I’ve ever been in tennis to be able to win a Grand Slam tournament right after I won my first. I was really nervous — that was the biggest stage that I had ever been in. I was really nervous that I could get a point as well. I felt I was in good form, and that all the players were beating each other pretty hard.
I got up to five sets against Ivan Lendl, and I was not playing too badly. It was the last match, and it was important to get
