Federer Tastes First Defeat in '07; Roddick Wins Kooyong Final

Written by Shelly C. Dimaculangan
Roger Federer struggled with the wind and heat in his finals match against defending champion Andy Roddick who got a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory in Kooyong Classic last Saturday.
“It was hard conditions, and against Andy I knew that if the wind was going to be blowing, that it’s going to be really hard from the baseline,” told Federer. “I was struggling to see the ball in the crowd, it was really quite bright, as soon as it went out of the red zone, so to speak.”
Roddick staggered Federer by giving off good services. The Swiss no. 1 admitted that he had a hard time returning Roddick’s serves and opted to battle near the net. “…Because I didn’t want to lose my rhythm from the baseline, I decided to go to the net.” Federer explained.
Asked about his game, Roddick was very happy about it.
“I feel good. I feel like I’m returning pretty well, which is getting me looking at some breaks. If I can do that, I can hold serve enough to put myself in a position to win some matches, hopefully,” said Roddick.
On the other hand, Roddick doesn’t want to price too highly his win against Federer.
“That being said, it’s nice — it’s nice to get some good preparation and feel like you’re playing well going into the Aussie Open. I’m going to kind of repeat myself from early this week, but that’s the reason we came here,” explained by Roddick.
Since Kooyong Classic was just an exhibition match, points and rankings of players would not change at all. Federer’s 12-1 win-loss record against Roddick remains the same.
However, Federer treated the Kooyong Classic as his way of preparing for the Australian Open which will kickoff on January 15. He’s confident to come competitive in the Australian Open despite losing for the first time in 2007.
As draws were done for the Australian Open, Federer believes that he will have interesting matches to come.
“I think it’s a fair draw. I have good players in my sections. I think Youzhny is an excellent player, Djokovic is an excellent player, and the guy I play first round, I lost to him in ’99, I’ve never beaten him,” said Federer. “We’ll see what happens.”
Federer continues to quest for his10th Grand Slam title. His opening match in the Australian Open will be against the German Bjorn Phau.