The Indian media got its first ever Press conference with 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer at the IGI stadium on Sunday after he played three back-to-back matches, winning all of them and entertaining his spectators for over three hours.
Dressed in black and wearing an RF cap, with his father standing in the wings, he told waiting journalists that "it's a big deal for me playing first time in India." While he complimented the IPTl for coming up with an innovative league, he also cautioned the organiser by saying that some rules were unnecessary and needed to change.
“My mind is actually scrambling to try to remember all the rules. The biggest one for me that took a few points was the 'let court'. That was strange. That was most unnecessary. Here if you start a motion and you miss your ball toss, that counts as a mistake and that's most unnecessary. The time is most important here but that's also very stressful for us. So, I think the way it is right now, it don't think it will work at a tour event. You can't just lose a point immediately if you don't serve in 20 seconds. May be that's something you could take away with this. But, at the end, you know how I am. I am very traditional. And I like the way the game is on tour. I like the (tour) scoring system," he added.
He was happy that the league is "somewhat competitive, and professional and you want to win. From that standpoint, I told Mahesh and the rest of the team here in India that these are the only couple of days I could do because training is very important, vacation is very important for me and also spending time with my family and not being away from them. If I do this, it needs to be short and sweet, and that's what we were able to achieve. These few days just fit perfectly into my schedule and I am happy that I was able to manage it all. At the same time I had this great experience out here this afternoon."
He said these are early days for IPTl and the play would not be like that in the tour "but it definitely has a place in our sport as it provides more interaction and more fun, different rules, you bend it, you customise it. So, it works for everybody involved and it's a very interesting concept. The team aspect is good too as sometimes on the tour, guys feel a bit lonely."
However, he ruled out any possibility of attending the Chennai Open at least for a couple of years because "I am playing Brisbane again. India is probably more feasible for me as an exhibition than a tournament, unfortunately," he said without mincing words.
Speaking about his fitness, he said he is fit as a fiddle now and would be going into training right after IPTl. "You can get injured while getting out of the car or picking up your son. So, from that standpoint, something always happen. But then we are trained to do this. To play tennis you got to be fit, you got to trust your movement and your body, that's why you work so hard. The thing that I like about IPTl is that you can be substituted. That releases a lot of pressure. I was considering doing that in the men's doubles and even in the singles towards the end and put Monfils in if I am not feeling well or it starts hurting. There is no reason to push it and get injured. Nobody wants that, no fan wants that, promoters don't want it, I don't want it. So, as long as I felt good, I kept playing. Tomorrow I will probably play two sets. But we will see how it's going to go. You got to be careful. Today I pretty much went 100 per cent," he said.
As for committing to play for IPTl, Federer said, "I don't remember when I committed to play here but it was quite recent because I wasn't originally a part of the IPTl. It was quite recent when Mahesh called me and told me about the potential dates and I told him how much time I had. It came out that this was the perfect weekend. So I am happy that it worked out well for everybody," he said despite the mic conking off and the Press room being a cramped room with blaring music from outside disturbing the proceedings
No tennis manners
Roger Federer was in the middle of his most intense match of the day against Tomas Berdych. The Swiss star was down 3-4 and serving to regain the control over match. As he tossed up the ball and arched his back, one of his female fans shouted, "I love you, Federer." Had he been playing in a Grand Slam, it would have stopped him from completing that serve. Not here in the IPTl. Federer, too, understands the difference. The IPTl is a hybrid of professional and exhibition tennis. It's entertainment. So, the spectators are allowed some liberty. But the Indian spectators need to learn the tennis manners. It's not cricket or football where you scream your hearts out. You need to maintain silence in tennis. Since it's the first time that such high-profile international tennis players have come to play here, emotions can get the better of you. Hopefully they will 'behave' better in the future.
When Bachchan ji became part of spectators
So it wasn't just us mere mortals who die to see Roger Federer play. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who himself is such a big star that people line up outside his house to have glimpse of him, was here at the Indira Gandhi Stadium to watch the 17-time Grand Slam champion ply his trade. He sat in the VIP area where Mahesh Bhupathi, brain behind the IPTl, also joined him. Bhupathi's wife and Bollywood actress lara Dutta was also here with her daughter. Another legend who attended the Federer matches was Sunil Gavaskar. Bachchan came here specially to see Federer and left as soon as the Swiss completed his matches.