WIMBLEDON CHAMP READY TO ROLL

Calm and cool Federer relaxed for NY run

By Alix Ramsay
special to tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc.

The ability to relax in New York, the city that never sleeps, is a rare gift. The ability to relax at the US Open, the tournament that seldom works, is, indeed, a gift from the gods. For Roger Federer, though, it comes as second nature. That is what a Wimbledon championship can do for a chap.

Now that Pete Sampras has been waved on his way into happy retirement, those who still wear shorts for a living are jostling for position. All have something to prove, all have ambitions and all have doubts.

Andre Agassi knows that time's winged chariot has been parked outside his house with the meter running for the past year or so; Andy Roddick knows that America is waiting for him to become the next Sampras; Juan Carlos Ferrero is desperate to take his chance and become the world No 1. And then there is Federer.

Serene, happy as Larry and, seemingly, without a care in the world. Normally a cheery soul who chats merrily with the small posse of Swiss journalists who follow him around the world, he has gone quiet. He arrived in town a week before the tournament started and then shut up shop. He is feeling confident but he does not want to talk about it.

It is a formula that worked well enough at Wimbledon and it is one that he wants to follow again. Keeping the distractions to a minimum he can concentrate on what is to come. All the world wants to see him face off against American hotshot Andy Roddick in the semis, yet he is putting that aside for the moment. But if no one has the chance to pester him about his expectations, he can keep the pressure to a minimum.

On paper, Federer's expectations should hardly weigh him down. He has never progressed beyond the fourth round at the Open and, until this summer, he had never won a match at either of the two hard court Masters Series events that precede it. But all of that was before he won Wimbledon and became an overnight success. That was before everyone expected him to walk on water. In theory, the pressure should be mounting but Federer feels no pain.

THE BIG W INTRO
"I'm still being introduced as the Wimbledon champion, so it doesn't just go away like this," said Federer, who will face Argentina's Jose Acasuso in the first round Wednesday. "People can pick who they want as a favorite. To me it doesn't change much."

When he walked into the All England Club at the end of June, no one paid much attention. He was wonderfully talented, of that we were all certain, but he did not have a champion's steel. Nah, nothing to concern the experienced pundit there. And then he went and won the thing and suddenly he was the successor to Sampras, to Borg, to Santana, to anyone famous the hard pressed hacks could name before the first edition deadline rolled around. It is hardly surprising, then, that Federer pays little attention to other people's opinions.

Completely at ease with himself and his surroundings, even Federer is surprised at how well he is handling the situation. "I feel much more relaxed," he said. "The pressure I've felt over the last few Grand Slams hasn't been much fun so I'm very happy to have come over that stage. It's no longer about proving that I can win one. I feel much more relaxed inside."

That is not say that Switzerland's favorite son is taking it easy. He still has ambitions, too.

"I'm No. 2 now so my next goal is No. 1," he said. "I've got the US Open, the Davis Cup, I've got Basel, my home town tournament, and two other Masters Series so I have a lot of big tournaments coming up. I still have a lot of motivation for the end of the season."

Now there speaks a man who has his priorities right. Given the US Open or the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, he is not particularly fussed. Both would be a first and both would make him very happy. He wants both but, now that he has a Wimbledon trophy on his mantle piece, he does not need either to justify his existence. And if that doesn't give him a head start on the fraught and the fearful in New York, nothing will.