PARIS - Perhaps not surprisingly, the first three questions posed to Roger Federer at his French Open news conference Friday concerned rival Rafael Nadal.
The third was about the difficulties of making a successful return from injury, the way Nadal has, reaching the final at all eight tournaments he’s played in 2013 after going more than half a year between matches.
Federer shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I have never been out for seven months.”
No, he hasn’t. Federer is always around, particularly at Grand Slam time. When the French Open starts Sunday, he will be participating in his 54th consecutive major tournament, a run that began with the Australian Open in January 2000. That’s the longest such streak among active players; no one else comes within two years of Federer.
“It’s just something I just kept on doing. Now, here we are,” said Federer, the No. 2 seed whose record 17 major titles include the 2009 French Open. “It’s incredible. I never thought I was going to play that many, have that many opportunities to do well at the Slams.
“Clearly I’m happy about it, but they don’t buy me victories. It shows maybe great stamina and [an] injury-free career, in a way.”
Nadal, who’s dealt with recurring knee problems, will be back in Grand Slam action after nearly a year’s absence from the four most important tournaments in tennis. At least he’s in the field at Roland Garros, something Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro can’t say. Both of those past U.S. Open champions and current top-10 players withdrew because of health issues.
Seven-time French Open champion Nadal dismissed the notion that he might be excited about getting back on the Slam stage for the first time since a second-round loss at Wimbledon last June.
Each tournament is as important as any other, the 11-time major title winner insisted Friday.
“If you can ask me if I win one Grand Slam during the whole year or win six tournaments, like I already did, I will choose [winning] six tournaments,” he said. “When you win [a] Grand Slam, you are happy one week or two weeks. When you are winning [other] tournaments, you are having the chance to be happy and you feel that you are doing the right things during the rest of the time.”
By that standard, Federer has not had an especially happy 2013.
His record is only 18-6, and he enters the French Open without a title for the season for the first time since 2000, his second full year on tour. Federer has played in only one final, a straight-set loss to Nadal in Rome last weekend.
Despite that, Federer insisted that he is at the level he wants to be at for this tournament.
Now 31, and a father of twin girls, Federer tweaked his schedule this year to give himself a bit of a break. He skipped the hard-court event at Key Biscayne, Fla., and went nearly two months - from March 14 to May 7 - between matches.
“It’s important to stay injury-free, to give myself time, so when I come back I’m fresh and motivated,” he said.
He’s not merely about longevity or consistency, of course, but also excellence.
Federer doesn’t just show up at Grand Slam tournaments.He has reached at least the quarterfinals at the past 35 of them, and earlier put together runs of 23 consecutive semifinals and 10 consecutive finals.
If he plays at Wimbledon, where he is the defending champion, and then the U.S. Open this season, Federer will tie the record of 56 Grand Slam tournaments in a row, set by South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira from 1991-2004.
The second-longest current set of Grand Slam entries belongs to Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, with 45. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic has never missed a major tournament since entering his first in2005, making the French Open his 34th in a row, but he has stopped playing in the middle of Grand Slam matches.
Federer is fond of pointing out that he never has retired during a match in progress, and only twice has pulled out of tournaments after having competed in the draw. He also noted he’s never come close to missing a Grand Slam tournament during his streak.
“In a Slam, where you know you’re going to enter best-of-five-set matches over two, three weeks, you have to be at your best and you need to feel like you can compete with the best at the highest of levels for a long period of time,” Federer said. “There’s no shortcuts in best-of-fiveset matches, and that’s where I think I was always up for the challenge.
“I’m very happy that I was able to do that for so long so far.”
French Open seeds At Stade Roland Garros, Paris Sunday-June 9
MEN 1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia 2. Roger Federer, Switzerland 3. Rafael Nadal, Spain 4. David Ferrer, Spain 5. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic 6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France 7. Richard Gasquet, France 8. Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia 9. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland 10. Marin Cilic, Croatia 11. Nicolas Almagro, Spain 12. Tommy Haas, Germany 13. Kei Nishikori, Japan 14. Milos Raonic, Canada 15. Gilles Simon, France 16. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany 17. Juan Monaco, Argentina 18. Sam Querrey, United States 19. John Isner, United States 20. Andreas Seppi, Italy 21. Jerzy Janowicz, Poland 22. Alexandr Dolgopolov, Ukraine 23. Kevin Anderson, South Africa 24. Benoit Paire, France 25. Jeremy Chardy, France 26. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria 27. Fabio Fognini, Italy 28. Florian Mayer, Germany 29. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia 30. Julien Benneteau, France 31. Marcel Granollers, Spain 32. Tommy Robredo, Spain
WOMEN 1. Serena Williams, United States 2. Maria Sharapova, Russia 3. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus 4. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland 5. Sara Errani, Italy 6. Li Na, China 7. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic 8. Angelique Kerber, Germany 9. Sam Stosur, Australia 10. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark 11. Nadia Petrova, Russia 12. Maria Kirilenko, Russia 13. Marion Bartoli, France 14. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia 15. Roberta Vinci, Italy 16. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia 17. Sloane Stephens, United States 18. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia 19. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia 20. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain 21. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium 22. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia 23. Klara Zakopalova, Czech Republic 24. Julia Goerges, Germany 25. Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic 26. Sorana Cirstea, Romania 27. Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan 28. Tamira Paszek, Austria 29. Varvara Lepchenko, United States 30. Venus Williams, United States 31. Alize Cornet, France 32. Sabine Lisicki, Germany Friday’s qualifying results, 7C
Sports, Pages 26 on 05/25/2013