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Federer: It would be nice to be Number 1 again

Although the Swiss has yet to play in the Davis Cup final, he is not mentioning fatigue, and keeps playing the best tennis he has for the past few years, with matches often under an hour long. Chardy is looking forward to playing against the ace, which is no wonder as he won last time they met

Home is where the heart is, and Federer will agree after buying ball boys pizza once again, which has become a tradition, just like him winning Basel. He now has six titles there, with only two tournaments in which he won more - Halle with seven, and his favorite Wimbledon. The semifinal was a close shave, as Karlović took a set and scored more than 30 aces, but his hand shook in the third set and the Swiss was in the right spot at the right time, as he has been for months now.

Although everyone expected a great final meeting of Federer and Goffin, the Belgian was too nervous. Regardless of him giving perhaps the most impressive performances on the Tour in the past few months, he froze against his idol. Federer opened the match with a break, showing who's boss on court and got yet another title in just 51 minute. He won 93% second serve points, a figure that surprised even him.


- David has had a successful week and I have great respect for his game. I think he has what it takes to get to the top and I wish him the very best of luck in the rest of his career. As for me, I'm very happy to have won yet another title at home- said Federer with a smile, as he is just 500 ATP points away from Đoković now, with two more big tournaments and a Davis Cup final left to play in the rest of the season:


- It would be nice to be Number One again, it's something we all want, to be the best in our sport. I played many finals this year and have had very consistent performances lately, but I know Novak will not go down easily. He is now a father and highly motivated, and this makes the finish of this season even more interesting, we're all chasing something.


Chardy also had a successful week, reaching the singles semifinal and doubles final in Venice. He lost the title, but confirmed he is back in form, after all this was his second singles semifinal this season. He could have had more as he was in seven quarterfinals. Here he got through the tricky De Scheppers, who could have won in two sets.


Although Paris is a bit slower this year and less of a transition from the always slow Valencia, Chardy struggled with his shot selection. He made many mistakes, but De Schepper failed to punish them. He had  a second serve return on a break point in the first set, and launched it into the roof of the arena. He missed a set point on his serve in the first tie-break, but corrected it in the return right away. The left-handed two-meter giant was more of a threat in the second set. Chardy even looked for a physiotherapist for his left foot, but got away through another tie-break in the end.


-I was a bit nervous in the beginning, and Kenny played a very good match. He served very well and surprised me with his movement. He made very few mistakes, so it was a battle to the very end- said Chardy about his first round match, but now he is facing a challenge in which he can relax:


- I always look forward to matches against Federer, as he is the greatest ever for me. The most important thing is to no allow him play in his rhythm. If you let him get the initiative, your're gone, there is no coming back from that.


The Frenchman know's what he's talking about, as they already played twice this season. First he took one set at the start of the season, on the fast Brisbane court, and then even won in Rome. Though we must say the Swiss played horribly in that match, that victory might give Chardy more confidence.