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  • Federer Has Moto Fun Before Important Week

    4/14/08 9:44 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - Roger Federer visits the Portuguese moto Grand Prix on Sunday, a brief getaway from tennis just prior to a crucial week that begins his French Open preparation. Now, however, it's back to business for the world No. 1...and with a new coach.

    Top-ranked Roger Federer enjoyed a day of fun at the Portuguese moto Grand Prix yesterday before he gets back on the tennis court this week. Federer is in Estoril, Portugal for the clay-court event there, but he first detoured in the form of a different sport. Invited by his sponsor Emmi, Federer spent the day with tournament director João Lagos at the Circuito do Estoril, where he watched a MotoGP race.

    Among the drivers were fellow Swiss Tom Lüthi and seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi, with whom Federer met during his excursion.

    “It's been a great experience and I had a lot of fun here,” said Federer. “I enjoyed watching Tom's race and it was very nice to meet Valentino.

    ”I'm glad I have got tennis instead of moto,“ Federer added. ”It's much more dangerous than I'm used to. And it's really loud.“

    Now it's back to his own sport of choice for Federer, who is entering a critical week of play as the clay-court stretch of the season commences. Federer is without a title through four tournaments in 2008, so he needs to build up some confidence before heading to Roland Garros. He has an 11-4 match record so far, a solid clip for most anyone else, but extremely disappointing for Federer. At the Australian Open he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and Federer followed that up with a first-round setback to Andy Murray in Dubai. In the two hard-court Masters Series events in the United States, Federer got destroyed by Mardy Fish in the semis of Indian Wells and fell to Andy Roddick in the quarters of Miami.

    Federer has employed Jose Higueras to help end his recent slump. Higueras, who has worked with Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, and most recently Robby Ginepri, is know as a clay-court specialist coach. Federer hopes the move will pay dividends in the coming weeks and especially at the French Open, the only Grand Slam he has never captured. A long-term partnership, however, is certainly not out of the question.

    ”Jose is gonna do this week and we will see how it goes from here,“ said Federer. ”It's a similar arrangement like it was with Tony Roche, but first we have to get through this week and see how it goes from there.“

    Winning in Estoril, where Federer is heavily favored, would be a great start.

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