Roger Federer thinks young to make his own Miami Open luck in thrilling win over Tomas Berdych
Swiss describes himself as ‘incredibly lucky’ to have beaten Czech in the quarter-finals, but credits his victory to thinking young
Roger Federer described himself as “incredibly lucky” to have beaten Tomas Berdych in the Miami Open quarter-finals, but credited his 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) victory on Thursday to thinking young.
Federer trailed 6-4 in the third set tie-breaker but fought back and won the quarter-final match when Berdych double-faulted at the decisive moment.
“I was like, ‘Wow, double fault. Are you kidding me? You’re too kind, Tomas. Why? How do I deserve this one?’” Federer said.
“I don’t feel like I deserved it that much, a double fault at that moment. I guess he was playing on the edge. I got incredibly lucky. Could have gone either way.”
Recalling Berdych’s 2010 victory over him in the fourth round, Federer said, “I felt like maybe this one I should have lost and maybe I should have won the one against him here in the night session years ago.”
“I guess you get better over time handling pressure,” Federer said. “Then you have to be careful, I think, as you grow older, not to play too conservative when it matters. You start playing percentages way too much when you get older because you’ve seen too many times what can happen.