{"id":4435,"date":"2013-09-29T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-29T14:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/?p=4435"},"modified":"2015-09-20T02:03:30","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T06:03:30","slug":"facing-federer-dimitry-tursonovs-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/news\/atp-tennis\/facing-federer-dimitry-tursonovs-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Facing Federer: Dimitry Tursonov’s take"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scoop Malinowski, who contributes to the Tennis Frontier, has released his new book “Facing Federer<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

Here is the first of three exclusive excerpts:<\/p>\n

Dmitry Tursunov:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends. If everyone talks about Roger as being the greatest, then you come out on the court against him feeling a little threatened. So you start making a little bit of mistakes that you normally don\u2019t do. So I think a lot of it sort of happens in your head. You think to yourself a little bit, you force yourself to play too good for your own level. And if you get used to playing him, then you start playing a little bit within yourself and usually that\u2019s the best chance for you to do your best. It doesn\u2019t matter who you\u2019re playing, if you\u2019re trying to force yourself to play outside of your comfort zone, you\u2019re always going to make mistakes, whether it\u2019s against Roger, my grandmother, it doesn\u2019t matter, so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, he\u2019s a great player. There\u2019s no point in denying that. He\u2019s able to play consistently, play well consistently, he\u2019s a very good tactician, so if something doesn\u2019t work for him, he\u2019s able to switch the game patterns. He\u2019s able to come into net, he\u2019s able to slice, he can hit topspin. He can be aggressive, he can be defensive. So that allows him to be very flexible with his gameplans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question: What was your most memorable match with him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dmitry Tursunov: \u201cI think, again, usually when you ask players like that it makes it sound like you played against such a great player. We\u2019re all professionals. The guy can do a lot of things better than me but it\u2019s not like playing him is such an awe-inspiring moment, like you meet Jesus for the first time in your life. And I think that\u2019s what a lot of people tend to make it to be. His fans and the press make him sound a lot more threatening than he is. And he\u2019s a very good player, there\u2019s no doubt about that. But again, he\u2019s lost plenty of matches. And it\u2019s not that you don\u2019t have a chance going out against him. He\u2019s a very good tactician. Physically he\u2019s talented. But he\u2019s not the most talented person in the world. He has great timing. He\u2019s able to slice and he\u2019s able to use his slice in an offensive way which not a lot of people can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again, the most memorable moment\u2026I\u2019ve played three matches against him. I\u2019ve lost all three of them. In one of them, I did take a set off of him. In my last match against him, it was in the Olympics. I kind of defeated myself there in that final set. I was so nervous playing him that I made a lot of mistakes and all he had to do was show up on the court. If that makes him the greatest player of all time \u2013 by forcing players to crap their pants when they come out to play against him, then I guess that\u2019s the definition of a great player. And I\u2019m not a great player. But I think I probably have the same effect maybe at a lower level. If I come out playing in Challengers, maybe I\u2019d put a lot of pressure on the person. He\u2019s thinking, \u2018Oh f***, it\u2019s Tursunov, he\u2019s won two rounds at an ATP tournament last week. Now I have to do something extra to beat him.\u2019 And that\u2019s not the case. And a lot of times I beat players like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I\u2019m not trying to downsize Roger and he doesn\u2019t need downsizing. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary to bring him up to like a deity level of a player. He\u2019s not. He\u2019s defeatable. And Rafa\u2019s proved it. Rafa doesn\u2019t get affected by that. Mentally, he\u2019s very disciplined. He\u2019s able to just play his game pattern regardless of who he\u2019s playing. He could be playing you, me, Roger, he doesn\u2019t care. If Jesus comes down and starts floating on the court, he still plays the way he\u2019s playing. And that\u2019s why he\u2019s able to defeat Roger, in large part. There\u2019s a lot of other things. It\u2019s not like Rafa doesn\u2019t have any weapons. My point is, a lot of defeats against Roger happen psychologically. Players force themselves to step out of their comfort zone and they start making mistakes. It\u2019s like going out on a date with a really hot girl. You\u2019re probably going to try to make stupid jokes and then you\u2019re going to feel like an idiot after that. That\u2019s kind of how it feels. Just to sum it up [smiles].\u201d<\/p>\n

Question: Your lasting memory of Roger on court or off court? An anecdote?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dmitry Tursunov: \u201cWell, he can\u2019t. He\u2019s got an image to uphold. So he can\u2019t do anything less than, you know, like his hair is glowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question: But you stole his bag once and hid it on him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dmitry Tursunov: \u201cI did, in Toronto. I think that\u2019s probably why I got the set off of him [smiles]. I mean, he\u2019s a pretty mellow guy off the court. I\u2019m pretty sure that he knows that he\u2019s really good in tennis and he\u2019s got a lot of records. And I think of Roger showed up at the Corona Bar (adjacent to our interview at a practice court at SONY Open in Miami) we\u2019d have like 15 heart attacks in the Corona Bar. And people would just start praying and, but, I think, again, it\u2019s a part of the image. And a lot of it is press and how you present yourself. I really can\u2019t say any anecdotes because he\u2019s not going to put himself in a position where he can be embarrassed in some way. He\u2019s not gonna fart in front of people [smiles]. And then, after a certain amount of time, you start feeling like Roger never farts. So that\u2019s probably the anecdote in itself. That he\u2019s never farted in his lifetime. He never has to take a shower after his match. He doesn\u2019t smell. He smells like vanilla [laughter].\u201d<\/p>\n

Tursunov’s record against Roger:<\/strong><\/p>\n

2006 Miami Masters Round of 16 Federer 3-6, 3-6
\n2006 Toronto Masters Round of 16 Federer 3-6, 7-5, 6-0
\n2008 Beijing Olympics Round of 64 Federer 4-6, 2-6<\/p>\n

Tomorrow: Read Gilles Muller’s take on “Facing Federer”<\/em><\/p>\n

You can purchase the whole book at Amazon:<\/p>\n