Rod Laver is the special guest in this year's French Open. For the first time in four years, the Australian has returned to Paris and in an interview to Le Monde, he spoke highly about Roger Federer. "I think he can win a Grand Slam again." said the Australian.
In a press conference, Laver commented on today's tennis: "I think you're looking at players -- you know, well, I guess the competition breeds some of that innate, you know, position, to be able to play your best tennis under the pressure. And the pressure, you know, you don't know exactly who you're going to play. But looking at the whole thing as, Well, I can win this match, won't have any trouble, you're going to lose that match immediately. So you've got to learn how to pace yourself through that sort of an environment. And I think, you know, there is a lot of great players, but they don't get past the first and second round because they're thinking of playing the final. I think that's one of the areas that you have to pace yourself and understand, you know, winning matches, it doesn't matter how you win. Even if you're playing lousy, the next time you walk on the court, you're going to feel like you're a better player because you won that match. Doesn't matter how well you played, but the mere fact that it was a win against a loss. And I think that also creates, you know, self-confidence. I think that's what you've got to believe in is the self-confidence that you're in this match. You don't enter this tournament and say, 'I'm going to win this tournament.' You enter this tournament thinking, 'I'm going to win a match.' And then bit by bit by bit you start to get experience. And I think that is how I imagine that's how I grew up and played. You know, I played in some of the Under-14s and Under-16s and the amateur tournaments in the Australian circuit. You know, you get that opportunity. If you don't have that opportunity to compete all the time, then you're really going to be lacking and not being able to give your best."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2WS84Z0
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