By DPA,
Miami : Nearly nine months into fatherhood, Roger Federer is proving that despite family responsibilities, his tennis remains as strong as it has ever been.
The top seed made that clear Thursday, two days before his start in the second round at the Miami Masters, as he ticked off his last year’s accomplishments, the year that wife Mirka Vavrinec gave birth to the couple’s twin girls.
On court, he won his first French Open and a sixth Wimbledon, also returning to the top of the rankings after losing the spot in August 2008 to Rafael Nadal. He began 2010 with another Australian Open trophy.
“In terms of goals, not much has changed,” said the two-time champion at Crandon park. “My ranking is still at the very top or near top. I was number two when Mirka was pregnant, number one (in late July) when they were born.
“I have to aim so high – staying number one, trying to win the Grand Slams, trying to win here in Miami. It’s just something that I’ve gotten used to over the last seven years really – aiming extremely high.”
Federer is coming off a somewhat disappointing loss in the Indian Wells third round to Marcos Baghdatis, a defeat he was perhaps unprepared for.
But he said he prefers to view the defeat as a blessing in disguise.
“I’ve had many years where I ran from one thing to the next, that also I welcome having all of a sudden more days off, more days of practise, more days where I can just wake up and see what I really want to do instead of having the perfect plan the whole time.
“It’s nice to adjust that for a change, if there’s anything positive to take out of a loss,” said the Swiss after a week in Miami.
Federer said he feels confident ahead of the South Florida event. “My game is where I want it to be.
“I’m always excited coming back here to Miami. I’ve had a lot of success here, and I’ve always enjoyed coming here ever since I played sort of the juniors back in 1995 maybe.”
With all seeds given byes into the second round, the unseeded players took the stage Thursday in first-round contests.
German Michael Berrer advanced over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 while Australian Peter Luczak set up a match with French open finalist Robin Soderling after a defeat of Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 6-3, 7-6(4).
South African Kevin Anderson beat Ricardo Mello of Brazil 6-3, 6-1 and Stephane Robert of France put out German Andreas Beck 7-5, 6-4.
Women’s seeds Agnieszka Radwanska, Marion Bartoli and Nadia Petrova all moved through to the third round in straight sets.
2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic won her first match since the Australian Open first round as she defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-3.
The former number one now stands 58th after a fall in form.