Federer not consumed by rankings goal

 

Originally published on: 17/05/12 00:00

Roger Federer says that “it’s nice moving up”, but insists he pays little heed to the world rankings. The 30-year-old Swiss went up one place to No.2 this week, swapping positions with Rafa Nadal after his victory in the Madrid Masters.

“At this point to me this is not major stuff because I look at the big picture,” Federer said at this week’s Rome Masters. “If I’m ranked No.2 or not at the French Open it doesn’t change anything – like it doesn’t change anything for Rafa. At this point I’m just happy that I’m playing great tennis. That I was able to win Madrid is amazing. And that’s what I look at right now and not the rankings.”

He added: “I wouldn’t even know how many points I have right now. I check more on what my friend Stan Wawrinka’s ranking would be, because [players lower down  the rankings] obviously make bigger moves than we do. It’s more volatile back there. I just kind of know what the other guys have to defend, what I have to defend. I just know in a nutshell, but I don’t know the whole breakdown of it. That stuff I stopped doing a long time ago because it just consumes you more than anything.”

Asked whether he would prefer to be No.1 again (which he could do without winning a Grand Slam title this summer) or win another Grand Slam tournament, Federer said with a smile: “We’re talking about great problems. I don’t care. We’ll see how things go. I did win the World Tour Finals, which to me is a huge tournament and which at times gets forgotten next to all the Grand Slams. But to me it’s equal to the Slams and that’s why I feel I have a massive tournament under my belt – and that’s what makes me world No.2 right now. I might be world No.3 again next week, but like I said that doesn’t matter for Rafa and myself.”

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