Federer taking heart from performance at Roland Garros

ROGER Federer was unable to prevent world No 1 Nadal claiming a record-equalling sixth French Open but his performances this year at Roland Garros suggest he can add to his 16 grand slam titles.

The 29-year-old's semi-final victory over Novak Djokovic on Friday, snapping the Serb's incredible 41-match winning streak this season, silenced the doubters who assumed the Swiss could no longer threaten the world's top two.

"I told people that we should wait six months after the Australian Open when people thought Rafa and me were done," said Federer. "Now we're back in the finals and now it's different talk again. I don't even go there, because I knew it wasn't the case."

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Nadal and Federer had not faced each other in a grand slam final since the Spaniard won the 2009 Australian Open in five sets. Nadal had not won a major since last year's US Open, while Federer's last grand slam triumph was at the 2010 Australian Open.

Federer said: "I've been confident for almost a year now. I think I lost some confidence maybe through the French Open and Wimbledon last year but I was in the finals of (the Wimbledon warm-up event in) Halle as well in this period, so I didn't feel like I was running out of confidence.

"It was just important to get to another grand slam final, keep on playing well," he explained.

"I'm feeling better physically than I have in a long time, so that's been very positive. Also, after this sort of tough weekend I feel really good, so that's been positive, too.

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"Sure, it was a huge match with Novak. Obviously I'm happy about that win. Today was a very good match. Overall obviously I'm very happy about the tournament." Djokovic, whom Federer beat in four sets in one of the greatest matches played at Roland Garros, would have become world No 1 had he reached the final or if Federer had beaten Nadal.

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Federer clearly revelled in being back in the spotlight. He said: "When I won the third set and it was already very competitive all along and I was able to push it to a fourth set, sure, I knew the importance of the match."

Back to something like his best, Federer is now heading to Wimbledon in buoyant mood.

"That's obviously the huge priority right now, to win Wimbledon," he said. "That's always, for me, the sort of No 1 goal in the season."