Federer: "Don't Feel Too Sorry For Me"

Despite losing to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday, Roger Federer says, "Don't feel too sorry for me. You look at that I haven't lost in five months or something - it's not that bad.

"Obviously I would have loved to have come through and gotten a crack, a chance, at winning the title here again. It's been one of the most successful tournaments in my life here. It's the ninth [straight] time I am in the semi-finals.

"Clearly I'm disappointed. But then again, [what's] important is the reaction from now... 'Where do I go from here?' I need to have a good reaction like I showed after the US Open."

The fact that Nadal is now 18-9 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and 2-8 in Grand Slam championship matches, is not lost on Federer. But it doesn't concern him. Titles matter.

"I respect it," admitted the 16-time major champion. "I think he's doing great against me. It is what it is. At the end I care about my titles, if I'm happy or not as a person. Head to heads for me are not the most important. If I beat Andre [Agassi] 10 times in a row or Lleyton [Hewitt] many times in a row, at the end of the day I don't care.

Asked whether Nadal saved his best tennis for Federer, the Swiss said, "I don't know if it's true, [but] it's my assumption.

"I feel he plays really good against me... I always think he plays a bit better against me than against other players, but that's good for him.

"I was slightly disappointed, obviously, leaving centre court, because I felt like my game was good and I could have done something in the final potentially. But I don't have to worry about that now anymore. It's fine. I feel okay now. It's in the past already."

The former World No. 1 is next scheduled to compete at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, an ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard-court event in Rotterdam, from 13 February.

Federer drops to a 63-9 record at the Australian Open, where he is a four-time former champion. He was bidding to win his 500th tour-level hard-court match. In the Open Era (since 1968), only Andre Agassi has more wins on hard courts (596 wins).