what he thinks ?
just reasonable things, things that seemingly many people on MTF can't do, making all kinds of complicated theories :
what Federer thinks :
- I'm no prophet, I just think reasonably
- Nadal is only 3 slams away from me
- he's 29 years old, as I was in 2010, 5 years laters I'm still world number 2 and played 3 slam semifinals last year, I felt I could still win one or two, and when people said I was in complete decline, I looked at the bigger picture and always thought I could come back ... and proved it ... then why would it not be the same for Nadal as I have him in great esteem and know very well how great he's able to be ? (here I have a source : Fed's and Wawrinka's words in the off-season : they said they were sure Nadal would come back strong this year)
- Nadal has won 9 French Opens out of the last 10 ones, he's the greatest claycourter of all times and I have him in great esteem
- then why would he not be able to win at least 3 more French Opens ?
- that only quite reasonable prediction would be enough for him to get equal to me, and that's what I tell the journalist (but of course the journalist prefers stirring the mud and considering it as a backhanded compliment that I meant that "Nadal is only able to win on clay")
- Nadal can also win other slams than the French Open of course, he did it less than 2 years ago but it's less obvious to him than winning Roland-Garros
- I of course still hope I can win one or two more slams, I was still near last year and have defeated the world number 1 4 times out of our last 6 meetings
- I'm still very confident in Wimbledon
- it would of course make it harder for others including Nadal to catch me
- Djokovic also has a chance as he's been number 1 in 3 of the last 4 years and is still at a young age, I was still pretty good for many years after that age
- I of course hope that they don't catch me
- even if I know that no record is forever (he said it in the interview, and I remember his mother saying that they had been surprised a few years ago that Roger had reached Sampras' record, and then Nadal came so quickly ... and they realised that records are nothing forever and there to be broken)
but I would prefer it to last longer
All of this completely and simply reasonable ... but it seems that many MTFers are just unable to think reasonably
Federer is a very down-to-earth and reasonable person, it's obvious from everything he said.
He knows he's not a prophet as some MTFers think they are, he knows when he comes on a tennis court for a match that the result is not certain at all, as he said he used to underestimate his opponents when he was young but he stopped that and understood how all that was uncertain and unpredictable, and it was a great help for his mental to accept that uncertainty (I like how he relates his matches, he never speaks as if he felt he controlled everything, rather talks of many things as something uncontrolled including his rhythm).