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Record breaker Federer has McEnroe in his sights
By Li Jian (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-11 06:37
"I am the first player to arrive in Shanghai and I am impressed by the
newly-built tennis court, which is beautiful. So I have a few more days to get
myself ready for the tournament, although there is so much to do ahead of the
tournament."
Joining the Swiss in the Red Group will be Guillermo Coria, Ivan Ljubicic and
David Nalbandian.
The Gold Group features Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Nikolay Davydenko and
Gaston Gaudio.
The top two in each group will advance to the semi-finals.
However, the tournament is missing three of the world's top players.
On Tuesday, world No 3 Andy Roddick was the latest withdrawal from the Cup, a
lower back injury forcing the American to miss the season-ending tournament.
Australian world No 4 Lleyton Hewitt said he would skip the tournament as his
wife was close to giving birth to their first child. Australian Open champion
Marat Safin is also missing through injury.
"It is a pity that some players like Hewitt cannot come to Shanghai. They
have worked hard to be here. But I can understand. Hewitt is going to have his
first baby and Safin is injured. We have other top players here like Andre
Agassi and Rafael Nadal. That will be great."
Federer's ankle injury might hamper his ambition to take the title. The
superstar was injured four weeks ago and was forced to withdraw from the Madrid
and Paris Masters.
"I hope I can be ready to play without any pain on Sunday. It is my primary
concern," Federer said.
Aiming to be at his best, Federer arrived on Monday - seven days ahead of his
first game.
"The day I arrived I went to practise right away and I have to get used to
everything. That's necessary because I did not play tennis for weeks. I thought
I should arrive early. I have to get used to the conditions which could be
significant in the coming games."
He said he would spend much of his time practising, and was forced to miss a
tour around a city which he considered one of the best in the world.
"I wish I could experience more of the city. But first I really have to make
sure that my foot gets better.
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