02/05/2009 18:24 FEDERER: 'ALL OF A SUDDEN IT BECAME A DIFFERENT MATCH' No2 seed Roger Federer was left ruing the rain break after his three-set defeat to Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s opening semi-final. “Things were going well for me. I was playing him well and serving well when I had to and putting him under pressure. So the rain delay came at a perfect moment for him, because he came through a tough service game at 2-0 down,” said Federer after the match which he lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. “Instead of going 3-0, he goes 2-1 and then the rain comes, so he's got something positive to look at. Then when he comes back conditions changed, so sure, it helped him. But then again, who knows? He might have come back anyway and beat me in the end. He did well today to use the rain delay in his favour, that's for sure.” “I was in good shape. Maybe also a little pity that I didn't get the break to go 3-0 before the rain delay, but after that, actually I started okay. I thought he came through with a bit more energy after the rain delay - before that he was pretty flat,” the former world No1 continued. “All of a sudden it became a different match and he played better. Should have held once, to not give away one of the breaks at least. Then I would have had a better opportunity. I thought he was playing better. Definitely had the win on my racquet today, so it's pretty disappointing. Miami (where Federer also lost to Djokovic) was a difficult one just because I played pretty good in the first set then I completely lost control. This time around it was different. I was in the match obviously all the way through. I feel like this is not a match I should have given away because (I was a) break up in the second, break up in the third and I usually don't give away opportunities like this. It's bad but I still have some work to do on the clay. I think I'm playing better obviously than Monaco. The hard work has been paying off, but I’ve just got to fix my serve a little bit. I have the feeling that maybe since I had the back problem, my serve is just not working there where I want it to be. It maybe could have saved me a few times and it didn't, so that's something I have to make sure I can fix for Paris. Other than that, there was some good moments which is a good thing. Also some bad ones - I have to make sure they don't happen as frequently, obviously.” “I think the last few years it's helped Rafa playing me before Paris,” said the 13-time Grand Slam champion when the subject of the French Open came up. “Just that he knew maybe a bit more what to expect from me, whereas you know exactly what you're going to get with Rafa. So I think it maybe worked more in his favour the last few years. We'll see how Madrid turns out. If we have to play each other, I still think it's a great match and I would look forward to that. But the focus is elsewhere right now.” “At the end, it's always disappointing for me when I exit a tournament losing a match,” concluded Federer, who has not lifted a trophy since his “home” tournament in Basle last November. “I've gotten used to winning tournaments and then leaving a tournament having lost just leaves a bitter taste, obviously. It doesn't take me long to get over it, but in the moment itself it's just not really fun, because it's just these kind of matches I feel like I should have won here and I end up losing them, so it's just not a good feeling. It's just a matter of getting back in shape and playing good hopefully in Madrid again.” CLOSE