David Goffin says he 'doesn’t know what to do' to beat Roger Federer at ATP Finals
"I've never found a key to beat Roger. Honestly, I don't know what to do," Goffin says ahead of semi-final clash
Saturday 18 November 2017 13:07, UK
David Goffin admits he "doesn't know what to do" in order to beat semi-final opponent Roger Federer at the ATP Finals.
But the Belgian says he will "try something different" on Saturday in a desperate attempt to end his losing streak against the Swiss world No 2.
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Seventh-seed Goffin secured his place in the last four at The O2 with a dominant 6-4 6-1 victory over Dominic Thiem.
Goffin has lost all six of his previous meetings with Federer, and conceded he was clueless as to how he would end that record.
"I've never found a key to beat Roger," Goffin said.
"Honestly, I don't know what to do tomorrow. But I'm going to try something, something different, something that I've never done in the past.
"Against Roger, on his best surface, it's indoor.
"It's this surface, along with the grass. There is no wind. It's tough to play higher, to find the loop when you play here on this kind of surface.
"It's not easy. It's perfect for Roger. But I will try, like I said, to do my best tomorrow to find some solutions, try to play my game, yeah, be aggressive.
"If he's aggressive and he hits the ball really hard with his forehand, he's dangerous."
Goffin has produced a mixed bag of performances at the season-ending championships so far, beating world No 1 Rafael Nadal in three sets in his opening match before being thrashed 6-0 6-2 by Grigor Dimitrov in just 74 minutes.
But he was in much better form on Friday as he recovered from a slow start, in which he fell 0-3 down in the opening set, to win 12 of the next 14 games against Thiem.
In his last meeting with Federer in October, Goffin won only three games and the 26-year-old is targeting a much improved display on Saturday.
"I will try to do my best to play a better match than in Basel, for sure," he told reporters at his post-match press conference.
"In Basel it was not easy. He played well. He didn't miss. He was really aggressive, as always. He returned so well. So it was not easy in Basel.
"I hope that tomorrow he's not going to play the same match. But I will try something different for sure."
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