Kuznetsova to support her hero Federer after lifting trophy (Feature)

By Bill Scott Jun 6, 2009, 17:23 GMT

Paris - Svetlana Kuznetsova will soon have to replace her hero-worship for Roger Federer, speaking to the Swiss as something of an equal after claiming her second Grand Slam title with victory at the French Open.

Seventh seed Kuznetsova defeated fellow Russian Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 to leave her world number one rival still without a Grand Slam title. Though she will likely be on a plane to Moscow when the 13-time Grand Slam champion Federer bids to make history in the Roland Garros title match Sunday against Swede Robin Soderling, Kuzy will be willing her favourite male player on despite missing the live action.

'It means a lot to me if Roger wins and I win,' said the Russian who also won the 2004 US Open but lost finals to Justine Henin while holding match points in Paris 2006 and the US Open a year later.

'I think the year I won the US Open, he also won. Definitely I would go for him totally, but I don't think it matter if I'm here or not. I would be happy for him anyway.'

Kuznetsova, who will return to fifth in the world in the new WTA rankings, has for years voiced her admiration of the former men's number one. But instead of acting like the world-class athlete she is, the 23-year-old has always been more of a fan than an equal.

Federer has publically voiced his respect for her game, but the pair did not apparently actually chat until a curious incident from last summer's Beijing Olympics.

Shy about asking the great man for an autograph herself, Kuznetsova used 10 members of the Russian women's basketball team as her decoy when they asked to meet the tennis ace.

'They asked: 'Can we have picture with him?' You know how I love Roger, and I never came to him myself asking him for picture, I never did.

'For me, it's better to do something for other people than for myself. So I did go to him and ask. He did it for me and it was big.

'I had a talk with him like for 10 minutes, and I never spoken to him before.'

Kuznetsova revealed that - full of self-doubts - she made the move to Moscow after years of training in Spain because she got some advice from the Swiss after finally working up her nerve to have the chat in Beijing.

''You can only depend on yourself, you can control it,' he told me. 'If you can concentrate and live in Moscow, do this. If you cannot, only you can judge.'

'I really believed in it. I came back to Moscow and I work hard, and I had my time to do everything. I have my passion, I have my friends, I'm in my home country.'

Kuznetsova said that perhaps in a small way, her win over another Russian will be a lift to a nation battered by the economic crisis.

'I don't think my victory can help economic system, many people don't care if Safina wins or Kuznetsova wins. I'm just proud for my country that today we played a Russian final,' Kuznetsova said.