|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 13, 2015Steve JohnsonINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA S. JOHNSON/M. Granollers THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. A lot was made of the choice not to select you to represent the United States in the Davis Cup. I know you have a lot of respect for Captain Courier and all of the guys who would be your teammates, but how much have you talked to Courier about it? How much do you think your experience at USC being a part of the team dynamic and being successful, would make you a viable candidate to play on that team? STEVE JOHNSON: Well, you know, in my mind I was excited and ready to play, but it's up to him. You know, I thought maybe this was my chance to play, but, you know, I have got a long career ahead of me. I get 100% why he took the team he did. Donald was playing great and had just made a semis and a final. It's a good problem to have when you have three, four Americans, Sam, myself, all these guys, Donald, playing, and playing well. I was a good option for the second spot, but it was just kind of a bummer. I know those guys fought hard. It's not the result anybody wanted. Pretty bummed out for all the guys, and for Jim, as well. Just, you know, if my time comes, if I get that call ever, I'll be ready to go. Q. You have played so well lately. Have you done anything different? Changed anything? STEVE JOHNSON: No, nothing really. Everything has just kind of come together. You put in a lot of time and a lot of aches and pains kind of on the practice courts and maybe in some the matches of stuff you're working on and trying to get better. Once it kind of all kind of clicks and comes together, it's fun. It's fun to be a part of that. Now I feel like I'm pretty comfortable on the tour level. It's taken me a couple of years to feel comfortable, and feel like I belong with these guys. But now, you know, I think the sky's the limit. Q. You face Ivo again. STEVE JOHNSON: Yeah, he's got a great serve. You know what he's going to bring to the table. But I'm going to go out there and make as many returns as possible, take care of my serve, and kind of let the chips fall where they may. Q. What were you thinking? Presumably you were watching. Couple of really tough days on the road. What were your thoughts just watching? STEVE JOHNSON: Watching like the Davis Cup? Q. Yeah. STEVE JOHNSON: It's heartbreaking. You know, John's a real close friend of mine. To watch him battle five hours and come out on the wrong side is hard. I took that hard just because John is a close friend and we all play for the U.S. and we love to play for all, you know, Davis Cup and everybody who kind of supports us. It's just was a bummer. I was very heartbroken for him. He had that long day. But, you know, that's tennis. Some days you don't come out on the winning side. He came out and battled pretty well against Andy, but he's top 5 for a reason. He's a good tennis player. Q. So your team talks about your tremendous play as a team player, and you have had a lot of experience in hostile sites. I presume Athens and I presume Westwood is not that much fun going east and all of a sudden being told, Guess what? You have to play indoors for the championship. All that comes to mind. But what did you learn from that? Would that help you as a Davis Cup player, having to go into such a hostile atmosphere? STEVE JOHNSON: Yeah, you know, you kind of take everything you have learned over the past two decades of playing tennis, you know, into consideration. I did well in college as a team, in the team format, but I think Davis Cup is a different animal than maybe college tennis. But, you know, I have succeeded in TeamTennis before, and I feel like ‑‑I think I played some of my best tennis in those atmospheres. But I respect Jim, the decision he made with Donald and John and the Bryans. You know, I wouldn't say anything negative about it. It's kind of beating a dead horse at this point. But, you know, you have got to stick to the decision, and he stuck with it. Unfortunately it just didn't work out. It's easy to say it didn't work out after they lost, but if they won it was a good decision. Q. If I could follow up, what was the toughest road atmosphere for you to go to with college? How does that compare to the toughest atmosphere you have had to play on the circuit? STEVE JOHNSON: You know, playing in Athens was always tough. We only played Georgia there once, so that was definitely a tough one. Stanford a few times was tough for us. Westwood. Those kind of areas were always a bit hostile. But last year at the French I played a young French kid in the first round. I mean, that was as tough an environment I have ever played in locally being down two sets and 5‑1 or 5‑2 whatever it was in the third, and somehow finding a way to come back. You know, that was by far I think the toughest atmosphere I have ever played in. Q. Is that really hard to overcome? Do you feel like... STEVE JOHNSON: No, it was really bizarre. I kind of walked out there and I could hear them booing already because I was late to the court. I was waiting for someone to walk me out from the locker room and nobody kind of did. I was about five, ten minutes late. I could hear booing. Oh, great. That's my court, I know it. It's like white noise because I don't speak French, so I don't know what they are saying. In my mind I'm thinking maybe they are just saying, Great shot or whatever (laughter). That's probably not true, but I don't understand it so it's not like I'm taking it personal. But it was quite the atmosphere. That's a day of tennis I don't think I will ever forget. Q. One of the things I have admired about your father and some other people as they were speaking and regards to American tennis in regards to men and boys, do you all feel that at this point in time that you can be No. 1? Is there an attitude of I can do it? We could be in the top 5 again? Are we getting those types of attitudes and we support you or we are behind you? Do you feel that you really can make it to the top 5? STEVE JOHNSON: Yeah, you know, it's really kind of a tricky question. If you look at the last decade there has been four guys up there. I mean, it's kind of a bummer that there are four guys that just ‑‑I mean, it's fun for the game because those guys can do things that you're just ‑‑ I mean, as a guy who is 40 in the world or whatever I'm just looking at them in shock and awe that these guys are able to do these things. I definitely think top 10 is possible for a lot of Americans. From there you're on your own. You have to make your own destiny at that point with what you bring to the table on a daily basis, how you do in those big matches. There is a lot of little things that go along the way to get you to the top 10. Then, you know, from there it's just ‑‑I think it's all on you to kind of make that next push to the top 5. Q. Looking at our boys, American boys that are 10, 11, 12 years old ‑ I will use those ages ‑ what would you tell them?  You're out there and you know what needs to be accomplished. What would be the first thing or what would you tell them they need to do at this point in time in order to be No. 1? STEVE JOHNSON: Just have fun. I mean, if you lose the love of the game, just stop. I didn't play tennis exclusively until I was 16, 17. I played every other sport possible, and, you know, I love going out and playing tennis. It was never, you know, Wednesday again. I don't want to go practice. Doesn't sound fun to me. You kind of lose the passion for the game, and I think that was something really big for me, that I never lost that, and I still haven't lost it today. I think that's the biggest thing for the young kids. You don't need to play 10 hours of tennis a day to make your dream come true. I mean, you've got to just enjoy the process and go along with the growing pains of it. Q. It is great to see. So easy to root for you and John and the guys that did play college tennis. It's kind of ebbed and flowed philosophically with respect to whether a pro prospect should bother with college tennis or just go straight in. You know, you and John did and Jack and Donald didn't. At this point when you look at college tennis, do you think it has enough to offer to help a guy? STEVE JOHNSON: Absolutely. Everybody ‑‑I mean, look, I'm a big proponent for college tennis, don't get me wrong. I will never say anything bad about it. It just varies case to case. John and myself let's say compared to Sam, John and I just weren't ready at 18. We weren't ready. John will say that. I have no problem saying that. Sam at 18 was winning challengers and was 100 in the world. There is no need for him to go to college. If you're 100 in the world at 18, you're ready to go. You're ready to win these matches and stuff. So it's really a case to case basis. You see guys like Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, and those guys are ready. They don't need to go to college. You see guys, if they are 300, 400 and they are staying there, maybe, you know, go to college and mature and kind of figure out what's missing. Then, you know, if you win college your first, second year, then you're ready. You leave and you go out there. I don't think there is a rush. The average age of the top 100 is 27, 28, 29, something like that. So it's not like if you're not breaking into the top 100 at 19 it's time to call it a career. It's longer and guys are getting smarter, I believe. Q. You and a lot of Americans are comfortable here in hard courts and it's the U.S. Looking ahead, there have been different sort of strategies about going over to Europe for the clay. Some go early and some go late. What's your plan at this point? STEVE JOHNSON: My plan at this point I'm going to play Monte‑Carlo and come back and then play Rome, Madrid, Nice, Paris, you know, come back, and kind of depending on how I do in Paris, you know, depends how many weeks I'll play on the grass. But, you know, I've gone over for eight weeks straight the last two years, and by the time I got to Wimbledon I was a bit fried and mentally just a bit toasty. So probably going to do it a little bit different this year. I've got another 10 years out here, so it's not like I'm going to make or break it this year. You kind of keep learning from the mistakes you make. Maybe coming back after the French will help me on the grass or maybe it will hurt me from the jet lag. But mentally I think it will do me a little bit of good. Q. Monte‑Carlo and come back to the States after that? STEVE JOHNSON: Yeah, and have a good two weeks, and then Madrid, Rome. I'm assuming I will stay in the main draw. It's mandatory to play those. I have never been there, so it will be fun and exciting to go in and play new events. Q. Sort of a locker room question: When all is said and done, surfaces, slow, hard court, who do you think the best would be between Roger, Rafa, and Novak? STEVE JOHNSON: I think Roger is the best. I mean, just ‑‑I mean, he's got, I don't know, 19 Grand Slams? I don't know what the number is, but he's got a lot. Without Rafa on clay he's probably got about six more. I mean, the guy's pretty good at tennis, and in his heyday was unstoppable. Just didn't matter what anybody else did. Novak is getting to that point. He's playing great tennis. But, you know, it's fun to watch those guys, I will say. It's fun to go out there and watch those guys and see how they compete and how they prepare. Q. And the one or two things that are great about it is the arsenal of the shots or just a management of matches and career? STEVE JOHNSON: On those guys' part? Q. Roger. STEVE JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, people are born to do certain things, you know. He was born to be a tennis player. He's never been hurt. He's never missed significant time. He's never‑‑ you know, he's the face of tennis for a good reason. He's the best ambassador for the sport I think we have. Without him I think tennis would not be as popular as it is today. So we have a lot to thank some of those guys for what we are all receiving. Q. Who was your idol when you were young? STEVE JOHNSON: When I was young, Sampras, Agassi, Courier, those guys growing up. As I started to get more serious, the Roddicks, the Fishes, the Blakes. It was fun to get to know those guys, even though they were a lot older than me. But I was still competing for about a year or two with both of those guys. It was exciting. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|