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WIMBLEDON

July 4, 2016

Sam Querrey

London, England

S. QUERREY/N. Mahut
6‑4, 7‑6, 6‑4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Not an easy thing to do after a big win like that. Talk about that challenge and how you felt you did today.
SAM QUERREY: Felt like I did great today. Nicolas is tough. I've lost to him the last two times I played him. I knew in my mind it was going to be a tough match, even though on paper to the outsider, Oh, he beat Novak, this is going to be an easy one.
I knew he was a tough player, and I was really, really happy with the way I played today.

Q. What has it been like since the Novak win? A lot of texts?
SAM QUERREY: Pretty much just a lot of texts from friends and family. You know, it was exciting for me, it was exciting for everyone else. It was really nice to see that everyone saw it and watched and cheered along. It was an exciting kind of two‑day period for me.

Q. Who is here with you?
SAM QUERREY: My mom and dad and their friends were here. They've left now. My girlfriend is here. I have my coach Craig here. Christian, who is the physio that I share with Steve Johnson. They're still here. So got a little group with me.

Q. You hear a lot of athletes in different sports who have been thrown off by that, you win something big, the next thing is not so easy. Is there an art to it? Maybe they do too much media.
SAM QUERREY: I'm not really sure. For me, the win was really exciting. But my match today, I was playing for my first quarterfinal, so I was playing for something else. There was still something, you know, exciting, kind of like another carrot on the line for me to play for.
I really just wanted to focus in and play the best I can. Today everything really clicked. I thought I did everything really well today.

Q. It is your first quarterfinal. Been a long time coming. Must be a pretty good feeling.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, it's real exciting. Anytime you get to make a quarterfinal, it's great. For mine to be at Wimbledon's really exciting, really special. Yeah, something I'll always get to kind of have with me.

Q. Does it feel like it's been a long time coming or you've had to build to this point?
SAM QUERREY: I was in the round of 16 three other times. Those losses were to Rafa, Novak and Wawrinka. You know, it was a tough road to the quarters in some of those other tournaments.
I'm really happy to kind of get through this week and make it.

Q. Possibly next Goffin or Raonic. You cleared a path for yourself by taking out Novak. Just thoughts on either of those guys?
SAM QUERREY: I wouldn't say 'cleared a path,' but Raonic is having an unbelievable year. Final of Queen's. Goffin is having a great year, too. Semis in Indian Wells and Miami. He's obviously playing incredible to be up two sets to love on Raonic right now.
Either one of those guys, it's going to be a tough match. I'll have to keep my level really high. I'm feeling confident and hopefully whoever I play, I can keep it close and possibly win again.

Q. Did your mom and dad leave because they didn't expect you to get this far?
SAM QUERREY: They actually moved their flights back to watch the remainder of the Novak match. My dad took the whole week off of work last week, and my mom, I don't really have an excuse for her (smiling).

Q. Will they come back if you reach the semis or finals?
SAM QUERREY: I think they would, for sure. I don't think they would hesitate to fly back for that.

Q. I was reading somewhere where you practiced golf in the locker room during the rain delays against Novak. Is that something you do during rain delays?
SAM QUERREY: They just have like a little putt‑putt thing in the locker room here. All the guys kind of take turns messing around with the putters and balls trying to hit it in. It's not something I do often.

Q. Who is the best at it?
SAM QUERREY: I heard that Feliciano Lopez made 14 in a row the other day. I didn't see it.

Q. Were you happy to be on one of the smaller courts today? As you progress through the draw, are you thinking a little bit more of how you might deal with some nerves in the quarterfinals on a bigger stage?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I mean, Court18 is a great court. I'd only played there once before. It's kind of a fun, exciting court. It's got a good atmosphere.
I was fine with whatever court they threw me on today. I didn't expect to have my match be on Centre or 1. The next match, it will be on one of the bigger ones, I'm sure.
You know, I haven't felt many nerves yet this week. I think I'm kind of over that almost. Hopefully will just kind of play freely and have fun and play big and hopefully get another win.

Q. Wimbledon had announced they were going to do extra anti‑doping at this tournament. Have you experienced any extra testing?
SAM QUERREY: I haven't been tested this week, so no. We get tested I feel like at least once a month. There's plenty of it already I feel like.

Q. I understand your runs a club in Vegas. What club is that? My real question is, if you could point to one or two things that really were key for this incredible run here at Wimbledon this year, what would they be?
SAM QUERREY: Our family used to be involved in the Darling Tennis Center in Vegas. We're not anymore.
This week, I can't really pinpoint anything in particular. I'm finding a lot of first serves on big points when I need them. I feel like that might be one thing. I feel like I'm doing everything really well. I feel like I'm returning well. I feel like I'm playing confident. I'm looking to come in. I'm working the ball around the court with my forehand.
Everything feels pretty good. There's not really one thing that feels like it's, you know, picked up amongst the tools in my game.

Q. Did you have any particular self‑talk to yourself in the past period since you beat Novak, saying that it's really good, I can go really high?
SAM QUERREY: Not at all.

Q. How do you think you'll look back on the defeat of Novak and what it means to your self‑perception as a tennis player and the perception of others of you?
SAM QUERREY: I'm not sure. We'll see what happens.
It was really exciting. It was a great moment for me. It was fun. He's had 50 of those moments with Grand Slams and things like that. It was an exciting match. It was something fun. I played really well. Something I'll always remember.
But, you know, it wasn't a final of a slam or anything like that. It's something that's exciting. I'll always have it with me.

Q. You've been asked about the follow‑up match. Do you feel like you consciously had to put that out of your mind to play in the fourth round? It seems as though you didn't have much struggle to do that.
SAM QUERREY: It was a straight‑set win today, but Nicolas was tough. It was a close match. I was down a break in the second‑set tiebreaker. Snuck my way back in it.
It was a match I wanted to win to make it to the quarterfinals. If I didn't win, there would have been a lot of, Wow, it was kind of a fluky match against Novak because you didn't back it up.
I feel like I did a really good job of putting my head down and playing really well today.

Q. Did the 'fluky match' narrative run with you on court?
SAM QUERREY: Not a lot. I definitely knew if I lost, it would have been, Hey, you beat Novak, but obviously that was just like one special moment.

Q. I read on Friday night in between finishing your match, you did not look at your phone, you went out to dinner with your team, but you wouldn't talk tennis. It was kind of like a baseball no‑hitter. Do you have any little things you're doing going forward to keep things off your mind?
SAM QUERREY: No. I mean, I'm not going to lie. After the Novak match, I watched every highlight I could over and over. Enjoyed the hell out of that moment.
I'm just going to keep kind of enjoying myself, hang with my friends and family, practice tomorrow, get ready for the next match.

Q. Talk a bit about Craig. Obviously he's having a good run here. Steve went down today, but what has he done to make a difference, and has he made a difference?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, he's definitely made a difference. I've known Craig for a long time. He's been on my badge this year along with Stevie.
He does everything well. Mainly for me he's very calming. Let's pick out two or three good things we're going to focus on in this match and execute those things really well.
He's really good about keeping my attitude in a positive attitude. Puts a smile on my face all the time. For me, those are kind of the important things when I'm out there.

Q. Are you a superstitious guy?
SAM QUERREY: Not even a little bit.

Q. You're not eating in the same restaurant every night, the same meal?
SAM QUERREY: No.

Q. After you beat Novak Djokovic, I interviewed your coach Craig. He said, Sometimes a blind squirrel finds a nut. How do you feel about being described as a blind squirrel and does he come out with stuff like that all the time?
SAM QUERREY: No. And I don't think he was referring to me as a blind squirrel finding the nut. I think he was kind of referring to himself in a way, having two guys in the second week.
No one believes in me more than Craig and no one is a bigger supporter of me than him. He's a guy that believed I could be here.
In his mind he's not thinking, Oh, this is a blind squirrel finds a nut type of situation. I think he was joking and referring to himself, because he is a huge believer in me.

Q. He's the blind squirrel then?
SAM QUERREY: Yes.

Q. The ballboys and ballgirls here at Wimbledon are a point of pride. I wonder if there's anything different you've noticed with them or their performance? Do you have any peculiarities, like you want the ball coming from one side?
SAM QUERREY: I'll take the balls from anywhere. Yeah, they're very disciplined. I don't know what their practice routine is or what they do. There's no mess‑ups. They've got the ball in the right places where they need to be. You never really see them roll a ball side to side in between first and second serves like you might occasionally see at another tournament.
This tournament runs a tight ship, and the ball kids are part of that. They do an excellent job the whole two weeks.

Q. I know you've done it for years, just before you return, you flip your racquet over. Is that something you started doing naturally or is it something to maybe calm yourself down?
SAM QUERREY: It must be natural because I didn't really know I did it.

Q. Even now?
SAM QUERREY: I just kind of play with the racquet.

Q. We all like to look closely at highlights. What was your favorite highlight from the Djokovic match?
SAM QUERREY: Probably on SportsCenter, they gave a big old shout out to Fila like they've never seen it, like it's been extinct for 10 years. That was probably my favorite moment (smiling).

Q. I don't know if you talked about your decision to skip the Olympics this year. What went into that choice?
SAM QUERREY: I played the Olympics before. I'm more focused on the summer hard court events, playing events with the points. The Olympics wasn't that high on my list. It's not something that spiked my interest that much at all.

Q. You've spoken of hunting for this quarterfinal berth for a long time. The moment it arrived, any interesting or ordinary thought come to mind?
SAM QUERREY: It was a little weird because on match point I hit an ace that was called out, we challenged it. You couldn't have the initial celebration. It's like, Let's wait 15 seconds, then kind of celebrate.
Nothing too exciting. It feels great. It's exciting. But I'm going to get ready and try to make a semifinal appearance, keep the run going.

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