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WIMBLEDONJuly 2, 2016Sam QuerreyLondon, England S. QUERREY/N. Djokovic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Is that the best win of your career? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, definitely. I think with, like, the stage that it was at, here at Wimbledon, to beat Novak, who is playing at such a high level for the past five years, I would say so. Q. How difficult were the conditions out there with the continual off, on, off, on? How did you keep focused? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, it was tricky. I think we went on and off four times, including yesterday's two sets. So it made it tricky today. I think going out I lost the first four games, and I think the rain delay helped me. I got to regroup. I broke back once in the third set which helped me gain back a little momentum for the fourth set. It's been a little bit tricky. It's been a month of that with the French Open, Queen's, Nottingham, the first few rounds here. Everybody is kind of used to it. Q. What was your sense of belief in your ability to do that going into the match and how did that evolve during the match? SAM QUERREY: You know, I'm not going to lie and say going into it I thought I was going to win. But I think as the match progressed, I was serving well and holding in the first set, we were kind of going back and forth, I gained a little more confidence with every game. We got to that tiebreaker and I played a great tiebreaker. Once I won that, I was like in my head, All right, I can beat this guy, I can hang with him and turn this into a match. Q. After the rain postponement of yesterday where you had the momentum, you come back today, how did things evolve for you today? SAM QUERREY: I lost the first four games and kind of went, Oh, no, this is going the wrong way quickly. Fortunately, like I said, with that rain delay, made a couple adjustments, came back out. Kind of settled down a little bit. Lost the third set, but played well the last four games of it. The fourth set was similar to the first set. I was saving a lot of breakpoints early. Every game I held, it put a little more pressure back on him and a little less on me. Q. We know you as being a relatively chilled, relaxed guy, nothing seems to faze you. At any point in this match when you have the No.1 player on the ropes, did you have adrenaline going and get an, Oh, crap, moment? SAM QUERREY: A little, down 4‑0, when it was raining, go back and regroup. But, no, I actually felt pretty levelheaded and steady the whole time. A little in the fourth set tiebreaker when I missed my serve at 6‑5, I kind of went like, Oh, crap. Fortunately played a good serve and he missed the forehand wide. That was it. Q. You played him a lot, not on grass, but what did you sense from him? A lot of people thought he wasn't at his 100% top level. SAM QUERREY: He's played at such a high level for so long. What makes him so good is he wins those matches where he isn't playing his best. Definitely yesterday in the second set, yeah, he lost some momentum. He wasn't playing like he usually does. Today, yeah, I mean, he made me earn it. He's not a guy that goes away. He made me come out and win those big points. Probably not the best he's ever played, but not the worst he's ever played. You know, he's still No.1 in the world and the best out there, so he'll move forward. Q. There was a nice interview with Craig Boynton. He said something like, Even a blind squirrel can find a nut. He was talking his contribution down a bit. Can you talk about how he helped you in dealing with the rain breaks and dealing with the match? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, Craig has done an unbelievable job. We've been working together all year. He also coaches Steve Johnson. Every time we were going on and off, he just kept things very simple for me, Throw the ball up on the serve, pick a target, hit it. Don't think about it. Keep thinking about your second serve, return of serve. Make sure you're always smiling out there, having fun. I got to have him in my ear a lot because we had so many rain delays. He kept reminding me of that, which was helpful. Q. How much does or doesn't that Bercy win help in the situation or is it more that you've played Novak nine times prior? SAM QUERREY: I think it helps. I didn't really pick anything from that match or recollect anything specific from that match. The fact I had one win gave me a little bit of belief like, Hey, maybe I can do it again. I also had eight losses going into it. But, yeah, it definitely helps to have the one win under my belt. Q. How much does this win coming at a slam for you feel career‑defining? Do you feel like you're validated by getting this notch? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely the biggest win I've ever had. It's been exciting. But there's another match after this. So hopefully I can keep it going, make a quarterfinal of a slam, which I've never done before. It's not career‑defining, but it's really exciting. It's something that I'll always get to have, which is great. Q. We were talking before about being very relaxed. Being relaxed can help a lot in a match like this. Has it ever hurt you in your career and have you had to dial up aggression along the way? SAM QUERREY: I mean, I can't think of a specific example, but I'm sure it has. I'm sure there's been times where I've been much too casual and relaxed and I've lost a lot of matches. When I'm out there, I'm intense. I get nervous, I get an adrenaline rush. Might show it different than others. In a high‑stress moment I might look relaxed, but I am feeling it inside. But, yeah, it's probably hurt me in the past. Q. Was there a moment or a sequence maybe Friday where you felt like it was going to be more like the one that you won than the eight that you lost? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, towards the middle of the first set. My serve was feeling really good. I felt like I was controlling a lot of the baseline rallies. For seven, eight games into the first set, I felt like, Hey, I'm right here. This is a popcorn match. This is anyone's match. I didn't say like, hey, I'm going to win this. It's going to be tough. Q. Does Rod Laver owe you one? SAM QUERREY: Was he on a streak? Q. He won the first two legs. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I mean, I guess so. If he wants to do anything (smiling). Q. You mentioned during one of the rain delays you were able to regroup. What do you physically, mentally have to do to regroup when you're playing the world No.1 on the big stage? SAM QUERREY: You know, Novak came out with a lot of energy. He changed his tactics up a little bit. I think he was trying to bring me into the net. I think I wasn't really realizing that during those first four games. Thanks to the little delay, I talked with Craig, we kind of made some adjustments on what to do with those balls. I think that really helped. Q. How tough was it to have to go back out there and play the doubles? Was it a calming effect? Not to take you forward, but Nicolas Mahut next? SAM QUERREY: The doubles, I warmed up and went on the court three different times before the doubles. That was my fifth time going on the court. It was fun to go out there. I was excited to get two more towels, which was great. The doubles, it was a little cold out there. Stevie and I went out there with the mindset of, Let's have fun, let's swing away. As far as Mahut goes, he beat me a few weeks ago in 's‑Hertogenbosch. He's a great grass court player. If you look at the last few years, the bulk of his great events have come on grass. He's not seeded, but he's definitely a guy that no one wants to play on the grass. He's beaten a lot of good players. He's got a great slice. He's going to come to the net. He's going to kind of come at you and make it a little uncomfortable. I need to regroup after this win and get ready for him. Q. Did you have any doubts as your career has gone on that wins like this were coming? Your ranking dropped a little bit, you haven't been winning as many titles as you were when you were on the way up. Did you ever lose confidence or faith that you had bigger things ahead of you? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, a little bit at times. Even through the past few years when I haven't been in the top 20, I beat Djokovic in 2012, I've had a couple wins over Nishikori. I've sprinkled a couple top‑10 wins in there, which it's kept giving me the belief that, hey, if I keep at it, there will be some wins like this today. Q. Your level during the first two sets was incredibly high. You had moments this season where you played at a high level. Do you feel you were building towards something like this or was it a question of everything clicking? SAM QUERREY: I felt like everything was clicking. There wasn't, like, big lulls like I've sometimes had. This season has been pretty consistent. Today, yeah, everything was clicking, and yesterday. I think especially during the breakpoints. I think I played those points exceptionally well today, and that was kind of the key. Q. When you came off the court, you did the fast BBC interview, you were full of amazement. Now you're much more kind of Zen about it. Can you now believe it? SAM QUERREY: Yeah. It's been a surreal day. It's been exciting. Kind of like I was saying earlier, this wasn't the final. There's a lot of tennis left to be played. I want to win that next match and make a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Q. What does a day like today and your result say about the state of American tennis? How does it feel to be answering questions like that here? SAM QUERREY: I mean, we've been answering those questions basically since Roddick retired. It's exciting, you know, that I won; Steve Johnson won; Isner was in a third‑set tiebreaker. I don't know if he won that. Q. He didn't win it. SAM QUERREY: Hopefully he can come back tomorrow and win it, we can have three guys in the round of 16 which we haven't had in a while. Maybe hopefully it will silence mostly you guys from asking that question for another week or so (smiling). Q. What was the reaction from the guys in the locker room? SAM QUERREY: Everyone in the locker room has been so kind. Great job, well done. Novak and his whole team couldn't have been nicer. Everyone was happy for me and gave me some type of high five or congrats. Q. (Indiscernible)? SAM QUERREY: No, nothing like that. Q. What does Steve Johnson's teammate do for both of you, do you think, as singles players? What sort of role does that play in how well both of you guys are doing right now? SAM QUERREY: Teammate, like on a doubles court? Q. Yeah, and friends as well. SAM QUERREY: We've been buddies since we've been 10 or 11 years old. He wasn't on tour with me the first five, six years. Now that he's here, the last month has been great for him, you know, he kind of quietly is in the round of 16 today. I think if I would have lost today, he probably would have been kind of the front of this. But I'm really happy for him, really excited. His first second week in a slam. I think he's really stoked. Q. You said before something about the towels. What do those towels mean to you? SAM QUERREY: They're great. All the guys collect the Wimbledon towels. That's been like the one bonus to all these rain delays. You get two every time. I got like 50 in my locker room for my friends and family. Q. Madison Keys said she was happy that with you winning, the video of you in the horse mask is making the rounds again. How much do you do those sort of things? Do you have anything in mind to celebrate this achievement? SAM QUERREY: No, that was just my friends and I messing around a couple years ago. I saw Madison right after my match, right before she went on. She gave me a big hug and said, Well done. Cool to see her excitement a minute before she went on the court. Q. What are your thoughts about Johnson against Federer? SAM QUERREY: I mean, Stevie is playing great right now. Roger, he's playing well, too. He's obviously kind of coasted here into the fourth round. But, you know, this year hasn't been up to his standards I don't think as far as the other years have gone. If Stevie plays well, he goes out there, he has nothing to lose, I think he can give Roger trouble. But he's going to have to play probably the best match of his life to get through that. Q. What do you think your win today does for the belief of guys in maybe every match against people of the caliber of Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Murray? SAM QUERREY: I think it gives guys belief. I'm not the first guy to beat those guys. Half the locker room has a win over the four of them at some point. I think on a short‑term basis, for Stevie going out against Roger on Monday, yeah, I think maybe it can help give him a little belief that, hey, if Sam did it, maybe I can go out there and do it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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