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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS WIMBLEDON

July 8, 2017

Sam Querrey

Wimbledon, London, England

S. QUERREY/J. Tsonga

6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You said immediately post-match about the anticlimax, but you must feel a little bit relieved that it didn't go on and on and on?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, definitely. I mean, if he would have held, I was serving on the side that was into the sun, so it would have been a little tricky.

It was anticlimactic, like I said, but I will take the one game like that over anything else.

Q. How tough was it last night? 6-5? You could have been over and all of a sudden not enough light.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I played him here like three years ago we had the same situation. Got suspended at 6-All or 7-All, and it was tricky. I mean, fortunately I was serving first, so that kind of helped. I was always the one kind of in the lead, so he had -- I'd much rather come out today and be in my position, where I can return and kind of free up as opposed to where he was.

Q. You made the offer, didn't you, to carry on last night?
SAM QUERREY: To play one game. Yeah. Because a lot of times you do that. You see a match stop at 3-All or 4-All, not like a 3-4 or 5-6.

Q. That was --
SAM QUERREY: That was last night.

Q. That contest here that went on and on and on, in your mind thinking, see if I can get it over?
SAM QUERREY: No, I was just trying to win just however I could.

Q. You mentioned playing three years ago when you lost in the fifth set. How nice is it to come out the winner this time around?
SAM QUERREY: So much better. I lost that one here. I lost one to Cilic in a long one. So it's kind of nice to be on the winning side of one of those longer ones.

I told myself to try to be aggressive. On the last game I kind of had a little bit of the house money since I was returning first and I kind of had a game to play with, I guess you could say. I think that helped.

Q. Did you want to stop last night?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. It was getting a little tough to see, and, you know, you get to the point where the Hawk-Eye doesn't work. I don't want to play without Hawk-Eye against anyone, but especially a guy with such a big serve where the ball could be in or out by such a small margin.

Q. Do you go practice later today?
SAM QUERREY: No, I warmed up for, you know, 20 minutes before the match, went out there. I don't want to go through the whole routine of starting and stopping again. I played enough tennis.

Q. You looked like last night you guys were pretty much in agreement on that. Is there ever a time, have you ever been involved in a time where you guys were in disagreement about whether to stop or not?
SAM QUERREY: No. I mean, outside of really this tournament, there's no other time where you don't have lights. Really only happens here. I have only been in that situation I think one other time, and it was with him. Kind of the same thing. We got to an agreement.

Mark Darby was out there last night. The supervisor will kind of step in and actually kind of try to be the bad guy and say, We're not gonna play. I don't think he wants to put it on one of the players or either of the players to make that decision.

Q. He left it to both of you?
SAM QUERREY: He left it to both of us but in a way, We don't want to play, do we? So it was kind of like that.

Q. You're now part of middle Monday where all the men and women play on the same day. What's it mean to you to be a part of that?
SAM QUERREY: It's great. Any time you're in the second week of a slam, it's a great feeling. Only happened to me a handful of times. It's exciting to have it here, which is, you know, my favorite tournament. Most well-known tournament. It's even a little better.

Q. For the fans it's a big deal they get to see all of you. It's one of the greatest days in tennis. Do you guys sense that as players or business as usual for you?
SAM QUERREY: Just business as usual. You're happy for the fans. It is a great ticket. You know, I play Kevin Anderson. I'm sure it's not like on the top of everyone's list as far as matches to get to on Monday (smiling). It should be pretty fun.

Q. Reaching this stage for the second year in a row, how good do you feel about your game on the grass courts here?
SAM QUERREY: Really good. I mean, even if I would have lost today I still would have felt good about it.

You know, grass is probably my favorite surface. Wimbledon is my favorite tournament. And for the first time in my career to kind of have back-to-back, you know, years where I have made the second week is exciting.

Q. Do you feel like all parts of your game are working well or is there anything you need to work on for the next round?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, everything feels pretty good. I feel like I could sharpen up a few things here and there, but overall, everything feels good.

Q. Just to confirm, you have never come onto a court, warmed up, played one game, and gone off again before in your career?
SAM QUERREY: I don't think so.

Q. No matter what one's profession is, they work to refine their skills, their abilities. What, for you, is the biggest key to refining your skills, practicing your craft, and what motivates you most to do it?
SAM QUERREY: For me, I feel like the things that -- you know, I don't really work on forehand/backhand/serve, technical things. For me it's working on things mostly kind of in my mind and being aggressive on big points. You know, looking at things over the course of a 12-month period where if I do the things that my coach and I work on, you know, it might not work in a match here or there, but hopefully let's look at the big picture over the year, and hopefully those things work.

You know, as far as, you know, what motivates me to do that, it's prize money. That's what motivates me to do that (smiling).

Q. You might be accompanied by another American guy on Monday. Another match still to play today. Oftentimes you're the last man standing. Do you feel the responsibility of that? Because you kind of carry American hopes on the men's side here at least.
SAM QUERREY: No, I hope Jared wins later. He has a tough one against Thiem, but I'm just doing the best I can. I don't feel like the hopes of America are on my shoulders (smiling).

Q. You don't look beyond that? It's just focusing...
SAM QUERREY: Just trying to win the match. It's an individual sport. I'm trying to win for me. My coach, my friends, small group around me, those are the people that I care about. Those are the people that, you know, are really behind me.

Q. You spoke about liking playing on grass. Your success, I think it's fair to say, is at least in part based on the success you have with your serve. But do you sort of figure my serve is going to work and it's other parts, maybe in particular against a guy like Anderson, the return that's going to be important for you in a match like that on this surface?
SAM QUERREY: Definitely, yeah. I'm going to assume we're both going to hold the majority of the time. Each of us may have a couple of looks. You know, I feel like my return on grass is better than other surfaces. You know, I try to keep my return strokes more compact. You know, especially my backhand side, I tend to hit it a little flatter, and on the grass that's more effective.

He's got one of the best serves in the game. A lot of times when you play a big server you actually need to focus on your own serve more, because sometimes you can take it for granted that I'm just going to hold and you'll be good. But a lot of times when you play those guys like Anderson, Isner, Karlovic, you need to focus on your own serve more so than normal because you face a little more pressure against a guy with a big serve.

Q. If you could change one rule or tradition in tennis, what would that be?
SAM QUERREY: There's not one that jumps out. I mean, when you throw the ball up, I wish you had to hit it and not -- some guys I feel like catch the ball toss 10 times during a match. Sometimes that can irk me a little bit. I can't think of one thing that -- I don't care if we change that rule or not.

Q. You mentioned money being a prime motivating factor. You love the game as well, though, right?
SAM QUERREY: Definitely. I like playing tennis, yeah (smiling). I definitely do. To be able to play Wimbledon for my -- this might be my 10th or 11th year. You know, it's pretty special. If you get to play it one time it's incredible, and I've got to play it handful of times, play Centre Court and be part of a bunch of amazing matches. You know, small group of people will get to do that in their life so that's fun.

Q. What's your record against the Monday man like?
SAM QUERREY: Kevin?

Q. Yeah.
SAM QUERREY: I don't know off the top of my head. I think we have played about 10 times. I'm going to guess it's 6 and 4, 4 and 6, 5 and 5. I've beat him a handful of times and lost to him a handful of time.

Q. You have similar styles. Can you talk about that kind of matchup?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, we have similar styles.

Q. Beyond that.
SAM QUERREY: You know, it's kind of like I said earlier, we both have big serves. A lot of times it's going to come down to a couple points here or there. It's really whoever is going to capitalize on those few opportunities that I'm assuming the match will kind of, you know, each guy might get a handful of opportunities who is going to capitalize on those.

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