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THE CHAMPIONSHIPSJuly 4, 2018Sam QuerreyWimbledon, London, England S. QUERREY/S. Stakhovsky 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Did you notice that England won last night? SAM QUERREY: Yeah. Q. How can you not notice? SAM QUERREY: No, I watched the game. Yeah, I have been watching most of the games during the nights. It was exciting for them to win. Q. Were you out watching or in a private place? SAM QUERREY: I was at the house that we're staying at here. We had it on in the living room. Q. Could you hear people around the neighborhood celebrating? SAM QUERREY: No. We're kind of tucked back pretty far, but I'm sure if we were a little closer to the Village we would have heard. I saw some videos of people in bars going crazy. Q. Here's a question about Federer. I'm wondering, as you were a young person coming up, and maybe even today as you develop your game, have you ever made a conscious effort to study Roger's game on film? Particularly on grass? Is there any aspect of it that you found instructive? And if not, that's totally fine. I mean, I don't want to force an issue here. SAM QUERREY: No, not really. I mean, I love watching him play like everyone else. Q. As sort of a fan? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, he does things that, you know, people like me I feel like I can't do. There is a lot of times you'll be with your coach or even with friends and there will be a short ball or whatever and you miss it. They're like, Do it like Roger does it. Well, I can't do that. He's amazing to watch, but he does things that, you know, I feel like I can't do all the time. So I don't try to model my game after his. Q. The things in that category, does that have to do with agility or movement or a particular stroke... SAM QUERREY: It's a little bit of everything. Our backhands are so different. He has the one-handed backhand. I can't do that. I think most of it is ball recognition. He realizes, you know, short balls, I think he can kind of shrink the court better than other guys. If you leave the ball short he instantly steps up, hits it, and gets you running. That's really difficult to do and I don't think a lot of people realize that. I feel like that's really kind of what separates him from everyone else. Q. You haven't played Gaël Monfils much, twice in all the years that you guys have both been on the tour. When he was here earlier, he said that he thinks your movement on the court has really improved and that's complemented your big game. What do you think are the biggest weapons that he has and what's the biggest challenge of facing him? SAM QUERREY: He has a big serve, which is tough. You know, his movement is obviously incredible. For a big guy he kind of backs up and beats you with movement and shot making. You know, those are kind of his best assets. I feel like he's a guy that can hit passing shots from 10 feet behind the baseline. He can win a lot of those, you know, cat-and-mouse points where you're running side to side. He's going to win some of those points on Friday, and I'll be ready for that. I'm just going to hopefully keep coming at him with big serves, big forehands, and big backhands. Q. What do you make of his assessment of the biggest assessment of your game? SAM QUERREY: Nice of him to say. I agree. I feel like I'm moving better than I've ever moved before. I also feel like my backhand is better now than it once was. I'm comfortable playing on the grass and moving on the grass, so that might be some of it, as well. Q. Do you think that tall players are underrated? You see people waxing lyrical about some small player beating the big giants. Do you feel like... SAM QUERREY: I'm with you. If you're 6'5" and you don't crack top 10, This guy is a waste of talent. But if you're like 5'7" and you're top 200, they're like, You maximized everything and you're an incredible fighter (laughter). Yeah, tall guys kind of get a bad reputation for that. If you're tall and, like, you're not in the top 20 I feel like people a lot of times kind of think, You know, this guy should be better, he should be this. If you're like under 5'9" they won't ever say that. Q. That seems like something that has annoyed you maybe when you were younger? SAM QUERREY: It doesn't annoy me, but everyone says that. It's just kind of, like, it's never the reverse, ever. You can't be a little guy with talent and you didn't maximize. It's just not a thing. Q. Sounds like an NBA thing. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, exactly. Q. If there is this misperception that everything should be easy and automatic for someone 6'4" and above, what is the flip side of the challenge that it might present, particularly maybe on grass, if you are 6'6" or something? SAM QUERREY: My biggest issue I guess would be like spacing, because I'm lengthy. You know, sometimes on forehands if the ball -- you know, it could be kind of in and I can feel jammed at times, and so that's the No. 1 issue, like, I have as a big guy. Q. Can I ask you about your friendship with Mr. Isner. How does it work off the court? Do you still talk about tennis or do you just park that and talk about other things? SAM QUERREY: Occasionally. I mean, I'd say it's 80% of other things. 20% tennis. You know, we kind of both came on the tour around the same time, so we have been great buddies for 10 years. We were groomsmen at each other's weddings. You know, it's nice to have such a close friend out there. You know, I'm also close with all the other Americans. But, you know, we travel seven, eight months a year, so you want guys you're close with and guys that you feel you can talk about things outside of tennis. He's a great buddy and great friend to have with me on the road with me. Q. Steve, as well? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I have known Stevie since I was 12. We go back even further. Same thing. A lot of what we talk about is not tennis related. Q. Do you bond on tennis? Is that how tennis friendships work off the court? Because it's such an individual sport when it comes down to it. What keeps everything going off the court? SAM QUERREY: You know, I mean, off the court, we're all big sports fans. I mean, we follow like NFL and so we're always doing -- NFL pools together, going to basketball games or baseball games, we are all married and we like to golf. We have a lot of other interests I feel like outside of tennis. So when we are together, you know, it's nice talking about those things, because most of our life is tennis all the time. Q. Does that kind of keep you sane? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I guess so. But like I said, we don't mind talking tennis. It is such a big part of our lives. So, you know, a lot of times, Did you see so-and-so beat this person, whatever you want to talk about. Q. Do you play away from the cameras, tennis, do you play against each other recreationally or... SAM QUERREY: Not really. John lives in Dallas, so I don't even practice with him. Stevie and I spend some time together when I'm in California. We have the same coach, so we're around each other a lot as it is, so we don't really practice with each other. So sometimes it's nice to hit with other guys. Q. 50-year anniversary of open tennis. What do you think tennis is going to look like in 50 years' time? SAM QUERREY: I'm sure the technology with the racquets and the string will continue to improve. I mean, guys maybe will be hitting serves like 160 or something like that. I feel like the game will just keep getting faster and guys will hit the ball harder. You know, guys' reaction times will get better. You know, hopefully more big guys will be out there (smiling). Q. What's it like to perform on the 4th of July in a foreign country? You have been doing it now for a while here. SAM QUERREY: I mean, it's pretty cool. It's not really something I think about when I'm out there. You don't really realize it when you're here. It makes it a little nicer, I guess, to win a match on the 4th of July. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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