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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 10, 2019

Sam Querrey

Wimbledon, London, England

R. NADAL/S. Querrey

7-5, 6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. The grass court season seems to have really revitalized this part of your career.
SAM QUERREY: Definitely. I mean, especially before this I didn't play a tournament for about three months. I pulled out of the French Open. To have three months off, come back, make a final and a quarterfinal, I feel confident, got a the boost.

Hopefully this will carry over to the summer.

Q. You had such a formidable serve in the tournament coming into this match. What did Rafa do that maybe sort of changed that statistic?
SAM QUERREY: I mean, he makes a ton of just stab returns in, then he puts a little extra pressure on you coming in because you know he has such great passing shots.

Forced a few more errors than I like. But then at the same time he hit a handful of great passing shots by me. Just the combination of those few things makes it tougher than playing some other guys.

Q. What is Rafa's level like? Do you think he's playing at his very best compared to when you played him before? Could he win the tournament?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, he can win the tournament. He didn't play a warmup tournament coming in, so he's probably fresh and feeling good. He's essentially cruised through to the semifinals. He's playing Roger next, which is going to be tough.

Yeah, he's made the finals here five times. I definitely think he's a guy that can win it again.

Q. On Roger and Rafa meeting here, as a tennis fan, how excited are you to watch that match?
SAM QUERREY: Very excited. I know they haven't played here in a long time. It seems a little more exciting, more special they are playing at Wimbledon maybe rather than outside of a Grand Slam.

I'll be watching on Friday morning.

Q. I know the match was straight sets, but the first set was really tight. You break him back, back in your corner, talk about the end of that first set.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I mean, it was crucial. I broke him back then I lost a tough 5-All game. Went back and forth, probably four or five deuces. Might have had another look to break back at 5-6. Didn't get that.

Practice hurt me a little bit because I kind of felt that it's crucial against the big three to come out hot. To get the first set would have given me a lot of momentum. That was really a game changer.

Q. Something you're missing you feel in that stage in terms of your game or it was all there?
SAM QUERREY: At 5-All I missed four first serves in a row on the deuce point, all going wide. I missed them wide four in a row. That's tough. Kind of like we said earlier, when it comes to the second-serve returns, I don't know what percentage of second-serve points I won. Probably not a high percentage.

Just puts a little more pressure on me when I don't hit those serves in those crucial moments.

Q. Rafa received a code violation for the time he was taking between points. He seemed to be going over 25 seconds after that. Were you conscious of that?
SAM QUERREY: We all know he's a slower, methodical player. I asked Mohamed. He said he's at 23, 24, 25 seconds every point. He'll hit an ace and take 25 seconds.

It didn't bug me. He takes the full amount of time that he's allowed. He seems to kind of have it right there on that tipping point every time, where it's like, I can call him on it but I'm probably not going to call him on it.

Q. You beat Djokovic, Murray here. You challenged Rafa today. What is it going to take you to break through to the top 10, to a higher level?
SAM QUERREY: Just a little more consistency with my results. 2017 was my best year. I had two good runs, deep here and deep at the US Open, won a 500. I'm going to have to put together some better results consistently at the Masters Series, events like that.

This is a good steppingstone for that. Like I said earlier, this summer I'm playing a 500 event in D.C. then two Masters Series. Those are two big events with a lot of points. Hopefully I can win a handful of matches there and keep my ranking going in the right direction.

Q. You've been playing him a long time. How differently does he play now? How dangerous is he on faster surfaces?
SAM QUERREY: It's tough to say. I mean, he was really good when I played him in 2006 I think was the first time. He's adapted well to the grass. Also he made the finals here in probably 2008 or '9, too. He knew what he was doing then.

I think he's just been a little maybe smarter with the schedule. Like I was saying earlier, he didn't play a warmup tournament. He hasn't really in the last four or five years, where the first seven to eight years he was playing warmup tournaments on grass.

I think he's a guy, his body can be fragile at times, so he's probably picking and choosing where he wants to play tournaments. There's a little more thought that goes into that now.

It's benefiting him. He won the French Open. That was a tough two-week stretch for him. Now he's in the semifinals here. I think for him the scheduling is what he's really done a great job with later in his career.

Q. If you were a betting man, who would your money be on for the tournament?
SAM QUERREY: Well, I wouldn't bet on tennis.

Q. Hypothetical.
SAM QUERREY: Federer.

Q. Why?
SAM QUERREY: Nothing necessarily. He's just really good. He's confident. He's won it eight times here. I just give him just the slightest edge over the other two guys. I'm not going to be surprised if one of the other guys wins it.

I feel like I had to pick someone there.

Q. His slice and his ability to keep the ball low?
SAM QUERREY: And 25 other things he does well, too.

Q. You have your plans clear on what's coming forward for you, your schedule?
SAM QUERREY: I'm going home. I'm playing some World TeamTennis matches for the Vegas Rollers, then playing in Washington, D.C., Montreal, Cincinnati, Winston-Salem, and the US Open.

Q. Ready to crank up the volume?
SAM QUERREY: I had that three months off, like I was talking about. Got another two weeks here. I've had some time away. Even though over the last two weeks I played a lot of matches, I still feel fresh, and ready to go.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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