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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 2, 2019

Sam Querrey

Wimbledon, London, England

S. QUERREY/D. Thiem

6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You saved six breakpoints of his and then you got your first one and converted, and it was almost sort of all over from there. Just curious how big that was?
SAM QUERREY: It was huge. I have played matches before where I have had six breakpoints, don't get them. The guy has one, gets it, and then, like, Why does that happen? That's kind of what it felt like. I feel like from his end maybe he felt like he had those opportunities, those chances, didn't get them.

Then, you know, especially against a big server like myself, you know, it's a little draining once you lose serve and kind of took the wind out of his sails a little bit.

Q. Is playing a top seed here really comfortable territory for you now?
SAM QUERREY: I wouldn't say comfortable, but I'm totally fine with it. This is probably the slam that I'm most comfortable at. I like playing on all the courts. You know, I'm confident here, so, you know, the opponent matters, but, you know, doesn't matter as much as going to the other slams. I'm fine playing whoever.

Q. Can you just talk through your year pretty much so far? You were out a few months with injury and now come back, Eastbourne, everything. What's been going on with you?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I mean, I made the semifinals of Houston, and then I had an abdomen injury. So I didn't play for about three months, which was a tough little injury that was just lingering.

It's all better now, and last week went really well. My first tournament back in a while. That momentum is kind of still there, and luckily I like playing on grass. So I'm glad after an injury I got to come back and play Eastbourne and this and not a clay court event and then the French Open.

Q. You're one of the 10 player council guys. I'm curious, you were in Eastbourne so you weren't here, but I'm curious, were you conferenced-called in for the whole thing?
SAM QUERREY: Not whole thing, because my match ended at maybe like 4:30 or so, so I had some press there and was stretching. But I was on the phone for an hour of it.

Q. Only an hour of it?
SAM QUERREY: About an hour of it, yeah.

Q. You had your final next day? Everyone else talked about how exhausting it was.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, a combination of everything. I had press at the tournament. I was stretching, doing my thing. And then I had, yeah, I had to go get dinner out just because I had the final the next day.

Guys are pretty cool about that stuff. But I also let everyone know if you can't make those, my phone is with me, so if there is a vote to be had of any kind, even for dinner, I'm still available.

Q. How many times did you have to vote?
SAM QUERREY: I'm thinking we only had one vote. Any type of vote. Sometimes we want to vote on whether we want to allow a tournament to move to a venue or could be little things like that. The guys are available.

Q. What happened in that hour when you were on the call?
SAM QUERREY: Nothing, really. We were obviously -- you guys know we were voting between Weller and Lapentti. It was just the guys having an open discussion on how everyone felt would be the best, who would not be the best, who would work well, and basically that's what everyone was talking about or during that hour.

Q. What do you make of the sort of toll that meeting took on the numbers? Three council guys dropping off after that. What do you make of that chapter of the council? What's it been like?
SAM QUERREY: This meeting went long, but the last four meetings have gone long. It's been tough for -- we have obviously had some different opinions on there, but, you know, too, that could be a good thing. You don't want everyone so one-sided, you know, somewhat on a view.

So, you know, it would be nice moving forward at those meetings there could be more of an outline or a structure, you know, maybe a hard out, I think a lot of the guys would be up for that (smiling).

Q. What made you want to join the council in the first place?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I was on the council in maybe 2010 and '11 or '11 and '12. I enjoyed it. I liked my time then. A couple years ago I wanted to get back on it. I enjoyed trying to help the tour and, you know, in whatever way and being a part of the politics of it.

So I have, you know, as much disagreement, arguing in these long meetings we have had, I have actually enjoyed my time on the council over this last year.

Q. In the spirit of independence, can you tell us what it's like to be completely self-reliant on your own on the tennis court?
SAM QUERREY: I mean, it truly is one of the only sports where you're out there on your own. You know, I'm someone who is probably for coaching. I wish the men had coaching.

But in the meantime, you know, I do enjoy the battle, having to figure it out on your own. You know, that's what makes tennis unique.

Q. Is that what drew you to the sport of tennis, the independence of it?
SAM QUERREY: No, not at all. I was, like, four, and there was a tennis club down the street from my house and I went to summer camp (smiling).

Q. Have you been surprised by Thiem losing his game after this break you made in the third set? He's No. 4 in the world. He completely lost his game after that one.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, a little bit. I think I alluded to it earlier. I think me getting that break kind of deflated him a little bit, especially after having the opportunities in the second set, and I think maybe he lost his confidence a little bit. I know this isn't his favorite surface.

You know, it's tough when you're playing someone with a big serve like myself and you don't have a lot of opportunities, it's tough to kind of get back going again when you do lose your serve like that.

Q. You reached the finals at Eastbourne and are playing well here. You have always done well here. You knocked off Djokovic and had big wins. When you get here, do you feel like a different tennis player than other places?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I think it's fair to say. You know, I like playing on grass generally. But this is probably my favorite tournament. It's a fun place to play. Especially the last five, six years, I'm confident when I come here, even if I'm not seeded or haven't won a lot of matches. Usually when you're comfortable playing somewhere, you play well.

Q. I'm just curious why you say you'd be in favor of coaching, especially given that you say you feel like you don't need it. I'm just wondering why...
SAM QUERREY: No, I think I would need it.

Q. Oh, okay.
SAM QUERREY: You know, I don't feel strongly about it, but I feel like there is times out there where I haven't been the best problem-solver alone. I just would want all the help I can get.

Q. When you think about your job and the work ethic that you have to be successful, do you think there is anything you have sacrificed to get to where you are today in your career?
SAM QUERREY: I would say the biggest sacrifices is time away from family and friends and missing weddings and things like that. But in the big picture, I feel like I haven't sacrificed anything so gigantic that I have regretted it or really missed out. It's little things like that. But the positives that I take away from this far outweigh those little things like that.

Q. Just a couple more on player council. Where do you go from here in terms of filling seats that you have? And can you just compare your first experience on the council to this one? Have things changed a lot? Are there a lot more issues now?
SAM QUERREY: We vote -- we got an e-mail, like, yesterday. We fill the new three spots as quick as possible. I'm not sure if guys will put their name in, like, a hat -- not a hat, but out there, and we'll vote or exactly how. We're going to try to fill those as quick as possible.

Compared to last time, I feel guys are much more engaged now. It seems like there is more going on in tennis and more, I guess, disconnect with the players, between the players and the tournament, and it just -- like any type of political thing in the world, it just is escalated right now.

And, I mean, both sides are very engaged. The players are very engaged and want what's best and the tournament side is, as well. Hopefully through all this difficult time we can come to some common ground and move forward and do what's best for our sport.

Q. You like playing on grass and have much experience on this surface. What do you think Dominic is missing on grass? What could he do better with his game to be successful on grass?
SAM QUERREY: I mean, Dominic is still good on grass. The first two sets he served great. He can hit a serve as big as anyone, 130 miles an hour, and this is one of those weird questions where, like, sometimes I feel like not a great coach, if he had a coach that maybe could have come out and helped him during the match, but maybe drive through the ball a little more, sometimes just getting your footwork, you know, kind of more -- it's difficult moving on grass compared to clay.

You know, I think it was tough -- he hasn't played a match since the French Open, so maybe he wasn't as prepared or comfortable as he could have been out there today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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