AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2005

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

ANDY RODDICK: Man, Jimmy's making me grind in those post match interviews.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. But in all fairness, I think he's kind of bringing out a lighter side of the players. I think he's doing, as uncomfortable as it may be at times, I think he's doing a pretty good job.

ANDY RODDICK: I think it's great for this setting. But I think more stuff like that could be incorporated everywhere. You know, I think -- you know, like I said, he's asking questions. People hear about forehands and backhands pretty much every day. He's getting under our skin a little bit. But I'm sure it's good for the fans.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, basically, you know, people love watching and stuff. But people -- even more than that, we do meet and greets before we play. They just want something, if it's a quick question or a quick picture. People don't need a whole lot to be real happy with the experience. If we give a little, it goes a long way.

ANDY RODDICK: They're great. I mean, their dad -- he would run the meet and greets. We would do clinics every day. They've done that stuff with their dad for forever and a day. I could tell you what's going to happen in the course of one of his clinics, what lines he's going to use. But it works, and it's great. They're really good about, you know -- they do a kids clinic almost every week. They're really good about it.

ANDY RODDICK: Kohlschreiber. I actually played him once. I played him in St. Polten in 2003. You know, he's pretty aggressive from the baseline. He's not super big, but he can hit great shots and then kind of go away sometimes. You know, my goal is just going to try to be to play solid.

ANDY RODDICK: Luckily not that many (laughter).

ANDY RODDICK: Man, I had -- no. Let's just say it was -- it was marginal acting. That's past, so (smiling). That's gotten the job done, I guess.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, you know, I thought I was -- the first set didn't really feel like a 6-2 set. You know, I actually had to grind through one of my service games and was lucky to get out of it. You know, kind of tagged on that second break there at the end. I thought I played maybe better in the second and third sets than I did in the first set. You know, I was happy with the way I played today. I think I got better and better as the match went on statistically. You know, I was pleased.

ANDY RODDICK: It's good that it seemed easy to you guys (laughter). It doesn't seem easy to me when you're out there. You're always thinking kind of that it can slip away or all it takes is one service game and maybe you're in a fourth set. That wasn't really my mindset.

ANDY RODDICK: No. I would have ran more of the triangle offense if I would have known he was in the crowd. I would have given him the, "Scottie, Michael, give it to Michael."

ANDY RODDICK: I wouldn't know where to start. I guess you just look up. He's about 6'8", huh? I wouldn't know where to find him. I actually heard, it was on one of the shows on ESPN, they were talking about what he was going to do, since he's not with the Lakers any more. He said he was going to go to Australia and watch the tennis. I said, "I'm going, too."

ANDY RODDICK: I think it all depends on where you are. Obviously here I get questions about the El Aynaoui match, you know, more than the US Open. In New York, you have people saying, "I was at the semi against Nalbandian." I think it all depends on where you are at that time.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, they're wearing pants.

ANDY RODDICK: You said it; I didn't (laughter). I can't think of anything funny to say that would not get me in trouble. I'm going to leave that one alone.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I think it's okay. I mean, whatever gets people talking - good, bad or ugly - if people are talking about tennis, that's a good thing. I'm still pretty basic. I'm becoming really boring. I'm going to have to -- I don't know how much more creative you can get, but... No, I think it's definitely become a trend in tennis. I think you have to attribute that to being an individual sport. You know, you're not provided uniforms that you have to wear. You have a lot more choices than you would in a team sport.

ANDY RODDICK: (No response).

ANDY RODDICK: No, I heard the question (laughter). No, no. Maybe if it's cold out.

ANDY RODDICK: You know, I'm getting a lot of these questions, but they're not the same coach. They each have their strengths. You know, I'm trying as much as I can -- I'm not comparing and contrasting. I'm just kind of going with Dean's my coach now and that's kind of what I'm going with.

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, I think -- yeah, I don't know what Kohlschreiber has to do with Rainer, except for the fact that they're both from Germany.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, I'm surprised, but anybody who has won three rounds obviously deserves to be there. I think he came through quallies, correct? No? Maybe it was Lisnard that he was playing that came through.

ANDY RODDICK: Regardless, he deserves his spot. He's been there. He's obviously playing very confidently right now. Fourth round, you don't take anyone lightly, that's for sure.

ANDY RODDICK: He has kind of just a real aggressive -- he wants me to try new things out there. You know, we've been working on mixing up shots. You know, basically Dean was great during the training weeks when we were home. He's very organized with the way he does things. It's been really good so far. I'm happy.

ANDY RODDICK: Bobby will not be wearing pants.

ANDY RODDICK: Touche. Well done. I hope that's not the case.

ANDY RODDICK: I practiced with him twice. I think he's done great so far. It's going to be a big week for him. Obviously it's a tough match-up. I haven't seen him play lefties before. He hasn't played someone, you know, that's kind of playing with that amount of spin. You know, he's got a little attention on him for the first time, so I'm very interested to see how he'll react. Obviously, you know, I hope for the best for him out there.

ANDY RODDICK: No, he's pretty good. He's a pretty good tennis player.

ANDY RODDICK: I saw some of it. They always have pretty entertaining matches. It reminds me a little bit of when Andre used to play Rafter kind of, just total opposites, just both banging it out. I mean, with the natural gifts he has, he hits the ball as well as anyone ever has. Things he can do from the ground. He can play as long as he wants to. His main strengths aren't going anywhere. Those are something that time doesn't really affect too much.

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, I think we would all welcome him with open arms. I think that can do nothing but positive things. Selfishly, I'd love to get in there and learn a lot more from him. You know, whatever he decides, whatever his reasons are for playing or not playing, I'm sure they're very, very good ones.

ANDY RODDICK: I've thrown it in there, but not too much. I kind of just wanted to let him know that we would like it. You know, either way, I understand. But he kind of has the support of our team. That's kind of where I wanted to just get that point across. But as far as anything else, you know, I'm not going to be on him all the time. I think those are between him and Patrick.

ANDY RODDICK: Absolutely. He's been, you know, a huge influence in my foundation, starting that. He's probably the first person who put the thought into my head when I was 17. So, you know, there's no doubt, even the way he carries himself, the way he's professional with all of you, the way he handles his responsibilities is something that I've definitely, you know, tried to take in.