NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 21, 2003

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I'm all right. Just a little bit of heat and, you know, who knows, some days you just feel better than others.

ANDY RODDICK: A little tired. I haven't been feeling great the last couple days. I'm not really sure why. You know, but luckily I have an off day tomorrow so looking forward to the day after that.

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. I was pretty much bluffing my way through that match. I think I was pretty lucky today. There are some matches where sometimes you should win them and you don't, some matches when you should lose them and you don't. This was the latter. I probably should have lost this one.

ANDY RODDICK: They were great. It was just pretty frustrating, I knew they wanted me to play well. I wanted to kind of lift my game a little bit. I think they were definitely a factor.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I was hoping I was going to be able to put some returns in, is what I was thinking. He was putting serves in, but I think it's a lot easier to serve well against someone who's returning terrible.

ANDY RODDICK: Average. It kept me in the match. But I don't think it was a serving exhibition by any means.

ANDY RODDICK: It's good to win any time.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. You know, I guess it's just, like I said, I was pretty lucky today.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I can't remember winning a point on a lob, so (smiling).

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. Maybe Wednesday I just wasn't feeling too hot. I'm not sure what it is. I don't know if it's just dehydration catching up to me or, you know, I'm not sure.

ANDY RODDICK: Feeling kind of lousy. I felt worse out there than I did at the end of a five-set match. It's a little weird. Kind of makes you wonder what's going on, but I guess the body works like that sometimes.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: You know, Todd's going to play a solid match, put serves in, make you beat him. He's going to come into the net, try to put pressure on you with his returns. You know, I just kind of have to try to take care of my own serve, pick my spots and try to return well.

ANDY RODDICK: 2-0.

ANDY RODDICK: Hamburg last year.

ANDY RODDICK: I actually had lunch with him right after his match and before mine today. Was that your question or...?

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, no. No, not really. You know, he didn't ask me about anything. I guess he didn't need to.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I think any time you serve breakpoints in a third set it's pretty crucial. I was kind of just somehow trying to fight my way through service games early in the third set. He was in pretty much all of them. And, you know, kind of went from me struggling to hold serve and him holding pretty easily to all of a sudden a complete 180; I break and hold out.

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, he gave me the game when I broke him. I didn't really do much. I put a couple balls in and he double-faulted, missed a short forehand and missed the volley. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say I had much to do with it, you know. I don't know if, you know, I've been in that situation before. I don't know how many times he's played in a big court like that. I don't know if I had anything to do with it. I think only he can answer that. But I'm not going to sit here and say I had much going on.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, it was good. I was not wanting to lose that game. I played two good points at the end, and I don't really know what else to say about today.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I was just trying to find something to grab on to. Lucky for me, I was able to put a couple good points back-to-back in the breaker then serve some big points. I was feeling a little bit better about my prospects after that.

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. We're just going to watch it. I mean, drink lots, make sure I'm eating enough and eating some good foods. I'm going to take it pretty easy tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to kill myself. I'm just going to take it day by day. Hopefully, I'll start getting better.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

ANDY RODDICK: Pretty light and pretty late. Try to get some sleep.

ANDY RODDICK: I was thinking, "I don't want to lose first round at this tournament again."

ANDY RODDICK: No, the rest of the time he had been guessing one way or the other. I figured he was going to guess one way or the other and he stayed put. It wasn't like I was going for him. I was going for, you know, the best shot to play. You know, I didn't want him -- he played a couple points where I'd hit it to one way, he'd guess, kind of poke it, get himself back in the point. I figured if he was going to guess again, I'd take that option away. But he didn't guess.

ANDY RODDICK: Two, three. Two.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, it's cool. I'm glad to see these guys start winning matches pretty consistently. I think I've had faith that they could do it for a long time, and now I think it's actually helping that they're all doing it together. I don't know if it's a confidence thing or, you know, that he's winning or I want to win, or what type of thing it is. But it's nice.

ANDY RODDICK: I mean, I was thinking out there that I haven't really lost a close match this year. The times that I've lost, I just haven't been there. When it got tight, I thought, "You've been through this a couple times this year." I think I am learning how to win matches. That being said, it's not like I stepped it up in big times today, I think I just got lucky. I think there's a fine line between the two, and I think luck was on my side today.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

ANDY RODDICK: I couldn't even do normal things out there today (laughing). Try to do something extraordinary? No.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, tired.

ANDY RODDICK: No, but thanks for bringing up that option. I appreciate it. That's about enough out of you, all right.

ANDY RODDICK: No.