PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 11, 2003

Andy Roddick

MODERATOR: Questions for Andy.

ANDY RODDICK: I did tonight after I hit the big one. The ball was flying. It actually surprised me a little bit. I heard that I guess the thin air helps serving here a little bit. I didn't feel like my arm was totally alive tonight and it was still getting up there pretty high. I use it a lot early to kind of gauge my serves. If I'm hitting my wide serve buck 13, buck 14 on the deuce side, I know it's kind of hard to return. I kind of use it as a gauge.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

ANDY RODDICK: It's nice. I hadn't been out to Stadium Court to watch or play or practice or anything. I went out there, it's pretty big. It still has a pretty intimate environment. I think the crowd support was really good tonight.

ANDY RODDICK: I didn't say on Stadium Court, just at this tournament in general. I think the air is pretty thin as opposed to coming from the heavy humidity of Florida.

ANDY RODDICK: Yes.

ANDY RODDICK: It's good.

ANDY RODDICK: It's a little swollen (laughter). We're going to try to get that down tonight (pointing to a golf ball stuck inside his sock). I'm okay to play tomorrow. I think that's one of my tendons or a couple rolled up (laughter). It's killing me.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm not going to comment further on that one. I don't know if it's possible to sprain a groin, so I'm okay.

ANDY RODDICK: The last game?

ANDY RODDICK: I think I did a decent job of that all night. It's tough to play aggressive all the time against a guy like Thomas, who is pretty much cranking out on every shot. You have to mix it up and pick your spots. I think I did a pretty decent job of that tonight.

ANDY RODDICK: Would I like to? ? It's not a goal of mine. If it happens, that's pretty cool, I guess.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I've never played him. I've never practiced with him. Big lefty, big serve, pretty big forehand. You can pretty much count on the Spanish guys having pretty good feel around the court. He's been coming along in the last year or so. I think it will be a pretty good match. I'm going to have to play well.

ANDY RODDICK: It feels pretty similar, to be honest. The stadium's kind of a similar color, kind of a similar -- it's built similarly, it feels like from the court. There's a lot of similarities.

ANDY RODDICK: Is that fact?

ANDY RODDICK: They're drinking O'Douls?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I have. You know, I've been asked about it a bunch since then. You know, when I got back from Australia, I was pretty excited to watch it. I watched it from about 8-All. It took me about five hours to watch the rest of it from there (smiling). I was proud when I watched it. I think we both played very well. It was exceptional. I thought when I was out there that it was pretty good tennis, but you never really know until you watch it back. You're too busy focusing on the next point.

ANDY RODDICK: Probably. I watch it and I still cringe at it thinking I'm going to miss it half the time.

ANDY RODDICK: No. Because Younes is a player, you know, if you give him time, he's going to crank. If I was going to lose a match after being out there for that long, I wanted to lose it kind of on my terms. I can live with going for a shot and missing it, rather than saying I pulled up on it and didn't hit it as well as I wanted, and he cranked on it.

ANDY RODDICK: I have no idea. I think we had talked to each other across the net a couple times throughout the match, kind of traded smiles. You know, I think that was more along the lines of it hadn't affected anything up to that point. It's not like he was stalling. He went along with it and handed his racquet to the kid, as well. If it did, it wasn't intentional. I think we both know that. I think it's pretty insignificant.

ANDY RODDICK: I lost to him in Stuttgart 2001.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: I mean, if I am, there's not much I can do about it. I've done about as much as I can as far as fitness in the off-season. I have a full-time trainer with me. There are some things that you just don't really have control over. I can't change the way I play; I've been doing it for too long. That's pretty much the way it is. I'm doing everything I can.

ANDY RODDICK: No, it's because I was hitting like crap. We were playing fetch. I would hit it, they would bring it back (smiling).

ANDY RODDICK: No, I actually haven't. I meant to give him a call. I feel bad for the players. I probably shouldn't go on about this. I was watching one of the sports shows today. One of them made a decent point. All the innocent parties involved, the kids, why not take an assistant coach from the women's team and let them play, let them play. They played the toughest schedule out of any team in the country, but they're still there. They deserve to play. I mean, if some people made some bone-head moves, it shouldn't be taken out on the innocent people.

ANDY RODDICK: I mean, it's a double-edged sword, I think. I don't know. I'm lucky that's not my call. I'm going to do whatever I can. I'll play singles, I'll play doubles, I'll do whatever. At the end of the day, I'm not the captain. I can just worry about what I can do to help the team.

ANDY RODDICK: Maybe if you get that far. Right now it's insignificant because I wouldn't be playing Andre in the second round.

ANDY RODDICK: No. I hope he comes back maybe to have a proper farewell. I don't know. I don't want him coming back just so I can try to beat him, if that's the question. If he does come back and I play him, I'd want to beat him. No, that thought hasn't crossed my mind before.

ANDY RODDICK: I mean, I can just speak on tonight. I mean, I can't speak of whatever. There's definitely a lot of crowd support there for me, and it was nice. I think maybe they realize there's not a lot of Americans in this tournament, with Pete and Andre and Chang gone, Todd gone. They need to cheer so we have some people hanging out later in the week.

ANDY RODDICK: I think there is a very legitimate case for it. Once again, it's not my call.

ANDY RODDICK: Kentucky.