TENNIS MASTERS SERIES - ROMA

May 11, 2002

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. I started out a bit slow this week. I'm not really sure why. I'm usually a pretty quick starter. I honestly, you know, I tried something different warming up, trying to get myself going. But, I don't know, just sleeping in the first set. It's tough, you know, you can only go so far when you're spotting guys a set each match.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, probably. I mean, it's not something that I think happens too much (laughing). It's something - not since 8-and-under days or something, I don't know. It's actually pretty shocking.

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. I mean, I was -- in Monte-Carlo, I mean, I just -- I was kind of a fish out of water. It was my first week on clay. You know, I wasn't going in with much confidence against him. Today I felt -- I mean, I mean, I'm just going to talk about the second set, because the first set was pretty much a waste. Second set I started figuring things out a bit. I was hitting my shots a little better. Had a couple break points, and he just came up with pretty big serves every time, you know, right off the lines. There's not much you can do about that. I might have had three games where I had break points and another couple maybe when I was 15-30. And then I had 6-5 me. It comes to, you know, deuce, and he hits a let cord and hits a kind of a short ball, and it skids off the line. That's just -- it's kind of unfortunate. But I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. But, you know, Tommy's playing really well right now. He's not missing any easy shots. He's playing very solid, you know, very clean tennis. And he's serving -- he served very well today.

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, not really. I mean, I think it's going to be a very good final. They're both -- you know, you're not going to see a lot of easy errors. I think it's going to be very, very solid tennis. You know, it's just -- I guess it's just a matter of who's playing better tomorrow.

ANDY RODDICK: No, no. I mean, I'm not going to be discouraged. It's my first semis of a Masters Series and it came on clay, which I didn't think would happen. I'm happy. I mean, you know, I got in some good matches this week. And, you know, just, you know, probably one bad set today cost me. And then, you know, he just came up with the big points in the second set. And, you know, he was too good today.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm not a big soccer fan. It's not the, you know, biggest sport in America. If you ask me who's going to win the NBA Championship, I might be able to talk a little bit more. But, you know, I'll follow for sure. I was over here in '98 when the World Cup was going on, and I got very interested in it. But, you know, I'm not going to sit here and say I followed it, you know, from then until now.

ANDY RODDICK: Program now... Try to get to Hamburg. I don't think we have a flight out until Monday morning, so maybe I'll get to see some stuff in Rome that I didn't get to see, you know, last Sunday.

ANDY RODDICK: Weekend after I have Dusseldorf, World Team Championships.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't think so.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I don't think -- I think I need that on clay. I'm not the type of person who's going to come in and play two clay court events and start playing well. I mean, it took me, you know, a week of practice in Monte-Carlo and straightaway after Davis Cup and then, you know, I still was a disaster there. Then, you know, another, you know, couple of days of practicing before Houston before I really started going. It's something I need to get on clay. It's not a natural surface for me. So I feel like it's more of a necessity. Whereas, Wimbledon I'll play one lead-up event because I feel I can adjust to the grass a little bit easier.