TMS - THE ERICSSON OPEN

March 27, 2001

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: First question for Andy, please.

ANDY RODDICK: To get through my next match is the first and foremost. After this tournament, I'll think about the next goal.

ANDY RODDICK: He came after the rain delay and kind of told me to get my head together a little bit and to calm down and, you know, he gave me some good advice.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. He just told me kind of what to do on a big point, and I did it in the first set and surprisingly - not surprisingly - it worked.

ANDY RODDICK: He said, "Don't be afraid to hit the kick serve on the first serve to throw in a mix up." I did that on set point and got a pretty short reply.

ANDY RODDICK: Start again.

ANDY RODDICK: No pun intended, but I bricked a couple volleys there, and I didn't think he would expect it. I knew he was going to try to make me play because I had been missing a little bit. So I decided I, you know, I'm always going to go for it. So I decided that was the right play.

ANDY RODDICK: I think so. I don't think he was expecting it. He chipped a return. He wasn't going for a return. I think it worked out all right.

ANDY RODDICK: I was. All of yesterday I couldn't get my mind off the match because it was such an emotional high for me. Then I finally, you know, I told myself I had to focus. At about five o'clock yesterday I didn't see another person the rest of the day. I just kind of stayed away from everything to get focused. Every person I talked to wanted to talk about the last match. So I had to kind of refocus and get on it.

ANDY RODDICK: I did -- I went on-line about 18,000 times, twiddled my thumbs, watched a movie, then watched a little basketball and went to bed.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm staying here.

ANDY RODDICK: Yes and no. I mean, I knew that I could do something like this. You know, I wasn't sure it was going to happen this tournament, but, you know, I worked hard and I was fit and mentally ready coming into this tournament, so good things happen when you have good preparation.

ANDY RODDICK: He's the man. He's just great. I appreciate everything from him, and I mean, I can't express that enough. I mean, to have someone, you know, who's one of the greatest champions of all time try to help you out and really want to help you out, it's just great.

ANDY RODDICK: Was I what?

ANDY RODDICK: Like I said before, nothing he does surprises me. You know, he's such a great guy, not just to me, but with his charities and, you know, he has good motives. So, you know, I was surprised at first when he was so nice to me, but I mean, he doesn't surprise me anymore.

ANDY RODDICK: No. I just didn't make first serves, and when you don't make first serves on the second serve it's anyone's battle. Once he puts one ball into play, it's a neutral game. So I think that, you know, the last couple matches I've been serving 60s and even against Sampras I served over 70 percent. Today I served like 45 or something. That's a big dropoff. That's probably one of the reasons, once they get a groove on the second serve, then it's time to battle.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, it jumps on this court. I came down here and practiced before qualies even started last week. It was jumping a little bit.

ANDY RODDICK: I didn't know that. It's kind of cool. You know, there have been so many great players through here, so it's surprising but it's -- it's nice.

ANDY RODDICK: Tarik has taken me from a junior who's struggling to win matches and ITFs to here. I love him to death. You know, he's my best friend, he's my coach. He means so much to me. He's part of our family now. He's -- I owe, you know, all of my success to him.

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, it was great. I was probably a little bit excessive with my celebrating, which, you know, I'll have to control from now on. I was just so excited. To hear someone come up in a roar like that, it gets inside of you.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm not going in to overpower; I'm going in to play my game. They're both great players. They're going to make me earn a match if I play them. I've played Santoro before, he's a really good player. I've practiced with him. He's playing really well right now. Lleyton, he's obviously solid semifinals every week. I really look up to him because of what he's done at a young age. I haven't done anything compared to him.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

ANDY RODDICK: He was mixing it up on me pretty good. We had a pretty good battle, three sets.

ANDY RODDICK: He hit some great returns, especially when he broke me a couple times in the first set. He wasn't just hitting them, if he couldn't reach it, he was, you know, slicing them up the line or putting them where I wasn't. I was impressed with his returns. He was hitting them well.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, for sure. I mean everybody knows that you need more than one shot to be a tennis player. Today, my serve wasn't on, but I battled, you know, I fought and I competed and that's probably why I got a win.

ANDY RODDICK: No. Actually, I just asked him if he would play with me in Delray Beach because I heard he wasn't playing with Stark that week, and, you know, he said, "Sure." So we just kind of played.

ANDY RODDICK: I know we're both available. Maybe we could play a couple more times, but he's committed this year to someone else. But hopefully in the future we'll get to play a lot more together.

ANDY RODDICK: I wasn't really upset with that shot. He had hit a winner off a 120 serve slicing this way into the body. So I wasn't really upset with that. I was upset with a couple of balls I had missed before that to set up. All it takes is one good shot when you know you've already given him three. That's what I was more upset with.

ANDY RODDICK: It didn't take me too long. I played a pretty decent game at 5-all. He played decent shots, I got up Love-30. He just played a good game, then I got it back the next game and fought off a break point. I thought that was pretty good.

ANDY RODDICK: I did. I just went out and saw them.

ANDY RODDICK: They were happy.

ANDY RODDICK: Not this time. She's becoming emotionally -- she's a rock. (Laughing.)

ANDY RODDICK: He said, "Good job."

ANDY RODDICK: It's not gonna happen probably. But, no, he just said, "I'm proud of you," and, "Good job."

ANDY RODDICK: He said way to battle, way to go out there after a disappointing -- you blew a couple chances in the first set, way to come back and have high energy off the bat. He just said good job.