TMS - THE ERICSSON OPEN

March 21, 2001

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: First question for Andy, please.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. That helps. I played a match in Delray where the wind was much worse than this and I didn't handle it well that day so I was happy to come out here and, you know, handle it a little bit better today.

ANDY RODDICK: Crandon Park is probably one of my favorite places to play. I've played here since I was 13, 14 years old. I've probably played the most matches here of any place in the world. So it's great to come down here and play.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I really don't pay attention to that too much. As long as I know where my friends and family are, that's pretty much all that matters to me.

ANDY RODDICK: When I stop and think about it, it's kind of amusing to me. You know, I was in the nosebleeds two years ago, now have I've won a match two years in a row here. So it feels good, though, I mean to actually be doing it instead of watching it these days. It's a good feeling.

ANDY RODDICK: No, he'd call me in advance and say are you here from such and such a time in Boca. I'd say yeah. We'd just hit. It was great. I love practicing with him. Every time I practice with him I go and do well the next week. He just raises my level. So I enjoy it very much.

ANDY RODDICK: No. I haven't really at all. You know, I'm the same person that I always have been. I think I owe it to -- a lot to my family. They kind of keep me grounded and, you know, we have a very close relationship. So they help me through it a lot.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, the way I figure it is, you know, lots of people play lots of weeks but they don't pull their all into it. I like to feel like if I go into a tournament then I like to have everything there. I like to, you know, I didn't think I was playing well, so I had a good week of practice and sometimes the circumstances call for that, you know, chilling out for a week and really getting your game together before you come to a tournament again. You know, I'm probably going to continue doing that. You won't see me playing six, seven, eight weeks in a row. It's just not going to happen. Maybe in the future but not any time soon.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't think I was in the final, probably couldn't get tickets. I've come to this tournament every year since I was probably ten years old. I've seen a lot of matches here.

ANDY RODDICK: None. People pay way more attention to it than I actually do. You know, I really don't pay attention to it at all. I kind of just focus on tennis. When you start, you know, believing you're something special and that you've made it, then things stop happening. I just want to stay hungry and keep progressing.

ANDY RODDICK: I have one goal right now, which is to try to get in the main draw at the French Open, and once I do that, then I'll probably set another one.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean my brother's an assistant coach out of college. Whenever I go up and visit him, I hang out with the team, do that sort of thing. I'm always in contact with my friends at college. I've visited them. So yeah, I've done that.

ANDY RODDICK: No. Not really. I have friends at home and I have friends that go to college in my hometown, so I know all the, you know, kids at college there. So it's kind of like my substitute place. But, no, I mean I feel like I'm gaining a lot as opposed to losing something.

ANDY RODDICK: A lot. Lots of guys can hit hard serves but I'm trying to learn how to pick my spots to jack it up and use slice and use kick. I think that kind of helped me through my match today a little bit.

ANDY RODDICK: I was watching him. I was watching it on TV. I'm looking forward to it, you know, he's always been a top player - unbelievably talented. I'm going to try to go out firing and we'll see what happens.