US OPEN

September 6, 2003

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm just gonna have to deal with the cards that I've been dealt. I'm gonna have to accept the cards that I'm dealt. I'm just gonna do everything I can - get massage, get a lot of good food, hydrate myself, and come out. I have one more match to go; I don't have to play an entire tournament. I have one match to go. That's the way I'm looking at it.

ANDY RODDICK: I hope so. I mean, obviously it's giant because it gives me an opportunity to win a Grand Slam title. You know, I definitely would have preferred to be out in three, but that's the way I had to do it today.

ANDY RODDICK: It was obviously the third-set tiebreaker. You know, I was down a matchpoint. And, you know, to kind of come through that gave me a little bit of new life.

ANDY RODDICK: Surprisingly, no. I mean, I think at that point I was pretty much almost down-and-out anyway, so I didn't really have much pressure on me. I just decided to kind of go for it.

ANDY RODDICK: I mean, I think you have to give credit to David. I thought he played super well today. It's not like, you know, it was all me, the reason that I was down two sets. Especially, you know, I had that one game in the first set where I had a bunch of breakpoints and I didn't get it. After that I thought he started playing very, very well.

ANDY RODDICK: You know, digging deep hasn't been my problem before. It's been -- you know, probably if this would have happened a year ago, I probably would have freaked out that I was down, gotten upset. I tried to keep it pretty even keel. I think that's what it's brought, you know, like a moment -- it's brought a little bit of calmness.

ANDY RODDICK: What was I telling myself?

ANDY RODDICK: I was like, "Keep playing." I'm not saying, "Oh, you have to come back. You have to come back." I was just like, "Let's keep playing. Let's keep trying to win every game that you're participating in." There's nothing really secret about it. I just kept trying.

ANDY RODDICK: Backhand.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: I didn't see him.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, I'd say he did a hell of a job playing with it. If he's hurt, he's hurt. You know, I thought he played a great match, you know, for someone that was healthy. So if he was hurt, that's even a more amazing effort from him.

ANDY RODDICK: When did I do that?

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, yeah. Thanks for the reminder. The one that I -- I mean, I think there were -- especially in the first-set tiebreaker, there were close calls. I think he made the right calls, but I wanted him to make sure. I wasn't complaining just to complain. You know, that was a big call, that they did miss. I mean, it's tough to expect them to overrule that one, that second serve that I hit. You know, I'm pretty confident that it was good. You know, I don't know. Maybe I was just trying to vent frustration. Too bad for him.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I didn't notice that there were new balls in the fourth set. The umpire, I don't know if the umpire said new balls; neither one of us knew, neither one of us heard him. I saw him kind of hold the balls up after the game that I served, which was the first game with new balls. I thought he was going, asking the umpire, "Are these new balls," like we were starting from his service game. Did you get that?

ANDY RODDICK: Okay. Then I kind of asked. The umpire told me, "No, you just served with them for the first time." I said, "Well, it was nice of you to tell me. I didn't really know." Then he kind of gave me like the thumbs-up. I didn't mean to deceive him or anything like that - maybe he just felt I did; I'm not sure. It was just too bad. It was my mistake. I should have noticed, but I didn't.

ANDY RODDICK: Define a "freak-out." I definitely didn't freak out. I've been much worse.

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, okay. I thought we were still talking about the "step up."

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. Just maturity. Just playing. You play and you learn. You know, I feel confident right now, so I didn't feel like there was need to panic. I definitely wasn't feeling good about my prospects, but I didn't think it was 100 percent over. I just tried to play it point for point and not really worry about what had already transpired.

ANDY RODDICK: Huge and huge. To only get broken once by him in five sets after the way he's been breaking people this whole tournament, that's a pretty good effort. You know, I knew that was gonna be key today.

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, we're not just going American tennis anymore, are we? Wow!

ANDY RODDICK: No, normally -- never mind. Sorry, go ahead.

ANDY RODDICK: Indifferent, I guess. You know, I'm just trying to win matches. I'm not really thinking about issues that, you know, other people have or, you know, what I'm being thrust into. I'm not thrusting myself into anything. I can just worry about what I do.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, obviously it's gonna be tough. I thought he played great against Andre today. You know, he's -- he probably doesn't get enough, you know, not respect, but enough play. I mean, people maybe don't realize what a good player he's become. He's won a Grand Slam. I guess he's No. 1 now. So, you know, maybe that's -- a match like today is what he needed for people to take notice. It's gonna be very tough.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, I don't smell a trend. I don't know. I mean, I think there were -- you know, through the first two sets there were a bunch of balls on the line. They were the right calls. It's not like I was given calls on the line. I think that's absurd. I think the umpires do their job, just like we do. You know, obviously people are entitled to their opinion. Maybe he saw things a different way; I don't know. That's not my area.

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. You know, I didn't really think of it like that in terms of Americans and not Americans or whatnot. I was ready to go and try to win a match.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know, man. I'm not smart enough to think about a bunch of things. I'm very simple. You guys are giving me a lot more credit than I probably deserve.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm pumped. I mean, I came here so many times when I was younger. I can't believe I'm actually in a US Open final. You know, that being said, it would be great to go one step further.

ANDY RODDICK: I mean, it's nice. But, you know, if I had the choice to end the tournament No. 1 or win the US Open title, I'd probably pick the US Open title right now.

ANDY RODDICK: Just hanging around, you know.

ANDY RODDICK: Am I late in my career now (laughing)?

ANDY RODDICK: A champion at a major?

ANDY RODDICK: Probably earlier this summer, to be honest. I mean, I always thought that I might have the potential to, but without thinking, "You know what, I'm gonna go in, try to win this major." Juniors, it seemed wickedly farfetched. I was just hoping to be a regular tour professional.

ANDY RODDICK: I think during Wimbledon I was starting to get that feeling, that I was playing well enough to win. Didn't happen. Obviously, with the results this summer, I feel like I can win a major some day.

ANDY RODDICK: Uhm... I'm not really sure. I mean, obviously, I think everybody was super jacked about the -- I think it was the '95 final with Andre and Pete. I think Andre had won 20 matches that summer. Pete was No. 1. They were battling back and forth. So I thought that was a pretty cool story. I was pretty into that.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, absolutely. After the French I kind of took five days and didn't really do much. I was just kind of hanging around. You know, if you would have told me that I was gonna have the results that I've had over the past couple of months, I probably wouldn't have believed you.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: 'Cause nothing against those guys, but it would have hurt a lot, you know. Not to, you know, say I wouldn't watch it because -- I mean, they're awesome players. I wouldn't watch it because I'd be really mad at myself and it wouldn't be fun for me.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. All credit goes to the removal of the visor (smiling).

ANDY RODDICK: It still means something. You know, I still fought back today. But, obviously, I mean, the big thing about today was that, like I said, it gives me the opportunity to win tomorrow. You know, it kept me alive another day.

ANDY RODDICK: It's probably pretty special, you know. I think you always want to do well in your, you know, in your home country. Especially, I mean, I always said if I had to pick a Grand Slam to win, it would be the US Open. So it probably does make it a little more special.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I'm worried about tennis. I'm not worried about CBS.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I'm gonna sleep well.

ANDY RODDICK: I didn't really look at it as a hump too much. I mean, Australia, I didn't think I had much chance going into that semifinal, if I'm honest. Roger just definitely outplayed me in Wimbledon. I really wasn't thinking about that.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Obviously, I had to change things up a little bit because it wasn't working for me too well. You know, I was trying to feel David out a little bit to see where he was physically early on. You know, he responded. I mean, I was super impressed with how he was early on. I mean, he was very alive and very quick. You know, once I realized that, you know, I definitely had to try to step up and do something a little different.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, that or desperation (laughter).

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, probably my coach. I'm probably not gonna do anything, you know, different than what I've been doing thus far.