US OPEN

September 5, 2002

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: First question for Andy, please.

ANDY RODDICK: I got beat by Pete.

ANDY RODDICK: Who's asking the questions? I can't even... Sorry. He played well. I mean, he played a lot better than I did tonight.

ANDY RODDICK: No. You guys say Pete is washed up. I've never said it. I don't think many of the players doubt his capabilities. He's had maybe some subpar performances, but I don't think anybody, you know, doubts the fact that he's capable of great tennis still.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: Look at his record in night matches, you look at the way he plays the US Open. You know, he's come in the last two years, people say, "What if, what if, what if?" But he always backs it up.

ANDY RODDICK: No more than the other night. I mean, I played on it the other night and got a win.

ANDY RODDICK: The first set, I wasn't upset, I didn't play badly. He played well. Second set, I gave him a little bit of a gift, a lot of a gift, in that game. You know, played one sloppy game in the third set and two sloppy games, if someone's playing well, can make you look pretty bad sometimes.

ANDY RODDICK: It almost seemed like, you know, I hit a couple cheesy -- like really not great returns and he missed the ball. Then when I'd hit a -- I don't feel like I returned that badly tonight. I put a bunch at his feet. He was picking them up, putting them in the corners. He was pretty spectacular tonight when he had to be.

ANDY RODDICK: I wouldn't have done anything different as far as preparing for the match.

ANDY RODDICK: It was tough today with the wind a little bit on the second serve. You know, he knew that. He was playing the wind pretty well as far as bunting it and looking for his opportunity to get in. You know, once he got in there, even if I did hit a good passing shot, he was quick and putting away volleys pretty quick. I definitely felt the pressure a little bit when he was coming in on it.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. More so my footwork after the first -- after the serve. You know? I hit a couple backhand passes that clipped the top of the net. Couple I was just lazy standing in the middle of the court and I had no business hitting a backhand on in the first place.

ANDY RODDICK: Despite the beating (laughing)... Thank you for taking it easy on me. Fun? It's always fun for me to play. Disappointing, yes. But it's a learning experience. I mean, it's still a learning experience. I'll try my best to soak it up. You know, I think I'll have my moment here some day. I'm just going to try my best and keep working hard and, you know, try to take something away from these losses, as well as the wins.

ANDY RODDICK: You know, I watched what I should be doing, you know, on big points. I was on the other side of it. You know, how to come in and just really, from the first point to the last point, set the tone for the match. You know, that's something that, you know, I can definitely learn from by being on the other side of it.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. Definitely. I mean, he's a great athlete. There's no doubt about it. He is very graceful and fluid when he plays. That makes it easy on the eyes to watch.

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. You know, I didn't have many chances to get excited. Maybe some of the chances I did have to get excited, it would have been, you know, down two breaks in the second set. I don't really know if, you know, that would have been the time for it or if I could have used it, you know, at that time.

ANDY RODDICK: Obviously not. I haven't gotten one yet.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's... It's funny, if I win a match, it's improving and it's so solid and it's great and it's grand and wonderful. As soon as it -- there's a bad match with it, it's terrible and it sucks and, you know, useless and whatever (laughter). Take your pick. I don't know.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, like I said, I think my footwork was -- I was standing still half the time out there today. I think that had a lot to do with my backhand as opposed to it not being a good shot. It's been , I feel like, you know -- in Wimbledon I hit it like a beginner, like I didn't know how to do anything. Tonight I don't think it was a factor of the backhand; I think it had more to do with footwork. I was a little unlucky. I caught the tape a couple times. But, you know... I don't know. I'm still gonna work on it.

ANDY RODDICK: What he's been saying all along, "I'm not done yet."

ANDY RODDICK: Well, obviously, you know, the crowd support was split, but that's expected going in. I mean, I don't know if Lleyton made a lot of fans here last year - whether that was deserved or not, I'm not sure. The crowd was definitely on my side last year, gung-ho. I don't know if it was the fact that it was an American legend or that it was an American that the crowd wasn't one-sided.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, that game was terrible. I don't know if that -- I don't know what that was. I don't know if composure had anything to do with it. I missed four straight balls and double-faulted. That was just... That was just... Yeah... It was bad.

ANDY RODDICK: No. I didn't play -- I was lucky to be in the situation. I didn't have great returns and he just dumped a couple volleys. I made him play the last one. He snuck one on the back of the line. I wasn't really too upset with it. You can't get upset for not breaking Pete Sampras, you just kind of have to be happy when you do. But that game was really bad.

ANDY RODDICK: I have a lot to build on. That's what keeps me optimistic on downer days, is that I know I'm winning matches. But I have a lot of work to do still. You know, I'm, you know, floating around the Top 10, you know, with a lot of things that I can improve, you know, a lot on - pretty much everything. So, you know, I just have to keep going and keep working.

ANDY RODDICK: You're forgetting about Davis Cup? You don't consider that a big event?

ANDY RODDICK: It was good. I mean, I'm still confident that I'm going to finish Top 10. You know, I don't have much to defend in the fall. That was my main goal for the year. With the exception of this, I didn't play well in Grand Slams, but I played well, you know, throughout -- I played, you know, pretty well throughout the rest of the year. I had times when I played really well. You know, it's -- like I said before, it wasn't an awesome year; it wasn't a great year; but it was a good year.

ANDY RODDICK: Luckily that's not my decision (smiling).

ANDY RODDICK: (Shrugging his shoulders.)

ANDY RODDICK: Well, it's an honor. If you make Masters, that means -- it would show that I did have a pretty good year. Not a lot of players make the Masters. Definitely something I'm still shooting for. I have a couple tournaments left that I can try to sneak into one of the last spots. You know, it would be fun. It would be fun.

ANDY RODDICK: I just said, "Too good," and, "Hope you do well the rest of the way."

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. He played -- this is the best match he's played against me.

ANDY RODDICK: You know what? I really didn't think about that too much, to be honest. I've played him before. You know, we played , I've been around him in the locker rooms and stuff, I've gotten to know him a little bit better this year. So while it's still Pete Sampras, I'm -- I definitely have gotten to know him a little bit and, you know, that wasn't too much of a factor for me I don't think.

ANDY RODDICK: It's disappointing. I mean, it's not fun to be home watching a tournament when you were in it. It's not a good feeling. It's not like I enjoy, you know... I'm not gonna bring out the popcorn and the soda and sit down and watch it probably. I don't know if I'll watch it, but...

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. Yeah. You know, his returns are falling, you know, off the second serve. He was putting them deep. You know, pretty tough to do off my serve, I think.

ANDY RODDICK: It was higher. I mean, it was definitely higher. There's no doubt about it. I don't do percentages or anything, but it was definitely higher.

ANDY RODDICK: Can he?

ANDY RODDICK: He has the ability to, yeah.

ANDY RODDICK: There's so many factors that go into it. I mean, it's not just that -- I think we do have the longest season of any professional sport.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, any time I feel like that, I feel like I'm watching him. I mean, I'm not gonna, you know, dog him or think differently of him just because he hasn't had the best year.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't... Tony was making his presence felt, so, you know, I just questioned a couple times of -- yeah... I mean, I don't know.

ANDY RODDICK: No, it's... Don't worry about it. Not a big deal.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, yeah. You know... Tony and I go back a ways. It's more of a, you know, joking thing than anything else.