WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2005

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: Andy Roddick. Questions, please.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I wanted to get into the net. I don't know if I was thinking so much about finesse up there. But a lot of times that's the shot he gives you because he hits his passing shots, and they dip below the level of the net, so it's tough to get, you know, much stick on 'em. But it was definitely part of my plan to try to get into the net a little bit today.

ANDY RODDICK: You know, I wasn't going to change everything. I think you kind of have to feel that out. The first set he was a little off. He was missing from the baseline, kind of was spraying balls. I stayed back a little bit more. Then he kind of got grooved in a little bit more. That's when you have to kind of try to put the pressure on a little bit more. I was able to do that today.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm playing fine. You know, I'm still alive. I'm in the quarters. You know, I feel like I'm hitting the ball pretty well. I got through a couple tough situations today. You know, I feel good. I'm still alive, so that's good.

ANDY RODDICK: Good. You know, I think the biggest stat today was he only won something like 30% of his second serve points, which means that I was, you know, hitting my returns, putting pressure on him on his serve, and playing good return games. That's eventually kind of what won the match for me. And getting in. You know, I think something over 70% on net points won today. You know, those two stats are pretty telling from what I talked about the other day.

ANDY RODDICK: You know, with grass, I'm able to kind of come over and click in right away, at least the last couple years. I hope it stays that way. You know, I've played a lot of matches already on this surface, in this kind of grass court run here. I'm not worried about comfort level on the surface right now.

ANDY RODDICK: It looks like Sebastien's up a couple sets to one right now. But, you know, Seb, you know, he's getting through every week on grass. You know, I think he's only lost to me and Roger the last couple years on grass. Actually, yeah, Flip also. But, you know, he's proven that he's one of the top five grass courters in the world. That's definitely tough to deal with. But, you know, I feel like I'm playing pretty well. I feel confident.

ANDY RODDICK: We actually practice together a lot on the road. We're pretty friendly. He's been a pretty good friend since I've been on tour. We normally practice at tournaments a bunch. We haven't had a lot of downtime in Boca.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

ANDY RODDICK: It's practice, so it's irrelevant. You know, we've played a couple times in the last couple months in non-practice situations.

ANDY RODDICK: "Balls-out sets?" I keep my balls in. No, I think we have a good time. I mean, obviously it's tough when you're competing every day to try to rip each other's heads off in practice, as well. But, you know, practice is practice. It's a different thing when you got people and something on the line.

ANDY RODDICK: Every place I go, it's the first time they've ever seen it. I've been watching that thing for a year now.

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. Just the question, "Did you really get hit in the head with the trophy?" It's great. Every six months I get a new person, "Did you really get hit in the head?" "No."

ANDY RODDICK: I have?

ANDY RODDICK: It's tough to choose one. I mean, there's constantly. I think one of the funniest things was our -- when we were coming back from Spain, our Davis Cup stringer had been out the night before, and we had an early flight. So he came to the airport, and I think he was still feeling pretty good about himself. He's sitting there in the lobby, kind of in the lobby, waiting to go in line. He's got his laptop on just cranking music and kind of dancing. People are looking at him like this. We have a team of probably 15 people in line. We were just -- we couldn't stop laughing. He'd look at us and just start laughing. I guess you had to be there. I promise, it was funny.

ANDY RODDICK: A head-to-toe inspection?

ANDY RODDICK: What are you? I didn't do it, dude! .

ANDY RODDICK: Really? No, I'm less suspicious looking.

ANDY RODDICK: It's in the back of my mind. You know, it's obviously something that I think about and dream about. But it's close, but it's far, if that makes sense. I mean, you can't concern yourself with it because there's a lot of -- you know, I'm not good enough to overlook the next two matches and look ahead. So I have to get through these first.

ANDY RODDICK: I think I just give honest answers. You know, I'm looking at -- I don't know. I just come in and whatever pops into my head, I say. I'm not really thinking about what programmed answers I'm going to come in with. I get to laugh at some of your questions, too, you know. I get your (indiscernible) and all the fun stuff.

ANDY RODDICK: I think you'd be surprised. I think the majority of players can appreciate it. You know, there's no event like it. If I have friends that have come over, they've been here for the first time, they walk through, and they're just like, "This is an event." It's not only a tennis tournament; it's a place to go; it's the place to be. You drive home, you see the people queuing. You see the vines on the wall. They've upheld traditions. They have such a great blend of kind of old and new traditions. It's a special place.

ANDY RODDICK: I can't walk around much any more.

ANDY RODDICK: No, actually one of my favorite things is when we get here for the practice week, the first walk, when you walk in the door, there's nobody here, so you can walk around the grounds. The first walk from our locker room across the venue to Aorangi. That's always fun. You kind of get the feel for it. You're excited to be back. You can kind of feel Wimbledon inside of you. It's a cool tournament. It's a great event to be a part of.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

ANDY RODDICK: They're nice. They water their plants at about 8:30 every morning (laughter). No, it is cool. In all seriousness, it's nice to be kind of be able to walk out, walk to dinner, walk to the different restaurants. You're kind of mingling with the people who came to watch that day. You see everybody you know walking. It's cool. It's not like any other event. In New York, we're staying 40 minutes away in Manhattan. You know, in Paris, you're driving in and out of streets. I never know where I am there. It's different. It's kind of cozy. You rent a house, and it becomes familiar to you.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know if I put much stock in it. I put more into service games held. You know, percentages more so than aces. You know, a lot of guys are going to hit aces. But that's not the most important stat to me.

ANDY RODDICK: No, I have not. I haven't been yet.

ANDY RODDICK: That's a loaded question. I have not been this year - yet.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know if I'll ever be satisfied, you know. I think with as great as Roger played last year, he still probably wasn't satisfied with his year. You know, I feel like there's progress being made. You know, that's all you can do, is work hard. It feels good when I come out of matches like today, or the fifth set against Bracciali, where I applied them, where you've kind of applied when you've worked on, and it comes up good for you. That's a good feeling. That kind of keeps you going, keeps you in the right frame of mind.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm entered right now.

ANDY RODDICK: Not since '02.

ANDY RODDICK: (Nodding head.)