THE STELLA ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 12, 2005

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

ANDY RODDICK: Thanks.

ANDY RODDICK: It feels good. I never would have predicted it three years ago, that's for sure, you know. But I'm happy, and I'm even happier that I got some good preparation going into Wimbledon.

ANDY RODDICK: Yes, and more so. I mean, there were a couple times I guessed the right way and was fully extended, like diving to that side, and still missed it by about two feet. I don't know if -- it's not so much the pace or the spin, it's just, you know, he hit a couple aces out wide on the ad side that were a quarter of the way up the service box and going this way. And when you make contact with them, it's above your head, you know. So it's not like something that I've seen before.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah or, you know...

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, you know, it could be worse, you know. I feel pretty comfortable on the grass, and I'm looking forward to Wimbledon.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, no, that's good. I think that, you know, that can only help, the fact that I've played a couple serve-and-volleyers, I've played a couple guys who are a little craftier, some guys who are a little bit in between. So, you know, I think it's good that I've seen a lot of different looks this week.

ANDY RODDICK: It's improved a lot. When I won the first time here, before that, I hadn't really had any really great results on grass and I hadn't played well on it before. And, you know, here, two years, three years later, you know, it's probably up there with my favorite surfaces. So, you know, it's been a complete 180.

ANDY RODDICK: I think it's just getting used to it and I think, you know, confidence. You know, if you're confident, you feel like you can play on anything. Obviously, I've had good results here the last couple years and it's become a lot more of a comfortable surface for me.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, it's tough. I mean, like you said, I think it's going to be a bit of a toss-up. I mean, you know, Lleyton's won Wimbledon before so, obviously, that's what he has going for him. Obviously, you know, I have winning here and doing well the last couple years on grass. So, you know, either way, I don't think either one of us can be too upset. But if it is a toss-up, he has the No. 2 ranking so, you know, maybe he has a little bit of an edge there.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know if I think that far ahead in a tournament. I don't know if I'm good enough to think that far ahead to, you know, "Okay, I'm going to play him in the semi." There's a lot of matches before that happens. Common knowledge is you're going to have to beat the best players somewhere along the way. So, you know, I think within the way we think, you know, a couple of the top guys, is we've won a Slam before and we've gotten further -- we've gotten far in a Slam so we're looking at trying to win them. And, you know, if that's going to be done, then you're going to have to beat the in-form players and the top players somewhere along the line.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, for sure. I feel really good at the moment.

ANDY RODDICK: How so?

ANDY RODDICK: I don't think so. I think -- I mean, I think French Open and Wimbledon are the two where you're going to get the most varying results because you have specialists, guys who, you know, wait all year for that surface. You know, but I don't see it being any more farfetched than anything. I mean, I think if you're playing good tennis going in, then obviously you help your chances. You know, I don't think it's just a flip of the coin; I think there's a lot of -- you know, I'd like to rate my chances a little better than a lot of people in the draw just based on how I'm playing right now and the preparation going in. I don't think it's so much of a, you know, coin flip or lottery type thing.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm not sure. We haven't talked about it yet.

ANDY RODDICK: No.

ANDY RODDICK: Yep, I think the first finals I remember are the Becker and Edberg ones. We used to make kind of a tradition out of it in our family. They'd call it "Breakfast at Wimbledon." You'd wake up, mom would cook breakfast, and you'd kind of watch the matches. My favorite one when I was younger was when Andre won in '92. We watched the whole thing and kind of have followed it ever since.