THE STELLA ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 10, 2005

Andy Roddick

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, it feels good. You know, Seb's had really, really good results on the grass the last couple years, so, you know, I think it was a tough draw for both of us. And, you know, I'm just excited to be through and, you know, excited that my preparation's gone well for Wimbledon.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, well, I felt like I had a little bit of momentum, and then he played a pretty good game to break me and put a lot of returns in off my first serve. I was kind of playing catch-up there in the second set, but I actually feel I hit the ball better in the second set than the first.

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know if I consider him a clay court player, but one of the things is, is he plays balls low very well. He has a very effective slice. When he does -- when he is aggressive on his forehand, it's very flat and so it goes through the court very well and it kind of skips through. He returns well. He passes well. So, I mean, if you think about it, it's actually, you know, a good combination for the grass.

ANDY RODDICK: Not so much. I'd say the wind was a little bit -- made things a little bit more difficult than the last couple of days. But we haven't had rain, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. It's a good thing.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, three matches, you just want -- you want to be alive still. The whole thing before Wimbledon is just getting matches in and, you know, trying to get through and win some matches. That's kind of what I've done so far. So, yeah, I'm excited. I want to try to get to another final.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, obviously, I think Federer, he hasn't lost a match on grass in two years. You know, Lleyton's track record is very good on grass, as well as Tim. And Sebastien over the last couple of years has played really well.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, Gasquet's played great this week. I mean, beating Ancic was pretty impressive. I'll be interested to see how Nadal plays on grass. I don't know if it's going to be the surface that most suits his game, but, you know, he's made it very clear early on that you can't underestimate him. I think that's a question mark. I don't know if anybody knows how he'll fare for sure, but it will be interesting to watch. You know, one thing about him is he'll compete. You know, he'll come out and he won't have a kind of attitude of going through the motions just because it's not his favorite surface.

ANDY RODDICK: Well, it's that and then it's, "Oh, crap, we got another one to deal with." No, but I think he's great for the game because he's got, you know -- on top of what he brings to the table on the court, he's got some style, you know, he seems to be pretty accessible. That's what we need. We're an individual kind of star-run sport. That's what people pay attention to. If we can get another one -- and he's getting attention in America as well and kind of everywhere, so that's big, you know. If we can have guys that help promote the sport and people view it in a positive way and talk about it, then, you know, that's all good.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I just saw the third set yesterday. That was a little -- I don't know if that was what you'd want to watch to get a true read on someone. Obviously, he was having physical problems. And it was just really weird, if I'm honest (smiling). You know, I don't know. I think one of the most impressive things was he didn't seem intimidated by the situation, and he didn't try to overplay. You know, a lot of times you see these young kids come up and they'll try to swing from the heels and kind of get away from what got them there. He played steady throughout the whole match and, you know, it will be interesting. Obviously, he's going to have some people start talking about him, and that's another factor to deal with. But, you know, he seems like he's going on the right track, so who knows.

ANDY RODDICK: Is it weird?

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know, 'cause I don't know if they're saying he might... who knows? They could be comparing...(laughing), "He might be a little nuts like Andy." Depends. If they're making good comparisons, I guess so. It's been kind of weird that -- I guess I'm on enough now, you know, I've been on tour now for five, six years, and that's kind of weird for me, they're talking about the "younger generation" and asking questions about that. I was like, "No, I thought I was that." But I guess I'm not anymore. That's a little weird, but, you know, I guess it happens. You know, it's generational, this game.

ANDY RODDICK: I'm excited. I think Stepanek is up a break in the third right now. He's not real flashy, but he just -- the meat and potatoes of his game is very solid. I don't know if he makes stupid errors. I think he serve and volleys a lot. He hits flat. I'm sure that's pretty effective on this stuff.

ANDY RODDICK: No. I just stay here, try to get a bunch of practices in at Wimbledon. I know there are a couple of exhibitions that, you know, I could play at, but that would depend on the next couple of days and how I'm feeling next week. But typically before Wimbledon I kind of just stay around the Wimbledon area and try to get a bunch of practices in there and a bunch of practice sets in.