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THE ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPSJune 16, 2007Andy RoddickLONDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy. Q. A little bit easier than your last two matches against him. ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I thought I played a lot better today pretty consistently. I was making returns; wasn't making a lot of sloppy errors. So I was pleased. Q. Fourth final. How important is it? ANDY RODDICK: It's very important. This is kind of where I've been lucky enough to kind of salvage my season a couple times after some dodgey clay court play. It's always nice to come here. I'd love to win a fourth one. Q. If there is an aspect of your game you're not happy with, what would it be? ANDY RODDICK: Today I was pretty happy with most everything. You know, I feel like if I continue to kind of play that way, I have a good shot tomorrow. Q. You mentioned struggling a bit with concentration yesterday. That didn't appear to be a problem today. ANDY RODDICK: No, I was a lot better with that. Q. Do you get to expect rain delays when you're here? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, sure. That's part of it. It shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. If you can look at a forecast, it's not shocking. Shouldn't be too much of a surprise. You just kind of have to expect it, be kind of quasi ready to go at all times. Q. The grass here at Queen's, how does it compare with the grass at Wimbledon? ANDY RODDICK: It might be a little bit quicker. Q. Here? ANDY RODDICK: Here, it might be a little bit quicker than at Wimbledon. They do an unreal job with that Centre Court here. Q. Mahut in the final. How do you feel about that? ANDY RODDICK: It's going to be tough. I mean, he's kind of been, from what I've seen, going for broke on first and second serves, playing a little bit kamikaze. He's been coming in, any ball he gets he's been taking a swing at and charging. He's kind of playing a little bit without a conscience right now. If you want to mention to him he should think a little bit tomorrow, that would be nice of you. Q. Are you surprised to see him in the final, beating Nadal, Ljubicic, proven players? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, you're surprised. I thought he had a pretty good shot during the match today. Did I expect him to beat Ljubicic and Nadal in the same day in straight sets? Probably not. I don't know if I would have picked him before the tournament. But that being said, he's earned a spot. No one's given him anything. He's come through a very, very tough draw. He's probably had the toughest draw in the tournament so far. You know, he's definitely a deserving finalist. Q. Is this just the preparation you wanted when you left Paris, come on the grass early, get five matches? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, sure. I mean, that's how you write it up, especially after not playing too much over the last three months or so. If you could write it up, you'd want to be playing a lot of matches and playing for a title before Wimbledon. You know, so far so good. One match would make it better. Q. How much has Jimmy Connors added to your game? ANDY RODDICK: We almost made it through a press conference. We were close (laughter). Jimmy's been great for my game. He's been instrumental. It's great 'cause he's been there before. It's nice to have someone to relate to. We have a real good time together. (All said with a broken-record monotonous tone.) Q. You have that top speed record of 155 for the serve. Do you ever go out there thinking, I'm going to try to beat that today? ANDY RODDICK: No. To be honest, I think me breaking that record is in the past. It goes down a mile or two every year. I haven't gotten 150 this year for the first time in a couple years. It's not something I really think about. You know, it's a nice little kind of fun fact. There are other things that I'm probably a lot more proud of than hitting one hard serve. Q. Still hitting it faster and harder than anyone else. ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, you know, it's nice to be able to hit it big. But I think more importantly, I'm hitting my spots this week. My first-serve percentage is where I wanted it to be. It's been up close to 70 almost the whole week. That's a lot more telling than a radar gun to me. Q. And your confidence in general from when you first started this week to where you are? ANDY RODDICK: I started off well this week. It was kind of the middle two that weren't the best. I feel confident. Q. You mentioned yesterday about having lost three times to Roger at Wimbledon in the final weekend. Is it harder to believe each time you go back after having lost to him? ANDY RODDICK: No. I mean, what's done is done. There's nothing that can be done about it now. The only way it's ever going to happen is if you keep giving yourself opportunities. That's my mindset going into it. Q. What parts of your game do you think you've improved from last year? ANDY RODDICK: Well, last year I was playing pretty ordinary through the first six months of the season. I think I'm doing everything a lot better than I was from January through Wimbledon, then I kind of started playing a little bit better after that. First six months of last year is pretty forgettable. Q. Do you see or think you see any signs of Federer being less of a player than he was at last year's Wimbledon? ANDY RODDICK: No. I mean, no. I think it's ridiculous that he has to face questions like that when he goes and makes finals and won in Hamburg on his least favorite surface. I think that's a little ridiculous. I mean, he's been in the final of one Grand Slam this year. I think he won the other one without dropping a set. If that makes someone less of a player, I'd like to know where to sign up for that. Q. Not playing Halle you don't think will make any difference to him? ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. I think I was surprised as anybody. I promise you, if I would have maybe done something four times and it would have resulted in four Wimbledon titles, I might have done it again. But that being said, the one thing we're not privy to is how his body's feeling. He's the only one who knows how he feels. Roger is a smart guy. He's not going to jeopardize his Wimbledon over something minor, I don't feel. End of FastScripts |
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