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THE ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPSJune 17, 2007Andy RoddickLONDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy. Q. Has Jimmy responded to your on-court suggestion? ANDY RODDICK: No. He doesn't need to. He could give me some back and then some. But that's one of the rare times I'll actually be able to give him some stick, so I couldn't pass it up. Q. Tough to get on top of, wasn't he? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I don't know if I was on top up until maybe 3-0 in the breaker. I felt like I returned pretty well. That was just a volleying display I felt like he put on there today. I was lucky to get out of there. Q. Do you think he'll do a bit of damage at Wimbledon? ANDY RODDICK: Sure. If he plays like that, he's as good as anybody on grass. I mean, I was just hanging on the whole time and then was able to play a good tiebreaker. Q. Do you have some sympathy that he has to head off to Roehampton for the qualifying after this week? ANDY RODDICK: Well, I guarantee if you would have given him the option at the beginning of the week, he probably of would have taken the scenario. That being said, it's probably going to be a tough match. It's probably going to be a little bit of a letdown. I'm guessing the crowd is not going to be quite as much like it was today. You know, so it's going to be a tough one for him to get through. You know, if he plays like that, he should be okay. Q. Can you remember the last time you hit two volleys on a match point down? ANDY RODDICK: No. But if I could, I'd probably end up missing the second one (laughter). Q. Bit of a rarity. ANDY RODDICK: It was. You know, I was fortunate. He had a real good look at that forehand, hit it hard, hit it well, maybe just got a little bit excited, you know. Gave me a chance. Q. Can you remember what your emotions were like in your first ATP Final? ANDY RODDICK: It was Atlanta. I don't really remember. I think I won the first set 6-0. I got off to a pretty quick start, so that helped. But the night before, it's kind of this eerie feeling, you know, because you've just been watching finals for a while. It's definitely a good experience. Q. How does this compare to your other three here? ANDY RODDICK: Well, this was the toughest one, by far. You know, the other ones, I hadn't lost a set before in a final here. You know, I was up against it twice this week, in the Bogdanovic match and then here today. It's good to get some of those tough matches in before Wimbledon. Q. Which do you think was your best performance over the week? ANDY RODDICK: It's tough to say. My first round was pretty good. Today was good, just for getting though a match. Even in the first set, I said, I feel like I'm playing well, like really well. Probably between those two. Q. Do you think you can perhaps learn a little bit more through tough matches, through a bit of adversity, rather than just blowing people away, getting used to the grass again? ANDY RODDICK: Sure. I mean, even when I've gone through this tournament well in the semis and finals, I don't know if I've ever not had a tough three-setter. You know, it's always good to be match tough and match prepared, not to be scared of the situations going into a major event. Q. Having won the title again, how will you keep that intensity going? How do you do it? ANDY RODDICK: I don't think I can stress out too much next week. I think I'll take a day off, maybe try to figure out something to do to get away from the tennis a little bit, see if there's any concerts or anything going on this week. Then come Friday, Saturday, you start zeroing back in, focusing on what you need to do. Q. Any particular things that Jimmy has you focusing on at this particular time? ANDY RODDICK: You know, it's tough to generalize what we talk about. I don't know if there's one thing that stands out above the others. His emphasis is, You're tough to beat on grass. Go put your best foot forward. You don't have to overplay. He was saying all week, If you just stick around long enough, you'll get through matches. That rang true today. Q. Anybody in particular you're looking to see in London? ANDY RODDICK: Pearl Jam is tomorrow night, Smashing Pumpkins is on Tuesday. We'll see. Q. Who? ANDY RODDICK: Earth, Wind and Fire (laughter). Neil Sadaka is playing on Thursday. Cliff Richards on Friday. Linda Ronstadt. Although I don't know that Cliff Richards is going to sing any more because they don't have a roof for him to sing during rain delays. Q. An English crowd normally rallies behind the underdog. Seemed they were mostly on your side today. Was that reassuring, good support? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, I feel like over the years they've definitely been kind of a part of me growing up here at this tournament. Looking back five years now, I feel like we've established a little bit of a relationship. I enjoy playing in front of this crowd a lot. Q. Are you a man to whom history means a lot? Do you look and say, I have four, I can go for six? Does it not matter where you win, as long as you get the titles. ANDY RODDICK: I think it's nice winning at tournaments that you really enjoy playing at. I think this place is and will continue to have a special place in my heart just 'cause I have so many great memories from here. I love the club. It's not often you get tennis at a tennis club nowadays. All those things just make it special. To have won four is great. I'll have a number of chances to get five. You know, my focus right now is on getting number one at Wimbledon. Q. You faced two players outside the top hundred this week. Are there players you want to avoid in the Wimbledon draw? If you came up against this guy in the first round, how would you take that? ANDY RODDICK: Well, probably the same way he would take it. It's going to be a tough match. When you come to the grass court season, it's not like we have three and a half months or four months, like the clay court players. You get guys outside of the top hundred, but they could be top 30 in the world. If it was like the old days, we played six months a year on grass, I promise you the rankings would get turned upside down, especially for a guy like Nicolas or some of the other guys we were able to see this week. I don't know if I put too much stock in the rankings game. He beat the players. He had the toughest draw out of everybody this week. End of FastScripts |
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