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DAVIS CUP FIRST ROUND: USA v AUSTRIAFebruary 8, 2008Andy RoddickVIENNA, AUSTRIA THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. You expected a touch one and you got it. What's your opinion on that match? How happy are you made it in five sets? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, a little bit. I think I think it's only natural. I tried telling you guys all week that it's to be a tough match and that the conditions probably were more favorable for him than they've been in our previous matches. I think the crowd support helped him. I thought he played pretty well. But I'm happy to have gotten a win for our team. Q. Do you feel like you're (indiscernible) on the court as much as you were fighting against Melzer? ANDY RODDICK: No, you know, I thought Jurgen played well. Bottom line: The court was terrible, but it was terrible on both sides. Q. Do you think he returned extra special just because? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, he returned well. Q. Did you expect him to return that well? Was it kind of frustrating that he returned that well to your service? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, obviously it's frustrating when someone returns your serve well. You know, I don't know if I expected it. I think it's by far the most times I've ever been broken against him. Clay slows down the serve. You can't get the spins that you want on it. He was taking it early and he definitely was making his presence felt on the returns. Q. As defending champs, do you feel like you're playing with more pressure? Less pressure? The same? ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. Q. Something that you think about out there? ANDY RODDICK: Haven't really thought about it. Probably a little bit less. We've kind of accomplished our goal. But I don't know if that makes us any less hungry, just a little less nervous before the matches. Q. After you lost the tiebreak and then Jurgen got the break and was 40-15 up you really raised your game. You changed your tactics to be more aggressive. Was that the key to the win? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, could have been. He was getting -- playing too well for me to stay back. He wasn't going to miss shots, so I had to try to switch it up a little bit. Fortunately it worked. Q. You've played a couple of these tough five-set matches in Davis Cup. Including notably Belgium. Do you take that kind of experience into a match like this? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, but, you know, I think -- I honestly think that too much gets made of fifth-set experience. If someone's riding a hot racquet, I'd much rather feel like I'm the hot player than the experienced one in the middle of a fifth set. I guess there's a certain sense of calm knowing that you've been through that before. Q. Was that the worst court you've played on in Davis Cup? ANDY RODDICK: What? Q. Was that the worst court? ANDY RODDICK: Absolutely. Q. Serious question: Do you think the ITF should have standards? ANDY RODDICK: Well, they do. The court is supposed to be done by Monday and they got granted special permission somehow to have it done Tuesday. So to have a temporary clay court put down Tuesday and get three days of practice in on it, you know, it's rough to have it be okay in, you know, three days after laying it down. I'm not sure why they were granted special permission. I don't know if there was something here Sunday night. I heard the last event here was last Wednesday. I don't know. I tried asking the referee here and he said, I don't know. So I asked, If you don't know, who should I ask next? Q. (No microphone.) ANDY RODDICK: When was it finished? Last week. Well, they had a court done a week later. Q. No, no. They started just five days. Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. trucks came in. ANDY RODDICK: All right. You have five days. I mean... Q. At a pretty young age you've played the second most matches now in U.S. Davis Cup history. Is that kind of mind boggling that you would reach that number? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, Patrick showed some faith in me early on and let me play my way into being an okay Davis Cup player. Without his faith and giving me the chance to go out and play we wouldn't be saying that. I kind of look at the individual record books of the States and see that I'm slowly kind of creeping up and I'm 25 is -- it's nice. It's something that I enjoy. Q. If you look on your next singles match, do you expect kind of the same game now or do you think it's going to be completely different? ANDY RODDICK: There probably going to be some similarities, but it's going to be different. I think Koubek plays a little bit more spin goes for broke a little bit more from the baseline. Melzer can maybe play some dropshots and come into the net and play some volleys. So similar in the fact that they're both lefties and can kind of get the that lefty spin on the ball, but the intricacies of the game are a bit different. Q. Did you have time to speak to James in between matches sort of and warn him what to expect out there? ANDY RODDICK: Well, I think he knows what to expect. You know, I don't think we're going three days in practice and all of a sudden fooling ourselves into thinking everything is going to be perfect today. I'm sure he was watching the match and I'm sure he saw the ball hit and roll a couple of times. I don't know if I really needed to say anything to him. He's a smart guy. Q. How do you feel about dropshots? ANDY RODDICK: I just wish I could hit one. Q. Koubek played a couple of tough matches at the Australian Open. Do you expect coming a tougher match on Sunday? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of respect for Stefan. He's certainly not scared to play long matches. You know, it's going to be another battle. End of FastScripts |
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