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INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA (MEN)May 8, 2008Andy RoddickROME, ITALY A. RODDICK/S. Bolelli 7-6, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Pleased with that, Andy? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I thought it was good, you know. Especially I didn't get off to the best start, so to kind of work my way into the match, it was a little bit of a grind. I think it was close to two hours. The points he was winning I was making him come up with good stuff. Overall, I was pleased. Q. Seemed to win the points that mattered. ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, I got a little fortunate there in the tiebreak. I think at 5-All I hit an okay backhand, and he was lined up for a forehand and it took a funny bounce and went right on him. It was tough for him to adjust, and I actually got a couple of his balls on the top of the net that didn't go over for let cord. So the calls that got overruled gave me a first serve instead of a second serve. Overall, I was pretty lucky and fortunate with everything that went on in the match. Q. How is your clay court game feeling after a couple matches here? Starting to feel comfortable out there? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, it feels good. I'm actually moving okay and I'm getting better height on the ball than I think I normally do. For me, it's just a matter of getting a couple matches, but I don't always give myself that opportunity. It's nice to have gotten, you know, gotten along in the tournament a bit. Q. Looking at the draw there, do you like what you see with no Nadal now in your half? ANDY RODDICK: I think more so than that I like to see my name still up there, which isn't always the case here. So you can only play who's across from you. Obviously I think the last person anybody wants to play on clay is Nadal, regardless of what happened yesterday. Yeah, I mean, but I'm not good enough to look past the next match, so I'll just try to get through one more. Q. I see Blake's also in the quarters. What's your relationship on tour? Do you guys train together? I know your Davis Cup teammates. ANDY RODDICK: James and I, we're really good friends. We hang out all the time. I don't think being teammates stops when it's not a Davis Cup week. You know, myself, James and Mardy and the Bryans, I think we're all kind of, in a way, each other's family on the road. I think we always support each other. You know, who would have thought we would have a couple Americans making up a quarter of the draw in the quarterfinals. I guess if we landed on the moon we can figure out how to get to the quarterfinals of a clay court tournament, right? Q. Will be 26 this year. How much do you still think you can evolve as a player? ANDY RODDICK: Hopefully a lot. Q. Care to elaborate? ANDY RODDICK: No. How much do you think you can evolve as a journalist? You look younger than me. Q. I am. ANDY RODDICK: See, the world is yours. Q. Talk about playing in Italy against an Italian. Is it fun to play in Italy against a local? How is it different from the States? ANDY RODDICK: I think in the States I'm probably going to get a couple more claps than here. I mean, to be honest I was looking forward to the challenge. I think that's where playing maybe away Davis Cup matches, matches on the road, have prepared me a little bit. You know, Davis Cup crowds are even more intense because it's not a player it's actually the country. But I don't think I mind it too much. I think the crowd was pretty fair. They cheered for their guy, and I think that's what you're supposed to do. Q. What do you think of Bolelli? How do you see him in the future? ANDY RODDICK: Well, I mean, he can hit every shot. He's very talented, there's no doubt about that. I think he needs to put himself in situations like today a little bit more. I don't know if he -- I they he wanted to win a lot in front of the home crowd. Maybe there was a little bit of pressure there. But he's only getting better, that's for sure. I think he had a really good week last week and played -- won his first couple matches here pretty convincingly. He's only going to get better. Q. I think the last time so many Americans reached the quarters here -- ANDY RODDICK: -- was 2002. Q. When Agassi won. ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I think we had three that year. Q. Yeah. You and James and Andre. ANDY RODDICK: Would it be fair the only American that's lost lost to another American? It's like America-on-America crime. No, I'm sorry, what was the question? Q. The question is: Did you and James learn anything from Andre about how to play on clay? ANDY RODDICK: I wish we would have learned more. But, you know, I think Andre was rare in the fact that the way he hit the ball as hard as he was able to and not give up in any ground at the baseline, that comes along once every ten, twenty years. James is probably more capable of doing that than I am, but, you know, I think we -- I think the majority of what James and I learned from Andre probably didn't pertain to clay court tennis. You know, I think we learned a lot from him, but specifically that, I'm not sure. End of FastScripts |
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