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ROGERS CUPJuly 22, 2008Andy RoddickTORONTO, ONTARIO A. RODDICK/N. Mahut 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How do you think you played today? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I played okay. I hit the ball well. I thought I moved well, and most importantly I felt okay physically. That's kind of what we were aiming for. I think all in all it was a pretty good match. Q. What do you think of the Toronto weather so far? ANDY RODDICK: Well, judging from the Open the last five years I would be hypocritical if I said anything negative about it. No, I mean, it happens. It is what it is. You can't really control the rain. The last set it was nice and sunny for us, so that was nice. Q. Does that sort of hinder how you reset when you have the breaks and you have to go in and come back, especially when it's the first match of the week? ANDY RODDICK: No, because I don't think you ever go out there -- you're rarely surprised by the rain. You normally kind of, at the beginning of the day, know what you could be potentially in for. You know so you prepare and pack an extra set of clothes and play as much as you can. Q. When you're up a break and you initiated the rain delay, weren't you afraid you may lose your momentum? ANDY RODDICK: Sure, but I was also scared that I was slip and break a leg, so the risk/reward there was a little obvious. It was coming down pretty hard. Q. This has been a bit of an uneven year for you. You've had some really high points and then you had the shoulder. Where are you at right now on how you feel physically and otherwise? ANDY RODDICK: Physically I feel good for the first time since probably we finished our Davis Cup tie in April. It's almost like two separate years. I mean, I feel like I'm almost starting again. I had a lot of momentum going through April. You know, I had some really good wins and, you know, then got hurt. Probably tried to come back a little sooner than I should've. But I was hoping to maybe get through the first week of Wimbledon and see what happened. It didn't work out that way, so you know... But I got to go home and have two or three weeks of actually really good training. I haven't been on a quote/unquote pitch count as far as practice and as far as serving. Hopefully that's behind me and start trying to play good tennis against. Q. Is it more frustrating because you have had some high points this year: You beat Roger, you beat Novak, you beat Rafa, and you also gotten engaged. I mean, it was pretty good year for a while. ANDY RODDICK: Sure. Especially that win over Rafa. No, I'm joking. I don't know if it makes it any easier. You know, you can look at it one way and say, you know, you get injured. If you're playing like crap going into the injury there's not a whole a lot of positive. I guess if you had to choose to get injured you would want to choose with good results behind you. It wasn't great timing. I actually played well on clay in Rome, so I actually thought I would get past the first round of the French, which would've been fun. I think I might have played decent at Wimbledon had I been prepared. But I went there kind of hoping, and I knew I was doing that. You know, it's unfortunate, but I've been pretty lucky. I've been out here eight years and never had a problem with the shoulder. With the way I swing I probably would have taken that eight years ago. It's recovered and I'm hitting the serve the way I need to again and it feels good. Like I said, hopefully it's behind me. Q. The first game of the second set when Mahut held serve you were pretty upset about that. Did that rally you at all? What did you say to the umpire? ANDY RODDICK: Just surprised me. I guess, you know, I heard an out call and I was pretty much next to the ball and I didn't swing at it because they called it out. You know, then he overruled, which was the right call. It was in. It was called out. So I'm getting ready to play the point again and he says, "Game." You know, I guess the rule is if the person -- you have to be 100% sure the person can't get to the ball. I said, Well, I'd have to have alligator arms not to get to that ball. I mean, I was a foot away from it. I was like, You can't seriously tell me that I couldn't have gotten that or I didn't have a chance. I just didn't understand. Then I think when they realize they're wrong sometimes they try to sit there and figure out a way to convince themselves that they made the right call. The replay guy completely sold him out. I eventually just said -- I had a talk with him just now and everything is fine. But I finally said, I don't really care about the point anymore. I just want you to tell me that you know that you made the wrong call. But, I mean, it's part of it today. Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't today they probably didn't. Q. Were you happy or disappointed that it wasn't Tipsarevic out there again today? ANDY RODDICK: I was a little disappointed. Q. You were pretty philosophical after the loss at Wimbledon. ANDY RODDICK: Sure. Q. How difficult was it to get over compared to, say, the Australian Open loss or other tough losses you've had? ANDY RODDICK: It's tough. It's never easy. I think with the time that went past it was a little bit -- once I got back on the court it was a little bit easier. I mean, you know, you realize that I was going over there and I hadn't really served at all and hadn't really played for more than 45 minutes. I guess as an athlete when you're going into a competition like that you almost brain wash yourself into thinking you're ready and you can do it anyway. I don't know if I had the repetitions in to be able to perform when something is on the line. It's hard enough to do it when you feel like you're prepared, and it's even harder when you're just hoping and not confident in what you're doing because you haven't done it. But it's tough. You know, Wimbledon is a huge tournament for me, so each year that, you know, you kind of have a bad result it doesn't get easier. Q. When you're coming in off a loss like that, talk a little bit about sort of the desire to win and kind of prove yourself and get back on track versus sort of feeling extra pressure not to lose because you maybe haven't had the big wins? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, sure. I think for me after thinking a lot it was just about getting out there and having fun again and kind of enjoying yourself and enjoying the process. Because if you don't really have that you're not going to do well at your job regardless of what it is you do. You're going to have to find some source of happiness somewhere in the day, you know. I think just trying to come back and rushing it, I felt like I was playing catch-up the whole time. I think that slowly kept at me and, you know, kind of culminated in what you saw in that match. But, you know, I think I'm going to try to enjoy myself a little bit more this summer. Q. Seems like you're playing pretty confidently. Can you assess your chances for the rest of the tournament and also throughout the hard court season? ANDY RODDICK: I wish I could for you, but it's been -- I've played four matches in three months, so... You know, I felt good today and I felt like I hit the ball well. I'm definitely in shape. I put a lot of hours in in the last couple of weeks, so there are a lot less questions going into this run than there have been the last couple of months, which should bode well. Q. You have been a top 5 guy, now top 6, but basically a top 5 guy for an extended period of time. You've had the bad luck to be around while Roger made his run at Pete Sampras and now with Rafa making his run at Roger. If you get back to where you want to be and improve the way you want to improve, where do you think you fit in the bigger scheme? ANDY RODDICK: Well, I think they're obviously the, you know -- and even Novak for probably the first three or four months was arguably the best player, and obviously Rafa's had an amazing run and Roger has established himself as possibly the greatest ever. It's definitely crowded up there right now. Like we talked about, I have beaten them this year, which is good. I think the next step is just doing it on a Grand Slam stage. I look forward to doing that. I enjoy the challenge. We got to be kind of careful with using bad luck in this sense. I mean, I'm pretty lucky overall. My bad luck in facing good tennis players is probably okay in the grand scheme of things. Q. Great doubles draw at this event. Does that create a little bit of extra interest, motivation, when you see all the great singles players in the doubles draw? ANDY RODDICK: As far as like -- I mean, I think it's maybe good for popcorn sales. But, you know, I don't know. I'm playing -- I made a decision to play. Mardy was down with me last week in Austin, and I thought it would be smart to get some time on court just because I haven't been out there much. I'm sure the tournament director didn't mind when he saw Roger, Rafa and myself and Murray and whoever else in the doubles draw decided to play. I'm sure that wasn't bad news for them. But I think it's good for the fans. I'd be lying if I said, you know, any of us probably look at the doubles and, you know, are concerned more about it than our singles. End of FastScripts |
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