	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

U.S. OPEN

August 29, 2008

Andy Roddick

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

A. RODDICK/E. Gulbis
3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you pull that out?
ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. You know, I guess one thing that no one will dispute is that I pretty much leave it out there every time, and if I lose, it's not for lack of effort. You know, nights like tonight sometimes it's beneficial.
You know, when he steps up and is hitting his shots, he hits so hard there's not a lot you can do. He literally just cracks the ball. I just tried sticking around and mixed up the paces a little bit. Tried to make him hit shots that I thought might be less comfortable for him.
You know, somehow I got the momentum going my way.

Q. It looked like you trashed not one but two of your racquets at that one point. I mean, how do you regain your composure after getting to that breaking point?
ANDY RODDICK: Actually I probably loosened up a bit, you know. In your mind you're thinking, okay, well, I don't think you're expecting to break, you know, with him serving the way he had been. You know, you're kind of just trying to get ready, play okay and if it happens it happens, get ready to try to push if it for five.
I only broke one. I just broke it a couple times just for -- just to be thorough. (laughter.)

Q. You mentioned that the first and second round that your draw was not an easy one. Was this the most difficult early round match you've had as a top 10 seed here?
ANDY RODDICK: No, I played -- the year I won, I played Henman, who was the next guy to be seeded, and he was actually -- I had a really good summer that year and he was the only guy I had lost to. So that was kind of a match that everyone was looking at. Second round I had to play Ljubicic so that was a pretty tough draw, also.
But, you know, when I came out here, I know a lot of people didn't think I would be around long, and they were expressing that. So, you know, I was watching tennis today and I'm hearing I'm not the favorite in the match. I took a little bit of offense to that, just because, you know, the guy was one match over .500 for the year, and, you know, I feel like I've proven I'm a decent player, probably better than one game over .500. This is a tournament that I play well at. You know, he almost -- he was real close to proving everyone right.
You know, the tournament is just starting now.

Q. So much of this is momentum. But considering all of those things that you heard today but then doing what you did on a showcase like this, I don't know, do you feel like maybe this is a boost for you as far as...
ANDY RODDICK: Well, yeah. One thing I've said I have over 95% of the players in this tournament is playing in that atmosphere, I'm totally comfortable playing in that atmosphere. I like it, and tonight when people are dancing in the stands, you know, I love that. I'm having a blast out there, even watching it.
You know, I'm not intimidated by that stadium. I've been there plenty of times, and, you know, it's probably a stadium that takes the most getting used to the first time. The wind is a little bit different in there. The atmosphere is a little crazier with the New York crowd, so that's something that is advantageous for me.

Q. Seemed like it took you staving off that first set point against you in the second for that crowd to really start the Andy Roddick chant, and from then on that's when you seemed to really wide the wave of their cheers?
ANDY RODDICK: You know, I think it's probably the first time I gave them something to cheer about. You know, it's pretty much -- you have been in enough sporting events, the home team comes out and is getting shellacked. That's the easiest way to take the crowd out of it. I was definitely taking one before I was able to turn it. As soon as I gave them a little bit of it, you know, they gave me a lot of themselves, which is mighty nice.

Q. Before tonight's match, you knew that he was a very decent player. He beat Robredo last US Open over here. What quality of his tennis amazed you the most tonight?
ANDY RODDICK: I think he's going to be dangerous when he learns how to construct points and play. Right now he just cracks the ball. Sometimes I said you're helpless. I'm sitting there in the fourth set, hitting good returns. If he cranks the first ball as hard as he can there's not much you can do about it, just try to fight him off and hope the errors pile up where you get a shot where you can attack. You know, it's -- you know, the amount of power that he has is impressive.

Q. Is it a bigger deal for you to have won this way than to have just won if you had won a straight set? I mean, does this do more for your confidence?
ANDY RODDICK: You know, you feel like you're in the tournament. The other night was great and I played well. Obviously if you have a choice you want to go in and win easily. This was a US Open match here. This was a night session match. This is kind of what people come to expect of night matches. You get in there and it's kind of like a brawl, and the atmosphere is great, and so, you know, you really feel like you're settled into the tournament.

Q. What prompted the comment after the match about "people need to get a room"? Did I hear that right? Did you catch something down the court?
ANDY RODDICK: I think, he was making reference to I guess the rambunctious nature of the crowd, and literally it's the first time I seen it here. I looked up and there's girls on the big screen dancing on top of their tables in the suite and some guy and girl freak dancing in the corner. I was like, "This is great." Might as well get a win while we're out here. It felt like a party in the stadium on switchovers.
I don't think he's even old enough to go out yet, is he? I knew I had him then.

Q. When was the last time you felt that whole energy? Did you feel that in the 2006 final or do you have to go back farther than that?
ANDY RODDICK: '06 you had a lot of -- there's, crowd got behind me there because I had almost been but written off at 23, and, you know, I think they wanted me to come back and do well, and that was probably the most fun tournament I've had in my career so far, even more so than winning.
But you get that kind of crowd at Davis Cup, also, not specifically this court, and I think that was your question here.
The atmosphere last year for my match with Roger was probably more intense than the final the year before. It was like a boxing match. I mean, they were anticipating something good, and I played great that night and just got beat, but that was probably the most electric atmosphere I've been a part of here.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297