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U.S. OPENAugust 30, 2008Sam QuerreyNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK S. QUERREY/I. Karlovic 7-6, 7-6, 6-2 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How does it feel to get to the second week of a Grand Slam? SAM QUERREY: Feels good. You know, I made it to the CBS weekend. That was the goal (laughter.) Q. Seriously, what does that mean to you? We have Serena, Venus, Andy is through, James and Mardy will be through. They're 1 and 2. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I know it feels great. My first fourth round of a major, and, you know, it's great that it's the US Open. It's the one that, you know, if I had to pick one to win it would be this one. It's fun to play here. I had a blast out there today on the court with the crowd behind me. I'm look forward to my next round. Q. As one of the young guys coming up, there's so much pressure or expectations on who's going to be the next great American player. People have talked about you, Donald Young. I just wonder, has that affected you at all? You try to live up to what other people want of you? SAM QUERREY: Not really. It just kind of matters what I want for myself. You hear those things, and it's -- you know, it's nice to be put in that group, but you just go out there and work hard and play your best. What happens, happens. Q. What do you want for yourself? SAM QUERREY: You know, this year when I started the year, I set a couple goals. I wanted to -- I wanted to win an ATP event and I wanted to get my ranking into the 30s, which, you know, I won the Vegas event in March, and my ranking was 38 in May. So I accomplished both of those. My real goal now is to end the year in the top 32. I'd love to be seeded at the Australian Open next year to be start the year. That's kinda the goal I set for myself. Q. So you've seen Karlovic before. Talk about some of the keys today. There's going to be a lot of moments when you're just to be walking sideline to sideline after the bombs came. Seemed like you played the bigger points better than he has. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, that was my fourth time I played him. A lot of guys if I can get my racquet on the ball, it's not too bad. I'm a tall guy, as well. It's up near my shoulders, where other guys it's toward their head. So if I can get my racquet on it, you know, I thought I was doing a good job of getting ball in. Against a guy like him, there's a sense of urgency to every point, especially when he's serving. You're not going to get many chances, so if you do miss a second serve or miss an easy forehand you can really just kind of feel the pressure building up, because you know you might not get another chance. So you've really got to focus in on those chances when you have a second serve, or the points where you have a second serve or the points where you just get the ball in play and you're actually in a point. So those are just so key. Q. Sweet backhand lob at a crunch time in the first set tiebreak. Did you feel like Fabrice Santoro out there or something? SAM QUERREY: You know, I just kind of flipped up a lob and it went in. That's kind of how that worked out. I actually thought it was going to go deep, but it looked like it was right on the line. Q. You're only 5'6". Do you feel a little bit like a David going out to Goliath when you're facing a 6'10" guy? SAM QUERREY: I mean, not really. It's just another guy. Yeah, he's tall, but it's just kind of, you know, he's another player out there. Q. There's a chance you play Nadal next round. You played in '06. SAM QUERREY: Yeah. Q. Could you talk about that possibility, what you might remember from that match? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, that was one of my first matches. Like I turned pro in June and I played him in, like, early August. So it was one of my first matches on the ATP Tour. Won the first set, I remember, so that was cool. Like the main thing from that match I remember, I was playing at 2:00 and I knew ESPN went on the air at 3:00. I wanted to make it to 3:00 to get some ESPN time, which I did. (laughter.) You know, after the first set, I was pretty pumped up. You know, hopefully I've gotten a lot better since then. He has too. It should be a good match. I don't have anything to lose, so I can go out there and rip away and take some chances. Q. How have you gotten better since then, and even during this season? SAM QUERREY: Um, you know, I've matured just -- I've played every tournament now two, three times. I'm learning, you know, kind of, about myself and how I like to warm up and what I like to eat and kind of like a routine before matches better than I used to. You know, I've just been working on things that have allowed me to play better in matches. My backhand, I think, is 10 times better. My transition game, coming to the net and being aggressive is better than it used to be. It's starting to show in my matches. Q. Just to follow up in terms of mentally in your approach within the match. SAM QUERREY: Mentally? When I first started out, you know, I would sometimes let my mind wander for a game or two, and against these guys, if you do that, you know, that could be a set, especially, against Ivo with a serve like that. So I'm much more consistent and level-headed. I know if I -- even if you're down two sets to Love you have to mentally stay with it and anything can happen. I think yesterday it was two or three times where a guy was down two sets to Love and he came back. Q. Can you take us through your prematch routine? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, it's nothing special. This morning I just woke up, had some breakfast, had some eggs, and then came over here. I stretched, warmed up, put a grip on a racquet. Been using the same racquet all week. Strings haven't broke. I'm getting it restrung every match, but it's lasted me like three hours every day. That's kind of nice. That's kind of it. Q. Was there anything you had to cut out that you were doing that you stopped doing that you learned? SAM QUERREY: Not really. I mean, sometimes, you know, before matches I would just be -- if I had friends there I'd just be hanging with them beforehand just kind of talking. Probably not the best approach. Q. Do you think this is a breakout tournament for you? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, somewhat, you know. I haven't -- I don't really -- this is kind of the first time in the fourth round, and then first time second weekend. It's pretty exciting. You know, lately -- I've lost first and second round the last four, five weeks or so, so it's nice to kind of go deep in a big tournament. Q. You seem to be closing out your matches really effectively. Like today, you know, pretty much no problem on your serves. Very tough to do. What are you focusing on in those final games? SAM QUERREY: Um, for me, I mean, it's really crucial, the games, when you break a guy, that next game, I've been focusing hard to win those first two points on my service games to get a lead. That's key right after you break. You just kind of put your foot down a little bit and show them that you're really out there to win, and, you know, that's big. For me, I've just been really focusing on those first two points for every service game. I feel my serve is big enough where if I go up 30-Love against most guys, they're going to kind of mentally be like, this is going to be tough to break now. Q. How much of the Roddick match did you see last night, if any? SAM QUERREY: I saw two sets. No, I went to bed when he broke -- Gulbis was serving for the second set at 5-4 and Roddick broke him, and then I went to bed. I woke up this morning and turned it on and I saw that he won. Those first two sets Gulbis was playing well. I was a little worried there. Q. Success of another American like Andy sort of spur you on or the other American players? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, somewhat. I think if you've got a -- you know, Andy is still in it, Mardy is still in it, James is still in it, I'm still in it. When you've got a group like that, I think the fans get into it more. You know, it brings a better atmosphere to just the US Open grounds, so it's exciting. Q. How's your body feeling, because I think last time you had some cramping issues? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, last time I was cramping. I took care of it the last two days. Drank plenty of water, stretched, has massages, and it didn't hurt at all today. I was fine. You know, no pain. My legs felt good. I'm just going to keep it up with the water and massage and stretching. Hopefully they'll be even better for my next match. Q. How encouraging was it for you to get through it today without that stuff to move forward? SAM QUERREY: It was good. It let me know that my body can recover, that if you take the right steps to recovering it actually works. Q. You've seen Nadal play. You've seen him play obviously many times. The strategy going out there, do you see something in his game you can exploit, or are you going to say, I've gotta grip and rip, and that's pretty much... SAM QUERREY: Yeah, somewhat grip and rip. I know -- I think he goes 90% of the serves to your backhand, seems like. So you can maybe take a step over with your, you know -- where I'm positioning myself on the return. But, yeah, I mean, pretty much just step up and rip it. Q. Media-wise, you of course, won the Tennis Channel Open, and you talked about getting ESPN time today, CBS. What's next, you thinking CNN? SAM QUERREY: I don't know. I don't know if my match made CBS this morning. Q. It did. You got some good air time. You were on. At 11:00 when Venus was not yet on, you were on. SAM QUERREY: All right. Good. That's a big -- that's pretty important to me. I like the TV time, you know. (laughter.) Q. Did you get your cellphone back? SAM QUERREY: I have to buy a new one. My other one, it works now. After I bought a new one. It's probably got some bacteria on it. Speakerphone only. Q. I heard John Madden say on the radio when he did the same thing that's the most destructive way that cellphones are damaged, dropping them in the toilet. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I put the hair drier next to it for like five hours. It actually turned it on the next morning and it works now, but I already bought a new one. Q. What gives you more confidence: winning in Vegas or a tournament where you go to the quarterfinals and beat some real heavy hitters? SAM QUERREY: Um, I'm not sure. I think it's going, like, deep in this tournament and deep in Cincinnati, deep in Monte-Carlo, actually, that I've -- it's given me more confidence. You know, because not necessarily beating better players, but it's a bigger tournament and I've beaten some pretty solid players so far. You know, I've got a lot of confidence right now. Q. On a clay court tournament, growing up in the LA area, not really playing clay, that must really encourage you? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I don't really play any different on clay than I do on hardcourt, so it's not like -- not like I'm changing anything when I go out there. I just kind of play my game. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, I lose. Q. Who did you grow up rooting for? Is there a particular player? SAM QUERREY: Mostly Sampras. Q. Why? SAM QUERREY: Um, I don't know. He just seemed like a cool guy. I didn't watch a whole lot of tennis, but, you know, it was kind of -- you know, I watched -- you know, if it was on, you know, Saturday, Sunday mornings, half the time that was Sampras at Wimbledon or the US Open or something like that. So it was kind of him. And then when I was 15, 16, you know, I was a big Andy Roddick and James Blake fan. Q. Everybody's always talking about what's the best path through childhood for tennis. How do you assess your tennis childhood? SAM QUERREY: It's different for everyone. I mean, for me, I played football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf, up until I was a freshman in high school. Then played on the high school team freshman, sophomore, and junior year. Went to high school and did my thing and practiced at the club up the street from my house. Took lessons and went to the Tuesday, Thursday, clinics. Seemed to work for me. A lot of people, they might need to go to a tennis academy and play for six hours a day. Everyone's different. Q. Which club was that? SAM QUERREY: North Ranch Country Club where I've played at for the last eight years. Q. Sounds normal. SAM QUERREY: Yeah. Some weirdos there (laughter.) Q. How close were you to going to college? Were you in between turning pro and going to, I think, SC? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I was in between for a while. I signed with SC, had my letter of acceptance, and then about two months before school started, June of '06, I signed with SFX and turned pro. I mean, I went back and forth for a while, and then I was signed my letter of intent. Q. What pushed over to pro instead of college? SAM QUERREY: I was playing a little bit as an amateur and I was having some success. I just felt like my game was good enough, and that if I really worked hard and did the right things, I would have a good shot to move forward in the rankings. End of FastScripts |
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