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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 13, 2009Andy RoddickINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations on Davis Cup again. ANDY RODDICK: Thanks. Q. How long have you been here? You've had just the two matches I guess in the last few weeks. Do you feel rusty at all? ANDY RODDICK: Oh, no, I feel fine. I've actually played more matches to start this year than I have for a while, and the schedule has actually played out nicely. You know, playing at Davis Cup time with that kind of atmosphere, you kind of are forced to get going pretty quick. So I definitely don't feel like I'm short on matches. You know, especially I'm playing doubles tonight, so that should help a little bit. I feel all right. Q. What made you decide to play doubles? ANDY RODDICK: Um, you know, it's kind of a thing where you don't -- you could play Saturday, possibly Sunday, and -- sorry. To answer your first question, I got out here on, I think it was Monday evening. I spent -- I flew home on Sunday evening, came out Monday evening. That's kind of a long time to be practicing. More so than anything it's about me getting antsy and wanting to play. So when a tournament is 10-, 11-day tournament it's not a bad idea. Mardy wanted to play, so it made sense. Q. Helpful for volleying? ANDY RODDICK: I sure hope so. Q. Your upcoming wedding plans, any coincidence that's during the clay court season? ANDY RODDICK: Well, it's -- I mean, it's a little bit poetic. No, I'm joking. No, it's just -- yeah, that's purely coincidental, I'm sure. Q. Will you be taking a lot of time off, though, around the wedding? ANDY RODDICK: No. I have a normal schedule. My schedule hasn't really changed much. Q. What advice do you have for young tennis players? ANDY RODDICK: Um, well, the thing that I always say, and it's kind of boring, but the one thing you can control on a daily basis in tennis is how hard you work and what you put into it. That's probably a little boring, but you can't control your coach's mood or conditions or anything like that, but you can control what you try to do, so... Q. He's always in a pretty good mood, Larry. But coming to the place where he won a title, I wonder if that picks him up a little. ANDY RODDICK: You know what, like you said, he's always pretty jovial. I don't know if I've seen him in a bad mood yet. I've been playing well so far this year, so... I don't know if it's so much that he won here that he actually lived here for 18 years. So I think I hear a lot more stories about, you know, what his sons did here and at this place and that place when they were four and five years old than I have, you know, about his win. You pretty much have to ask him about it for him to talk about it. Q. Did you have a favorite tennis player growing up, sort of like a role model? ANDY RODDICK: I had a bunch of them, actually. I was pretty lucky. Like most U.S. tennis fans, I was spoiled by the generation that preceded me, you know, from Pete to Andre to Chang to Courier to the tail end of Conners and McEnroe. That's been pretty cool, because I've actually gotten to develop pretty good personal relationships with pretty much all of those guys. So it's been fun in that regard. Q. One of your longest, I think, lasting relationships in the sport is with your trainer, Doug Spreen. ANDY RODDICK: Uh-huh. Q. What made you decide at a young age to have him travel with you full time? Did you consider it a necessity, or was it just something you wanted to try out, or... ANDY RODDICK: I think just judging -- my dad had had some pretty bad back problems, and my brother didn't play. You know, he was pretty good, and I'm pretty sure he would have been top 70, 80, but he had to stop because of back problems. You know, maybe if they would have started getting after it. You know, when you start treating something after it's a problem you're already behind. I think that probably stuck in my mind a little bit. You know, at that point there was really no reason not to. I had done well enough to where I could afford it, and I felt like maybe it was an investment in myself. I had also seen, you know, Pete had a guy for a long time and there were a lot of top players who had gone that route, and had encouraged it, also. So, you know, I figured there wasn't really a downside to it if you did it. You know, if it didn't work out then there really wasn't much loss there. Q. Is the most important thing he does for you, is it off-court workout stuff or is it more recovery? ANDY RODDICK: Doug's a little bit of a jack-of-all-trades. He was an ATP Tour trainer for a while. I think it was 12 years or something like that. So, you know, a bunch of little things you get, whether it's, you know, blisters on the feet or whatever, he knows how to deal with that stuff. He does stretching, he does massage, he does a whole bunch of stuff. And from his time with the ATP, he has great relationships with a lot of the tournament doctors and other physios. If there's something that's -- if there is a chiropractic need or a medical doctor need, he's good at organizing that, too. So, you know, Doug is dialed in. I don't really have to worry about a whole lot when he's around. Q. When you play out here, the weather can be so different. You can play in the afternoon and it's 100. Then you play tonight, and the wind picks up it could be 55. How do you prepare for that? Do you say, I'm going to play no matter what and not let the conditions dictate how I play? ANDY RODDICK: Well, there isn't another option, besides defaulting. I think the biggest thing is you probably do have to look at the weather reports and adjust your string tensions more than anything. You know, it can be a totally different match depending on what time you play. I think the only thing I'm concerned about is what Tommy Haas is stringing his racquets at that weekend. Then I just copy that and hope for the best. It's worked for him forever, so maybe it will work for me, too. (laughter.) Q. Nice improv. ANDY RODDICK: Thank you. No, just string tensions I think is the only thing that really concerns me about that. Q. How do you grade your season so far, and what are the next goals for you in the next couple of months? ANDY RODDICK: It's been real good so far. You know, even if some of the matches I've lost I feel like I've played pretty well. You know, a lot of the matches that have been on these kind of stages I've played well, and I have toughed some matches out. I feel like I'm playing better tennis, you know. I'm winning like a quarter of my return games so far this year, which is good for me. You know, kind of winning points in different ways. You know, I'd like to just kind of continue on this path. I feel like it's going the right way. Q. Do you have to really consciously work at trying to keep the weight off that you lost, or is it actually easier once you're playing matches? ANDY RODDICK: Ah, well, I mean, it's something that I think is -- you know, you can't just -- I think it's just about creating new habits, which I feel I'm doing a decent job of. You know, it's probably harder when you're playing matches, because when you're working out you're doing physical activity and playing tennis all in the same day, so you're getting a lot of work. I think you just have to be diligent about what you eat and, you know, times you're eating and stuff. But I don't really worry about it as much during tournaments, because a lot of times you're going to have to put the carbs and starches into your body, so on and so forth. I think it's a matter of not getting sloppy on off weeks and making sure you're doing the right things. End of FastScripts |
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