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WIMBLEDON

June 29, 2009

Andy Roddick

LONDON, ENGLAND

A. RODDICK/T. Berdych
7-6, 7-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Was it as straightforward as the scoreline would tell?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I guess. I mean, I guess I was kind of in control of it the whole way. I felt like I was getting looks more than he was.
Overall it was a pretty good performance over a guy who is, you know, definitely an in-form player coming in.

Q. There's Lleyton now.
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

Q. What are your thoughts on him as an opponent?
ANDY RODDICK: I mean, it doesn't get any easier from here. I mean, I have loads of respect for Lleyton, you know, what he's been able to accomplish. You know, everyone knows he's certainly capable of playing very, very, very well on this surface.
So, you know, it will be a tough one.

Q. Is there a feeling among your peers that he's really on his way back now?
ANDY RODDICK: I don't think anybody in the locker room would ever - maybe at any point took Lleyton lightly, and especially on this surface. It certainly elevates him into one of the better players in this tournament.
You know, I've seen him play too much good tennis to have ever really let him drift too far from consciousness as far as, you know, the top guys go.

Q. What was the key to you turning the rivalry into your favor in 2005? Because he had a very good record going into Cincinnati then, and now you've won the last four straight.
ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. I mean, honestly, he definitely got the best of me for a little while there. I played him three straight times the year he finished 1 and it was my first year on tour. We kind of went back and forth. He got me in a big Aussie Open semifinal.
I don't know. I feel like we always had close matches. I just pulled a couple out. We had two great matches this year. I thought he played real well in Memphis and I was lucky to get through that one. We had a real good match in Queen's a couple weeks ago.
I wish I had one thing for you that turned it, but I'm not sure.

Q. How different is your sense of appreciation for advancing at this time with this maturity that you have versus several years ago here?
ANDY RODDICK: Uhm, you know what, I don't think -- you know, this place and this setting has ever really been lost on me. I think I've always had a pretty good appreciation for it. Yeah, I think I enjoy the process more now. Maybe not even so much just the victories at the tournament, but the work, the practice, the day-to-day stuff. I probably enjoy that a lot more than I did before.

Q. The other day you said that it's tough to compare years, conditions are different, players are different, just about everything is different. How about your game? If you were to stack up your game today and your satisfaction with it versus years ago, where does rate?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, if you ask me today, I was pretty happy with everything.
Again, it's tough. You know, I don't really feel like sitting here and talking about now versus five years from now, because I don't know what relevance it has with this tournament.
I know that so far I'm happy with the way I've been going here. That's probably my concern.

Q. I understand you're quite friendly with Justin Timberlake and that he came to see you on Saturday.
ANDY RODDICK: Uhm, I've never met him (laughter.)

Q. He likes you.
ANDY RODDICK: But let's not let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Q. Absolutely.
ANDY RODDICK: No, I mean, I'm a fan, obviously. Mardy actually was talking to him. I know he stayed for the match. That was pretty cool.

Q. No word from Rick?
ANDY RODDICK: No, not yet.

Q. Are you hoping to hear from Rick? He's aware of your passion for him and his music.
ANDY RODDICK: Who wouldn't be at this point? You guys have told everybody.

Q. Your call with Barack Obama after the match, what did he advise you of the Hewitt match coming up? (Laughter.)
ANDY RODDICK: Change is good (smiling).

Q. You probably weren't really that concerned about this, but did you feel they pulled the trigger a little bit early on the roof, considering it was pretty dry the last few hours?
ANDY RODDICK: Here is what I think about it: If it's raining, they have a pretty good little weather system forecast thingy down in the magic little office down there. They're always pretty good about giving updates.
I say if it is even sprinkling at the time and it looks ominous, let's say there's a 20 or 30% chance, if you have a roof, I think you use it.
You know, otherwise you're waiting around and what's the roof for?

Q. The tiebreak was your friend again today, huh?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

Q. Are you feeling pretty confident when you get to that point in the set?
ANDY RODDICK: I'm always comfortable. I'm gonna lose some. Obviously it's a tiebreaker; it's a crapshoot. I've been serving -- if I keep serving the way I have been, you know, it's a lot tougher for guys to hit shots, you know, off of returns at 2-All in a breaker than it is at 30-15 or 40-15 in a service game.
You know, I think I recognize that. But, you know, he double-faulted once, and that was it.

Q. Could you describe what it's like to play against Hewitt, for those of us who never have.
ANDY RODDICK: Well, I mean, it's a fight. You know, everything is a fight. Lleyton's not going to give you anything. You know, a lot of guys you can get on top of, you can get on top of their game, you can look for holes in it.
Lleyton doesn't really have a lot of holes. He's pretty solid off both sides. He volleys well. You're definitely not gonna get on top of him mentally. He's as sound there as anybody out there.

Q. He's got this huge knot of fans that are very, very noisy in their support for him. Can that be off-putting for you? Is that a big weapon in his armory, or not?
ANDY RODDICK: No, that's fine. I've dealt with fans before. We've played away Davis Cup ties. I have no problem with the crowd getting rowdy, as long as the respect level is there. I have no issue with it at all.

Q. I know you're saying you don't want to go back and talk about evolution of game...
ANDY RODDICK: But...

Q. I'm gonna talk about game now. But if you look at Lleyton's game from 2001 to 2009 coming off the hip surgery, do you find he's a little bit different? He's not counterpunching as much now? A little bit more aggressive? Does he come in a little bit more?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, he's probably a little bit more aggressive. You know, he probably set the bar for the way a lot of these guys can move now. I mean, I think he made it, you know, where Courier probably took it in the mid '90s as far as working and making it physical, I think Lleyton maybe did that in the early part of this decade.
I think a lot of what you're seeing now is because of these guys watching him and seeing how effective legs can be. To counter that, he's probably had to get a little bit more aggressive.

Q. Speaking of earlier in this decade, is this starting to look a little bit like an AARP convention here in the draw with Haas, Ferrero, and Hewitt, all the old guys in there?
ANDY RODDICK: I don't know about that. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to see guys like Juan Carlos get through, and Tommy. I mean, they've battled some serious injuries. To kind of get back there and get back deep into a major is good to see.

Q. Do you personalize that at all? Are you heartened by the fact that you can see a comeback even from hip surgery and make a deep run?
ANDY RODDICK: No. I mean, I feel great. The thing about my career is I haven't played a lot of long points. You know, if I keep myself healthy and I keep leg strength, and you, know, my arm I had a little bit of problem last year, but besides that it's felt really good.
You know, I don't have to go out there and grind every single day. I feel like as long as I stay professional and work hard, I should have the longevity I want.

Q. Did you do anything exciting on the rest day yesterday?
ANDY RODDICK: Did I do anything exciting? No.

Q. What did you do?
ANDY RODDICK: What did I do? I sat around my living room, watched terrible TV for a couple of hours. I'm trying to think. Actually, you know what I did, I went into the city and had dinner last night. That was lovely.

Q. Who do you think the two or three best movers in the game are now?
ANDY RODDICK: That's tough. There are so many. There's so many good movers. A lot of it's surface specific, you know. Monfils is an unbelievable mover on clay. But on grass, I don't know if that translates with the sliding and all of that.
Roger and Rafa are probably some of the best all-around movers, regardless of surface. Murray moves great for his size. Ferrer moves great. I mean, the thing is, I could give you less names if you asked me who doesn't move well.
I think it's a necessity at this point. I hear a lot of people talking about juniors, and a lot of times my first question is, How are their legs? I feel that's an aspect that gets overlooked a lot.

Q. How is the grass playing? Speeding up as the tournament is going on?
ANDY RODDICK: I mean, maybe a little bit. It's hot, you know, so I think that keeps it going a little bit. But it's a little bit different for me. I've played the majority of guys who just, you know, play pretty aggressively and hit through the court. My matches have felt pretty quick.
But I think a lot of is a result of who I've been playing.

End of FastScripts

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