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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 9, 2010

Sam Querrey

LONDON, ENGLAND

S. QUERREY/R. Ginepri
7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You sounded a bit disillusioned when you left Paris. Are you sort of refreshed and have got a different attitude now?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I went home for six days and didn't pick up a racquet or anything. Now I'm feeling good. You know, I had fun out there. I thought I played really well.

Q. Compared with slugging around the clay court circuit, is this sort of a nice difference for you? Do you like grass?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. I didn't like it my first year, but I'm liking it more and more every year.
It's nice to come to London because you are here the entire month. I'm staying here with my family and some friends. You know, I don't have to go anywhere for the full month, where the clay court season is city to city.

Q. You find the traveling difficult?
SAM QUERREY: Not difficult, but sometimes it can get a little exhausting after four or five weeks in a row.

Q. It's ironic in one sense. He knocks you out in Paris and you feel so disillusioned, and then you get a chance to redeem yourself by beating him over here so early in the tournament.
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. Seems like that happens every now and then. You know, you play a guy back-to-back weeks. In our case it was the French Open and here. I lost to him in Indianapolis on the hardcourt and Paris on the clay court. So I can't lose to the same guy three times in a row on three different surfaces.

Q. What do you have to adjust to grass? For your game, what do you need to do?
SAM QUERREY: I definitely need to stay much lower on the returns. I think that's the -- that's key. Then also just on the normal groundstrokes, I need to go for a little more and try to flatten the ball out and just be a little more aggressive than normal.

Q. When you reflect on Roland Garros, was it a case of just playing too much prior to that or...
SAM QUERREY: That was definitely part of it. I think I just kind of tapped out a little bit. You know, I'm gonna learn from that, and probably from now on I'm not gonna play -- I mean, not always, but for the most part I'm gonna try not to play the week before Slams.
You know, I kind of know that after three weeks in a row or so, it's kind of -- I've reached my max or my limit, and, you know, I need to take a week off after that. I'm just learning, but I definitely think that was part of it, yeah.

Q. How big is Wimbledon gonna be for you after a first-round loss in Melbourne and at Roland Garros?
SAM QUERREY: It will definitely be important. All I can really do is go out there and give it my best shot. Whatever happens, happens. If I happen to lose but go out there and play well and do the things that I have been working on, I won't be upset at all.

Q. How about when you pulled out of doubles at Roland Garros? How did John take that? Was he okay with that?
SAM QUERREY: He was fine. You know, we're out there -- we're singles players. We're out there to do the best we can in singles. Doubles is just kind of icing on the cake.
He understood. Just like if he ever -- you know, if he ever was in that same situation, I'd be totally fine with it.

Q. But didn't you guys say you wanted to, as a goal, qualify for the year-end championships?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, we still do, but we're not -- I don't think we're gonna go out of our way on the doubles schedule to do it. But I definitely think when we are playing doubles we're gonna be serious and focused. And the events that we're playing in, we're gonna do our best to make the year end with those events.

Q. You still playing Wimbledon?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah.

Q. Once you got back to LA, what did you do and how long did it take you just to get over the feelings that you had Paris?
SAM QUERREY: It only took a couple days to get over the feelings in Paris. You know, I literally, for six days, just hung out with my friends, went to a Laker game, hung out at the beach, just hung around kind of.
It was nice. I never even really -- not until the fifth or sixth day, I really -- I never even had an urge to pick up a racquet or do any type of fitness. So it was kind of -- kind of reassured myself that I needed a little break.
But, yeah, mentally it only took a couple days to kind of get over that, but I definitely needed the week off. And the first time I started playing back home, that first day of practice I didn't feel like I lost anything and I was in a great mood and having fun. It's hopefully gonna carry over through the entire grass court season.

Q. Did any of the players call you, any of the American players?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, a few guys checked in.

Q. Did Andy call you?
SAM QUERREY: No, he didn't. He didn't call me; he texted me.

Q. Articles in the U.S. press talked about American tennis being in decline. Can you explain what the feeling is over there and sort of where this talk comes from?
SAM QUERREY: You know, it's tough. They always -- the bar is set so high because America has had -- they've had so many Grand Slam champions over the last 30 years with Connors, McEnroe, Andre, Pete, Chang, Andy. So, you know, those guys set the bar pretty high for the rest of us.
I don't think it's in decline. I mean, the French Open we had like 10 or 11 guys in the main draw. Right now you've got Andy, John, myself. You know, a healthy James and a healthy Mardy are easily top 50. They're top 20 guys.
So I think especially with James healthy and now Robby who is playing much better again, I think we could have six or seven guys in the top 50 at the end of the year.
It always goes in waves kind of with any sport, but, you know, we might be in a little decline if you compare to the years of Andre and Courier and Pete, but hopefully we can get some guys in the top 10 in the next few years.

Q. So in terms of the Grand Slams, do you think it's sort of on you and John to try and make the headway into the Grand Slams?
SAM QUERREY: I think we're a big part of it, yeah. We also want James, Mardy, Ginepri, Donald Young, whatever Americans are out there, we all want them to be a part of it, as well.

Q. Looking forward to going to Colombia?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. I mean, I haven't thought about it yet. The team is not selected, so, you know, if I get the shot again, I'm gonna be looking forward to it. Never been to South America. That will probably be one of the only times I'll go down there.

End of FastScripts

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