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WIMBLEDONJune 19, 2010Andy RoddickLONDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy. Q. Fantastic American hard court swing. Bit of a downtime during the clay court season. Do you still feel you're perhaps coming in with higher expectations than 12 months ago? ANDY RODDICK: Uhm, I don't know. I mean, you know, you always at this point in the tournament are just worried about getting through the first one. I don't think that ever changes. I don't really get too caught up in expectations. I get caught up in, you know, how you're gonna win three sets on Monday. I don't think -- that really doesn't change too much. Q. How is your fitness? ANDY RODDICK: Physically, I'm fine. Yeah, there's no problem. Q. What has been the schedule since Queen's? I saw you play an exhibition. Other than that, just practice? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, just practice as usual. I've gotten in a lot of court time, which has been good. I'm definitely not short on repetitions right now or set play or anything like that. Just going to be applying it to an actual match, which is pretty tough to simulate. As far as, you know, the way I'm hitting the ball, I feel fine. I feel good. Q. When did Larry get in? ANDY RODDICK: He got in Monday. Q. What was the thinking with him not being at Queen's? ANDY RODDICK: Well, he wasn't there last year. His first son graduated from UCLA. That was always going to take priority as far as his family goes. Q. Besides Rafa on the clay, there's been no stand-out, dominating person. Do you think this is a more open Wimbledon than for a long time? ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. I mean, you know, I think you have the normal cast of favorites, you know. So, regardless, you know, I think Roger's always a favorite when he comes here. Rafa's in form, he's playing well. You know, Murray will have the home court. I could have given you the same answer last year as I'm giving you right now, so... I think, you know, you're still gonna get the same five or six names when asked. Q. Your name is obviously among them. You put yourself there, don't you? ANDY RODDICK: Well, yeah, I think so. I've proven that I know how to kind of navigate my way to the later rounds of this tournament. It's a place I feel comfortable. It's a surface that I feel good on. So, you know, as for names on the list, that's for you to decide. But, you know, I feel comfortable with where I'm at here. Q. Is coming so close something that you can put behind you or even want to put behind you after last year? ANDY RODDICK: Uhm, well, I mean, you know, I think I've been asked this question about 86,000 times since last year. But, uhm, I don't know if 'put behind you', I don't know exactly what that means. I'm always going to remember it. It's always gonna be there. You don't generally mind trick yourself into making it go away. The thing is, I have great memories last year. Everyone talks about a match, but it takes two weeks of getting to that match of playing pretty good tennis. I played some of my best stuff. It's a tournament as a whole that I think I'll always be extremely proud of. Q. Did you know coming in last year you had your best stuff going? Where, in a two-week tournament like this, do you realize that? ANDY RODDICK: I did not have great stuff early on in the tournament last year. You know, I think if you look at my first round, I dropped a set in nearly every round until the fourth round action and then I started playing a lot better. You know, the thing is, no matter how well you play on a given day, it starts over two days later. So, you know, like I said, I don't think you get too high or low on form. It's just a matter of surviving, giving yourself a chance to play again, and getting through a draw. Q. You talk about taking the positives. There were a helluva lot of positives to take out of it last year. In hindsight, how would what you did here last year compare to maybe actually winning the US Open? ANDY RODDICK: You want me to compare last year to winning the US Open? Q. The feeling of accomplishment. ANDY RODDICK: Well, I don't know. To be honest, I don't really deal in hypotheticals. Last year is last year. Has zero to do with this year, as far as I'm concerned. You know, I'm not gonna close my eyes and think and that's going to make me hit a better forehand when I go out and practice right now. Maybe some people work like that. I don't. You wake up and live each day for itself. I think that's what I do, you know. I don't know how playing well last year affects this year past the point of knowing that you can do it and you can play well. Q. Venus Williams said she doesn't really understand the rules of football or soccer. Do you understand the rules and have you been following the World Cup? ANDY RODDICK: Yes and yes. Q. Impressions then? ANDY RODDICK: I understand the rules of football so well that apparently when two Slovenian guys mug an American guy the American guy gets called for a foul. That's how well I understand the rules. Q. Did you watch the England game last night? ANDY RODDICK: I did not watch the England game last night, no. I decided to take advantage of no traffic and go into the city and have some dinner. You'd be amazed how quickly you can get down there when an England game is on. Q. What are your thoughts on Nebraska's new conference? ANDY RODDICK: You know what? I'm surprisingly unaffected by it. I don't mind it. I think the Big Ten is such a storied conference. The Big 12, I lost it a little bit when we stopped playing Oklahoma every year. It kind of made that rivalry go by the wayside. For all you English people, this is what it's like when you talk about World Cup in front of us. Q. But you take part in the World Cup. All your sports are just played in America. ANDY RODDICK: That's your fault (laughter). Anyway, I feel fine about it. Q. What are your thoughts on how Nebraska will do in the Big Ten? ANDY RODDICK: We'll see. They got a good team coming back. You know, we'll see. I'm looking forward to it, though. Q. On the tennis front, what are your impressions about how it seems older players are doing better? It's not so much the teenagers, early 20s, who are at the top, on both the men's and women's side, the median age is increasing. ANDY RODDICK: I just talked about this. It's cyclical. I mean, three years from now it could be different. I mean, I remember two, three years ago when obviously Rafa was still being Rafa, you know, Murray was establishing himself, and Djokovic was establishing himself, all the talk was, you know, of the young guys coming through. Now it's like pushing back. Bottom line is, regardless of what year you were born in, if you can play, you have a place in the game. That's the way I view it. As to why, why it's changing a little bit or why the older guys are kind of reestablishing themselves in the top 20 or whatever it is, I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know. Q. Are you happy with your draw? ANDY RODDICK: I mean, I haven't looked too far, to be honest. You know, to be honest, the first thing I thought of when you asked that question was, Does it matter? You go out, you play a match, you play the guy across the net from you. I think it's a little presumptuous to look anywhere past that. Q. Can Lleyton Hewitt be a contender for the title again? ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I've always put Lleyton in the top echelon of guys on grass. You know, a lot of people talk about how well I played over the weekend last year, but I barely beat Lleyton in the quarters. That was a match I felt fortunate to get out of. It's not surprising to see Lleyton Hewitt playing well on a grass court, you know. I'm sure the tournament in Halle kind of maybe opened some people's eyes. But inside the locker room, I don't know if anyone was super shocked that he's in form on this surface. Q. Seeing as you're so close to Fish and you know Querrey really well, did you maintain an interest in Queen's or was that just wiped off the horizon for you? ANDY RODDICK: No. I mean, I was there every day practicing, so it was kind of hard. Obviously, when my friends are in, I'm pulling for them, still watching their matches, you know. Yeah, sure, I was still interested. Q. How is grass court tennis different from a mental standpoint compared to hard court and clay tennis? ANDY RODDICK: Well, that's an extremely personal question. I could get into the psychosis of clay versus grass for a little while (laughter). I think more than anything, you kind of have to stay the course on a grass court a little bit more, kind of point for point, because maybe some of the points go faster. You might not, you know, be in many games on the other guy's serve for two, three, four service games in a row. I think it's more critical on this surface than any other to take your opportunities when you do get 'em. You know, you can't really kind of coast in and out of focus on this surface. Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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