	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 20, 2010

Andy Roddick

CINCINNATI, OHIO

A. RODDICK/N. Djokovic
6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Was this a little bit easier match than you were expecting? Nothing is probably super easy, but, you know...
ANDY RODDICK: Novak probably didn't play his best today. That's fairly apparent. He's missing balls he normally doesn't miss. So I probably expected him to play a little bit better.

Q. You really made a big improvement on your first serve between the first and second sets. What did you do differently?
ANDY RODDICK: I mean, nothing really. They just started going in. I was missing a lot in the first set in the tape and kind of barely missing, but my second serve got me through the first set.
Then the second set I was able to kind of land a couple more fist serves.

Q. Were you able to catch the end of the Fish match before your match? And what are your impressions of the first all-American final since '04?
ANDY RODDICK: Semis, yeah.

Q. Or semis.
ANDY RODDICK: Oh, I'm excited for a lot of reasons. You know, at the beginning of last week I hadn't played tennis for about six or seven days. Mardy came down, and my first practice was really bad, and so I didn't really see this coming. Maybe for him, but not the way I was hitting the ball.
So it's real nice. Obviously I'm happy for his surge. He's probably my best friend on tour, so I'm really happy to see him playing well. I just hope he doesn't do it tomorrow. (Smiling.)
Q. How hard is it to play a really close friend like that?
ANDY RODDICK: We've done it enough. I think we both understand that once you get in between the lines it's business, and we're trying win a tennis match. When we were younger and probably a little bit -- you know, we probably had a little bit more attitude in our matches. (Laughing.)
You know, we would get a little snippy with each other. But I don't think we have to worry about that anymore. That's something we haven't done in a long time.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on Serena deciding not to play the US Open this year?
ANDY RODDICK: It's the first I've heard it of. I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it. But I do know the US Open is probably her favorite event, so obviously if she's, you know, this far out and is not gonna play, it's got to be something pretty serious.
Which is unfortunate, because there's no doubt about who the top draw card is in New York City as far as the women's side of the draw. So that's a fairly big sized hit for the tournament.

Q. Talk a little bit about your friendship with T.O. are you going to the game tonight? How did you guys meet, that type of thing.
ANDY RODDICK: I think we just met at the ESPYs one year. You know, I think we're both fairly straightforward. And I think either our first conversation could have gone really well, or we could have rubbed each other the extremely wrong way. (Laughing.)
But, no, it was cool. He likes coming out to the tennis, so we've gotten to know each other a little bit more. He came down to Australia this year. You know, it's always entertaining.

Q. What do you do in your free time when you're in Mason, Ohio?
ANDY RODDICK: I haven't had much free time. Actually, I have some in-laws here -- or not in-laws, some aunts and uncles that are here. My trainer, Doug Spreen, is from here, so he took us out to his golf club one day. I don't have much time, but the one day I did have off we went out and played some golf.

Q. How do you feel about your form overall? This is probably the most consistent you've played.
ANDY RODDICK: Well, I'm happy. I mean, you know, like I said, I didn't come into this tournament with hardly any expectations. I didn't know if I was gonna play it, to be honest, you know, Thursday, Friday of last week.
So I mean, the doc told me to probably only practice about an hour a day, and I think I've done more than that this week. So it's all good from -- regardless of what happens from here on out, I consider it a big success just because I feel like I have some form going into the US Open regardless.
So this has been a very, very positive week for me this week.

Q. I guess this win gets you back in the top 10 when the next world rankings come out. Is that something you pay any attention to at all?
ANDY RODDICK: (Laughing.) Um, I wish I got to talk about it as much when I am in the top 10 as opposed to when I'm not. It's only a story when I'm not.
I don't care at all, frankly. For me, it hasn't been about -- I mean, I missed the last four months of last year when my knee was all blown up, and then this year's been a little dicey.
I've had probably four or five good months to put on the board as far as ranking, so it's not really surprising that I dropped out. When I have been on the court, my record speaks for itself. It's 30 some odd wins and 7 losses or something like that.
It's not something I'm too concerned with? You know, if I felt like I was playing well and not getting wins, then that would different story. I know if I do the right things, prepare and find form, then I'm still relevant.

Q. Your streak at the end of the year, being in the top 10, do you look that at all? I know during the year there's obviously reasons.
ANDY RODDICK: Well, yes, because I want to play well towards the end of the year. I'm not concerned so much with the streak. I'm more concerned with confidence level entering a tournament to win a tennis tournament, giving myself a shot. I like feeling like one of the top guys. I don't like kind of the in between that I've been feeling this summer a little bit.
But as far as -- it's nice, because it shows consistency over a year, but it's definitely not something that I'm obsessed with.

Q. What is the key to tomorrow's match?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, I mean, there's gonna be no surprises. I mean, I think we probably know each other better than we might know ourselves, especially our playing styles. We talk about tennis all the time, our games; we're practicing, and we give each other little tips of what to look for, what we're doing differently.
I mean, there aren't a whole a lot the secrets out there. It's just gonna be matter of who executes better and who's able to do the right things.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297