|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SONY ERICSSON OPENMarch 24, 2012Ryan HarrisonMIAMI, FLORIDA R. FEDERER/R. Harrison THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Obviously against Roger you want to have it all going for you. Did you look at the stat sheet? Your service percentage was really... RYAN HARRISON: Yeah, I think that's not as high as it could have been. I think Roger, the way Roger can play and his returns definitely put you under more pressure. You can't just roll it in. You're kind of a little more forced to hit big spots. So it's not easy. Yeah, I mean, could have definitely been higher. Q. Do you feel good about yourself the way you crept back into the second set and were right there to possibly push him? RYAN HARRISON: I hate losing, so there's obviously some positives to take from it. But I'm not ecstatic. I'm not going to go celebrate right now. Q. You've played Roger before. Todaywhat was different? What was more difficult? Are you getting closer? RYAN HARRISON: He played a lot better this time than whenever I played him last time. Scoreline was similar, but the quality was a lot better. So I think that's a good thing. I think I did some things well, especially in the second set. I started coming back. 5‑6 service game was a tough service game in the second set, and I did well to keep it together. And then there was, you know, three or four points in the breaker that literally fractions just decided 'em. You know, the better you get ‑ and obviously he's the best ever ‑ so the better you get, the fractions start to lean your way a little more, and that's why he beat me. Q. What was your perspective on the point where the fan shouted out and Roger stopped playing? RYAN HARRISON: I felt really bad, but it's ultimately the chair's call. There's nothing really you can say. I mean, obviously I want to win every point the right way and not because something happened, but that point was still pretty neutral. Unfortunately somebody interrupted play. It was an unfortunate thing, but it's happened against me before and there's nothing you can do. I think among the players it's almost an unwritten thing, where if you ‑‑ ultimately the chair makes the decision and you go with the chair's decision. If I start‑‑ if I give him something and then something happens later in the match and he doesn't give it back to me, you know, you just don't play that game. So ultimately you just have to walk the chair. I felt bad, but then you've got to keep playing. Q. What is your mentality when you play Roger? Andy has played him like 23 times and it's been sort of a career frustration. What is your mentality when you go into a match against a guy like that? RYAN HARRISON: I go in trying to control things on my side of the court ‑ against Roger or against anybody. That's the way I play. That's the way I'm always gonna play. Q. But I mean specifically you're playing one of the best players of all time... RYAN HARRISON: I control my side of the court, and that's the way I play. Q. What specifically is he doing now better? You said he was playing better this time. Can you be more specific? RYAN HARRISON: He, just from like a game standpoint, you can tell that he's hitting his shots with just like a complete conviction and confidence as opposed to‑‑ you know, there were some times last year whenever ‑‑ he didn't look like he had the same authority on a shot that he had. I guess in our match I noticed that he shanked a few forehands, missed a few mid‑court forehands that ‑‑ it was also a windy night match the time we played, so that could have definitely played into it. But you can tell. I mean, coming off of his match, as many matches as he has this year, he's got this like authority about his game right now where he's hitting his shots knowing he's gonna make 'em. It's gonna make it difficult for anyone to beat him. Q. Do you feel like you're getting closer to another breakthrough? What separates you from the top 25, the top 10? Or will you need to, you know, stagnate for a little while to get ahold on this and then have another breakthrough? RYAN HARRISON: No, I mean, as a player you're always looking to win every match, and it starts one at a time. So it's not something where, you know, if you get stuck for a month or two or however long it is, it's definitely not because‑‑ there's nobody that's ever been happy with being stuck unless you're at No. 1. (Smiling.) That's the only time you'll ever be happy being stuck. Every day you're gonna look to improve. You're gonna approach every match ‑ at least I am ‑ with the expectation of winning. Just if you'd ask me going into this week, What's what's your expectation for the tournament, I'd say, I'm gonna try to win every match and do as well as I can and try to win the tournament. Didn't win this week, so I'm gonna look for it to happen next week. That's the way I'm gonna approach things. Q. At this point, I don't think you care about like commiseration at the net, but can you share what Roger said to you at the net? RYAN HARRISON: He said, Great match; great playing; great luck for the season. I said, Thanks. I said, Sorry about that call that was the break. I said, It was very unfortunate. He smiled and said, Good luck for the season. That was it. Q. Can you talk about the game where you broke in the ninth game, 5‑4, there? What were you thinking right after that? The crowd is excited. That was a big break right there. RYAN HARRISON: After I broke him or during the game I broke him? Q. Well, during and after. RYAN HARRISON: During the game, I had been playing pretty close to the baseline and trying to step up. That's usually the way I return, because that's‑‑ you know, that's where I'm comfortable, the most comfortable, I would say. I hadn't even had a look or even close to a break point. So finally I was just like, Let's try something different. I backed off a little bit and I was able to kind of give him a different look and was able to disrupt his rhythm just for a second, and I got the break I needed. And then obviously the crowd got into it, and I started‑‑ you know, I started getting a little more pep in my step. At that point, kind of evened out a little bit more. He kind of edged me at the end. Q. (Question regarding the clay court season.) RYAN HARRISON: Um, like ranking‑based or what do you mean? Q. Are you setting yourself a certain round that you want to get to in a Masters 1000? Do you want to get to a certain ranking? RYAN HARRISON: No, I mean, like I said‑ and I've said a few times ‑ just I don't believe in setting a specific ranking goal or a specific round that you want to get to. Because let's say I would have chose, Let's get to the round of 16 here. Okay? Then I get to the round of 16, well am I going to go into the match expecting to lose? What happens then? I just‑‑ you go to‑‑ you go through each match with the expectation of winning. You can't overlook anybody because everybody can play. I don't put a ranking‑based goal because the ranking will take care of itself if my game is improving. So ultimately what I'm gonna look to do is every day at practice, every day in a match, I'm gonna try and work on the things and incorporate the things that need to improve, whether it be higher first serve percentage today or being a little more aggressive with my forehand, looking to come in a little more, just different things that I need to improve on. Hopefully that gets me where I want to go, which is ultimately in contention for Grand Slams. Obviously I've got a ways to go to get there, but that's the ultimate goal. Q. Did you execute today's game plan as you envisioned? In hindsight is it too soon for you to tell yourself what you should have or could have done differently? RYAN HARRISON: Well, I lost. Obviously that's not how I envisioned it. Q. But sometimes we execute and yet the other person... RYAN HARRISON: That's true. I mean, obviously playing against somebody like Roger they're going to have things on their side of the court, too. I think it's pretty safe to say the second set was a lot tighter than the first set. I did some things better in the second set than the first set. He played a flawless first set. But there were some things as far as my balls landing a little too short. I didn't really hit my spots the way I wanted to with the serve to put him in uncomfortable position. He's one of the best ever at blocking back and making a lot of returns. You know, he doesn't miss returns just for no reason. So it's forcing you to hit a lot of your spots and make 'em precise. So that was something I did better in the second set, and that's why the only game I got broken was a long deuce‑ad game. Other than that, it was a tiebreaker. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|