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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPENAugust 14, 2012Sam QuerreyCINCINNATI, OHIO S. QUERREY/J. Melzer THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Are you feeling okay? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, just been doing this all summer. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the fact that you have been playing a lot of hard court matches here and a lot of the rest of the field has been at the Olympics. How much of an advantage it is for you having hard court matches under your belt versus guys just coming back from the Olympics? SAM QUERREY: I don't think it's any advantage. All of the guys are professionals and played tons of hard court matches in their career. The Olympics ended for most people, you know, 10 days ago to two weeks ago, so they have been practicing on a hard court for a while. I think everyone is fine. Everyone has played a bunch of hard court matches already this summer. I don't think it's really an advantage. Q. Just assess your play. You said your goal this year was top 20; starting to knock on the door of that. Couple good results and you're maybe there. SAM QUERREY: Everything's feeling good; serving good; forehand and backhand feel great. Biggest thing is just my confidence. My confidence is high right now. I believe I can make a lot of shots, and I think that's a huge part of it. Like you said, I hope I can just keep winning a few matches and I'm knocking on the door. I wanted to be seeded at the Open. I have that locked up, and now a push for the top 20. Q. Is that a function of matches or wins under the belt or confidence? SAM QUERREY: The confidence. Just wins and matches and getting through. You know, going through a couple of tough three‑setters, couple stressful moments in matches and overcoming them, and you get that belief like, Hey, I really believe I can step up and hit a backhand crosscourt or rip a forehand up the line. I believe I can make all those shots right now. Q. Challengers earlier this year. What was it like going back playing at that level? SAM QUERREY: I played Sarasota this year. It was tough, really tough. Even though my ranking was 110, you know, I feel like, you know, people still knew who I was, and I felt like they expected me to kind of blow away the field. You know, those guys are tough. I didn't play well, but I just battled through it and, you know, I won that challenger. It was harder than winning some tour events. Just mentally, just, you know, it's tough when you're at the tour level for five years and you go back and play a challenger. Mentally it's very difficult. Q. You played Baker, didn't you? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I played him in the second or third round before he went on his run. Q. Have you ever beat the same guy twice in one day before? SAM QUERREY: Probably along the way. I'm sure I've lost to the same guy, too. I lost to Davydenko in the Olympics same day, Beijing. Q. Andy Murray next. SAM QUERREY: I mean, he's obviously playing great. He's got a lot of confidence. I'm going to go out there and, you know, just go for it. Hopefully maybe more aggressive on second serve returns, maybe take a few more chances and just, you know, have fun and enjoy it. He's obviously playing unbelievable right now. He's probably mentally feeling great coming off the Olympic win. I'm going to go out there and give it my all, and hopefully some balls land in. Q. After the Olympics there was a best‑of‑three tournament, some talk about possibly making slams best‑of‑three also for the men some day. How would you feel about that? SAM QUERREY: I mean, I don't have an opinion on it either way. I mean, I'd be fine if it was three sets; I'm fine with it being five sets. I am a fan of having a tiebreaker in the fifth set. I'd like that to be a rule. When it goes on and on and on I'm not a fan. I like the thrill and the excitement of that tiebreaker. Q. Did you feel it like before you had your match at Wimbledon this year? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I've always felt that way. Q. Couple years ago you had your family out in Wimbledon with you for a while. You had great success in the tournament before and even into Wimbledon you did pretty well. Are you going to look at maybe doing something like that for the majors going forward? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, actually last year they were all back out there again, but then I got hurt. This year my mom came to the French Open; my dad came to Queen's. You know, my parents were both at LA; they're both coming out to the US Open with some aunts and uncles. They actually do come to quite a few events. They're both coming to the Australian Open next year. Yeah, everyone will kind of start to be there. Q. How do you feel about this coach‑sharing arrangement with Sloane? SAM QUERREY: Oh, it's fine. I mean, David's been my coach for three years and I know Sloane really well. I mean, it's fine, you know. We're both sharing a USTA coach, so you can't be too picky with getting who I want all the time. But it's never been an issue, and the three of us are really good friends.  You know, we'll go out to dinner at tournaments. You know, we get along great. I'm totally fine with it. Q. It's more unusual to have a coach coaching a guy and a girl. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, definitely. Sloane lives in LA and David lives in LA, so I think they just get along really well. Obviously I have been with David for a while. I mean, it's fine. I think only one time we had an overlapping match, and that was at Wimbledon when I was playing Raonic my next day. I was already kind of into it.  But so far it's been fine. Q. After the Open in the fall will he travel with you or her or both? SAM QUERREY: Not sure. We haven't even discussed it. I'm not sure. I know, you know, Beijing is a combined event. You know, a couple of them might be like combined. We haven't even discussed it. I'm not sure yet. We'll talk about it after the Open. Q. How was it playing doubles with Mark Knowles? Did you pick up some things to add to your game? SAM QUERREY: World Team Tennis? It was great. Mark's a great guy, been playing doubles for a while. Just a fun guy to play with. I might have picked some things up, but I'm not changing my doubles game. I'm staying back and hitting forehands. Even if he tells me to come up I'm not doing it. It was a lot of fun to play with him. Q. Sloane was talking about wanting to find a mixed doubles partner. Would you ever be into that now that you share a coach? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, even if we didn't share a coach I already would. I'm already playing doubles at the Open with James. Three is definitely too much. I played mixed one year but I didn't play doubles that year. I can't do three, but I might play with Sloane somewhere down the road. Q. Is that because John is not playing doubles in NewYork? SAM QUERREY: Yeah. Q. Ball striking‑wise, can you talk about your confidence coming back? Do you feel ball striking‑wise right now you're playing as well as you have since you came back from injury? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, better. This is the best like I've ever felt I played, forehand and backhand. All together, I mean, it feels really good. I'm excited to go out there and play. Hopefully just things will keep up this way. Q. Can you elaborate a bit on your experience playing World Team Tennis? SAM QUERREY: World Team Tennis was great. I have played it in the past. This year I played six matches. It was kind of a fun, fun to be part of a team. I played on Sacramento, which is a great team, with Deepal Wannakuwatte. I'm not sure how to say his last name. He's an awesome guy. I got to play six matches that didn't necessarily count, but you've got some pressure. It was a lot of fun. I'll do it next year for sure. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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