|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND: BRAZIL v USAFebruary 1, 2013Sam QuerreyJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA S. QUERREY/T. Bellucci THE MODERATOR: Questions for Sam. Q. Do you recall serving that well in a match before? SAM QUERREY: There's probably been a few, but not many. I feel like I've been serving great all week in practice. The court really helps my serve. When it hits, it really skids away. Yeah, I mean, I couldn't have served much better out there. Q. Can you talk about your debut at home. You served well, but played a solid all‑around game. How pleased are you with your overall performance? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I feel like I played great. I was serving well, and that just makes things so much easier. I could play a little freer on his service games. I was a little nervous at the beginning. Once I got that first break, I felt like I got my feet settled and I was on a roll. I was just really happy with the overall performance, and Jim was, too. It's nice to give the team a lead. Q. You used that first break right into the second set and broke right away. Did you feel a little momentum at that point? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, and again in the third set I think it was the same thing. I think he felt the pressure, too, once that happened. Because I was serving so well, he knew it was going to be tough to break me and try to win those sets. To get the early break in both those sets was key. I think that allowed me to serve really well. I always kind of had the momentum, up a break, so I didn't face too much pressure which made it pretty easy for me. Q. You won 45 of 47 first‑serve points that went in. Do you do that often? SAM QUERREY: No. Usually the percentage isn't that high. I'll take that every time. Q. Did you sense he felt the court was really fast for him? SAM QUERREY: Yeah. I mean, it's fast, but I thought the Australian Open courts were faster. You know, I didn't think it was ridiculously fast. But I'm sure he prefers the clay, and that suits us really well. The court surface was definitely to my advantage. Q. Obviously you had such a dominant match. What do you need to do to pick your game up for the reverse singles? Do you see anything you can improve on? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I think my second serve returns could have been a little bit better. It's a little tricky with Bellucci, the lefty serves are a little tougher to read. I think if I picked one thing I could do better, it's my second serve return, could have been a little more aggressive. Q. Were there any nerves for you? How does it feel to get that first one out of the way? SAM QUERREY: It feels good. I kind of said earlier there were nerves the first few games. But then once I got that first break, everything kind of settled in. I was good to go from there. Q. When you hear you only lost 12 points total on your service games, what do you think? SAM QUERREY: It's a great stat. I mean, I'll take that all the time. I can't expect that every time. So I'm going to go out in my next match and assume I'm not going to serve that well and have to work a little harder. It's been feeling good all week and I just want to keep it going. Q. There were a number of occasions where you hit deep towards the baseline, forcing him back. You were able to come into the net and put it away. Was that the game plan going in? SAM QUERREY: Little bit. I'm not a net player. But this court, once you really hit a good, penetrating ball that's deep on this court, it's tough for the guy to get on offense. When a guy pops it up, I'm always going to look to come in and put it away. I thought I did that really well. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the atmosphere here. No offense to anybody here, but there's not the rock stars. You don't have Agassi here, John McEnroe. Can you talk about the atmosphere that you got from this crowd. Not a full arena, but those that were here seemed to be a little bit enthusiastic. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, definitely. Everyone that was there did a great job. They got surprisingly loud there at the end for an arena that wasn't full. You know, it's still good for who was there. Hopefully tomorrow we can get more. I know sometimes it's a little tougher on Friday with people working. Hopefully tomorrow and Sunday we can get more. You know, I think everyone, all the fans out there, were really vocal and did a great job. Q. What would you tell the casual tennis fan, woman or man that might casually watch tennis, about tomorrow, basically what arguably could be the best doubles team of all time, encouraging them to come out? SAM QUERREY: I would say that right there. It's the greatest doubles team of all time. They're 34 years old. You know, hopefully they can go five more years. But who knows how much longer they're going to be able to play. Davis Cup moves around. You don't have professional tennis in Jacksonville. You don't have tournaments here. This could be your one chance to see the greatest doubles team of all time. Q. How do you feel about the city? What are you going to do in the future to help other cities, host cities, to make sure tennis will be on the top of their minds when they come out on a weekend? SAM QUERREY: You know, the four of us on the team, we don't really get to control where the ties are played. But I know the USTA does a great job in trying to promote tennis and promote the tie and get as many people out as they can. We've been doing some kids clinics this week, an official team dinner. There are posters and billboards up. I think the USTA that promotes it does everything that they can through social media and billboards, the mayor of the city is out, they take all those measures to try to get as many people out as they can. Q. Who is your pick to win the Super Bowl and why? SAM QUERREY: I don't care that much. The 49ers. I mean, everyone is saying that. I think they're the favorite. Kaepernick is pretty tough. Just there all around team is a little better than the Ravens. Q. You're from California, too? SAM QUERREY: I was born in SanFrancisco. You'd think I'd really want the 49ers to win. I like the Chargers. Q. All the great American players have played and won in Davis Cup. What is it like for you? Is that a privilege, a burden? SAM QUERREY: It's a huge privilege. I mean, all of us on the team, we're all really into Davis Cup. We all are available every time there's a tie. Even here, it's John, Bob, Mike and myself. Mardy Fish is here, Ryan Harrison is here. Even James Blake is up in the commentating box. We're all really into it. If anyone needs us, we're there to play. It's a thrill and it's an honor to be on the team. Q. You said 'everybody is here'. That wasn't the case maybe 20 years ago. I'm wondering what's changed in the past 20 years that's gotten everybody back onboard. SAM QUERREY: I think we're friendlier than people 20 years ago. I feel like guys 20 years ago, even if they were from the same country, they didn't like each other that much. There was more that rivalry thing, which is good and bad. That's what can make a sport popular, too. We're all such good friends, and I think we like cheering each other on, we like hanging out with each other, so that makes it a little easier. Q. It was said that the Bryans are 'arguably' the best doubles team of all time. You definitively said they are the greatest of all time. Do you stand by that? SAM QUERREY: The argument is between them and the Woodies probably? I don't really know the stats, but I think they're the greatest of all time. Q. Following up on that. They had already won maybe a couple of slams when you came out of juniors. What was the adjustment for you becoming a peer of theirs? SAM QUERREY: I mean, for me it was easy 'cause we grew up basically 10 minutes away from each other. They grew up in Camarillo, California, I through grew up in Thousand Oaks. From the time I was 12 years old, I knew their dad Wayne Bryan. I would practice at their club. Between 12 and 18 years old, I had already kind of hung out with them a lot, hit with them a lot. We were kind of friends. It was just a really easy transition. Then once we were on the Davis Cup team together, kind of saw them week in and week out, we became really good friends really quick. We were from the same neighborhood, same mutual friends. That just made it real easy. 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
|