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DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND: BRAZIL v USAFebruary 3, 2013Jim CourierSam QuerreyJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA S. QUERREY/T. Alves THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Sam, go ahead and give us a general opening thought about the match today. SAM QUERREY: You know, I was just very happy with the way I battled through it. Didn't strike the ball as well as on Friday, but fought through the tough points, made him play, got breaks in the second, third and fourth sets there. He broke me back, but then edged him out in a tiebreaker. I was just happy to get through it. Q. Did you have a game plan coming in, something you wanted to try to do? SAM QUERREY: Yeah. Jim and I talked about it last night. Same with John and Bellucci. We both had very clear game plans going in. I tried my best to execute it. Got through in the end. Q. Sam, can you give us your thoughts on your first Davis 6Cup clinching win? SAM QUERREY: I'm really happy. I know it's the first live fifth rubber since 2000, I think. It was kind of exciting for the team. It's always exciting to win a fifth and deciding match anywhere. I was thrilled I could help the guys out. It's a team thing. We're all moving on to the next round. Q. Captain, can you share your thoughts with us? CAPTAIN COURIER: Sure. Sometimes obstacles become opportunities, and that's what this was today for Sam. John, we thought he was going to get through his match. We thought Bob and Mike were going to get through their match. It came down to Sam, and he stepped up when we needed him to. That's what these teams are all about, catching each other when we fall down, helping each other over the line. It was a good effort from everybody, particularly the Brazilians. They deserve a lot of credit for pushing us and making us come up with what we had to at the end. Sam faced some adversity at the end and played a great tiebreaker to get past not closing it out on serve. Those are learning moments for a player, things you can draw on later on in your career. Today is a good day for Sam and our team in a lot of ways. Q. Sam, what's the difference between trying to serve out a match in a tournament and trying to serve out for a win in a fifth rubber of a Davis Cup tie? SAM QUERREY: It's not just me out there, it's my whole team, captain here, it's the fans. You feel like you're playing for your country, not just yourself. You could feel a little more pressure. He played a good game there. I let a few points slip away. I thought I did a great job of coming back and winning the tiebreaker. Q. What about the pressure going into the match? Did you start to feel butterflies before your match? SAM QUERREY: Yes, a little bit. I still had confidence in John in the fifth set, but unfortunately he came up a little short. Yeah, I think everybody's going to have a little nerves going into a live fifth like that. Especially it's my first one. Once I kind of went out there and played a few games, especially after that first set, I got my thoughts and my game settled a little bit and I found my range a little bit more. Q. John talked about the lack of confidence he feels in his game right now. Can you work with him or is it just going to take time for him to regain that confidence? CAPTAIN COURIER: John has his full‑time coach, Michael Sell. They'll be working together. John will be playing some tournaments between now and round two. Confidence comes from working on the practice court and translating that onto the match court. Talking about it is not going to change anything. He has to go through the process. He knows the process well. He had some bad luck with his health, well‑documented with his knee. Hasn't had a lot of reps. I know he's disappointed in the loss today. I think this weekend has done a lot for him as far as kick‑starting him into 2013 'cause he obviously started with a stutter down in Australia. He's just going to have to go through it. I'll be there to help him. His full‑time coach will be there frequently to help him. Hopefully come April we'll have Sam and John and Bob and Mike and all the American weapons ready to deploy against a very difficult team. Q. Jim, you said you 'inherited' the team that Patrick built. What do you hope to add to the legacy that has already started here? CAPTAIN COURIER: Well, the American team set a pretty high bar through the years. We need to lift a banner and put a trophy up over our heads to really add to that legacy from a public facing standpoint. From an internal standpoint, I think I really want to continue to be involved with all these guys, Ryan Harrison, Mardy, all the guys here this week, Jack Sock, try to help them in any way, shape or form that I can. It's not just the Davis Cup weeks. I'm pulling for these guys every other week. My job is not just the hopefully four weeks of year that we get to play here, it's also throughout the year to lend a hand, a mind, some thoughts and ideas that can hopefully help these guys improve in different ways. Q. Now facing Serbia in the quarterfinals in Boise. CAPTAIN COURIER: We're excited. We wanted to face Serbia. We thought that would be a great test for us. They're one of the great Davis Cup nations right now. Novak is playing again this year after taking last year off. If you want to lift this trophy, you need to beat the best teams, and that certainly is one of them. We look forward to the challenge. We know it will be difficult. But Boise should be a very hospitable environment for us. We'll like the altitude there. That should work well for us. We'll look forward to playing there. Have you ever played in Boise? SAM QUERREY: When I was 10. Played an Inner Mountain tournament there. CAPTAIN COURIER: He has more experience than the Serbians there. Q. Sam, how will you take these two matches to jump‑start this 2013 season for you in hopes of improving on the No.20 ranking? SAM QUERREY: It's been a great start to the year in Auckland, in Australia, then especially these two matches. These were probably the biggest ones for me this year. They've given me a ton of confidence. I got a week off now and I start to get ready to go for San Jose and Memphis. I think I'm going to be confident in both those tournaments, feeling good. Serve feels good, forehand, backhand. The main thing is just the confidence. I'm looking forward to getting to San Jose and starting back up there. THE MODERATOR: Sam was the first American to win a live decisive fifth rubber since Pete Sampras in the 2000 quarterfinals at L.A. versus Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic. If Novak plays and is still No.1, it will be the third time the U.S. has played the No.1 player in the world. Last time Sam made his debut against Rafa on clay in Madrid. SAM QUERREY: 2008. CAPTAIN COURIER: I'd like to make a motion to change 'rubber' to 'match' going forward. Anyone like to second that motion? You guys are the writers, you translate everything to the people. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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