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U.S. OPENAugust 28, 2013Tim SmyczekNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK T. SMYCZEK/J. Duckworth THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Give us a blow‑by‑blow on getting here this morning. TIM SMYCZEK: On getting here this morning, all right. Well, unfortunately it wasn't as dramatic as you might think. I get everywhere really early. I gave myself way too much time this morning. This one time it paid off. It was actually kind of funny because we were going down on ‑ I don't know what the highway is that you get here. We're going down the highway, and I notice the cars started passing us. We were kind of slowing down. I look up and you can see the rpm meter. It's at zero. I'm like, Wait a minute, why are we just coasting? So the lady, we were in the left lane; she makes it to the middle lane, and then we got to a spot where we had to merge. Kind of got cut off a little bit by a truck so she had to hit the brakes. She was really pissed. I don't know if she thought we were going to coast the whole way here, but we were still, I mean, a ways away. We just pulled over to the side of the road, got out, called transport. They said they'd send somebody. So we're waiting 20, 25 minutes. Then a guy named Nouri who works for the tournament just happened to be passing by. He pulled over and said, Hey, you guys need a ride or something? He got us here on time. Q. What time did this happen? TIM SMYCZEK: Let's see. We got an 8:15 car. We were pulled over from 8:45 to 9:15. Q. Were you off the freeway? TIM SMYCZEK: We were on the shoulder. Q. Of the freeway? TIM SMYCZEK: Right. Q. What was your driver's explanation for running out of gas? TIM SMYCZEK: I don't want to get anybody in trouble, man. I hope she still has a job. She seemed really nice. She just said, I don't know what I was thinking. It was the first trip of the day, so I don't know. Q. This is probably a dumb question, but has that ever happened to you before? TIM SMYCZEK: The first time for me. Hopefully the last, too. Q. Generally for transportation at tournaments, is it usually without issue? TIM SMYCZEK: Yeah, yeah, usually. But, I mean, you probably know how many people better than I do. Got a lot of people to take care of. You know, all things considered, I think they do a pretty good job. I'm going to make sure to ask tomorrow morning if we've got gas before we leave the hotel. Q. Talk a little bit about the match. TIM SMYCZEK: Yeah, I went out there and I felt like I was hitting the ball really well. Had a chance to break at 1‑All. You know, didn't take advantage. Then got a little unlucky to get broken early in the first. Then we had the rain delay and I came out playing better; broke him back. Then I played a sloppy game at 3‑4. Before I knew it, first set was over. But I felt like I was in a lot of his service games. I thought it was just a matter of time before I started getting some chances and some looks on his serve. You know, broke pretty early in the second and then broke again for the set. I was down a break in the third. I didn't play a bad game. He actually played, you know, well to break me. Then I was able to break him right back and take the third. Started actually cramping a little bit in the fourth. Thankfully was able to scrap out some points. He made a couple errors, you know, and that helped a little bit. So I was glad it was a relatively quick fourth set. Q. What happened after? You were getting treatment. TIM SMYCZEK: Yeah, well, I've cramped before and it's no fun. As soon as I got in the locker room, I just started drinks as much water and electrolytes as I could. I drank way too much because my stomach, I was really struggling the last hour and a half or so. It's calmed down now and it's better. Q. Where were you cramping? TIM SMYCZEK: My hands and forearms. Really weird. I don't know. It might have been more nerves than dehydration just 'cause that's kind of a weird place to cramp. Q. You couldn't grip the racquet? TIM SMYCZEK: When I was going to the towel after points, I was trying to just really loosen up a little bit. Q. Ever cramp in that area before? TIM SMYCZEK: I mean, a little bit, but not when that's the only place you're cramping. Q. It was a pretty lengthy fourth set. TIM SMYCZEK: Was it? Q. 50 minutes. TIM SMYCZEK: Was it? I didn't know that. So much for having a short fourth set, I guess. I'm glad then I broke him that second time 'cause, you know, I got through the service game to win it, but I don't know how many more I could have gotten through. Q. Back to the transport. You play a lot of different level tournaments. When you're not at a slam for transport, how do you usually get to and from tournaments? TIM SMYCZEK: Most of the time you just rent a car. A little easier to control your destiny. Q. Usually it's a big perk when you don't have to do that though, right? TIM SMYCZEK: It's nice not to have to worry about anything. Q. Did your driver seem surprised she had run out of gas? TIM SMYCZEK: She seemed more pissed off than anything. I honestly think she thought she was going to be able to make it to the site without stepping on the gas again. We had to be five, six miles away still. I don't know what the thought process was. Q. Do you know where you were exactly? TIM SMYCZEK: Right before the Queens Boulevard exit. I'm terrible with directions. Q. What was your reaction during all that? TIM SMYCZEK: My coach and I just started laughing. I felt bad for the lady because she knew she screwed up. But there was nothing you could do but laugh. Thankfully I gave myself enough time this morning that I wasn't too worried about, you know, missing my match or anything, so... Saw a good photo op and we took it. Q. You weren't originally given a wildcard. TIM SMYCZEK: I knew as soon as the list of wildcards came out, I was the first alternate. I knew Rajeev was only one out, so there was a pretty good shot of getting in, especially because both Cilic and Troicki were still on the list. Yeah, I pretty much knew when the list came out. So I went and played Winston‑Salem, and I think maybe Wednesday or something Rajeev got in. Kind of took a sigh of relief. Q. What do you think about your next match? TIM SMYCZEK: I think they just started the fifth. Q. What do you make of each of them? TIM SMYCZEK: I played Bogey before. He's tough as nails. He's going to fight every minute. And Paire looks the other end of the spectrum. Really flashy. He's a shot‑maker. Kind of a showman. It would be two polar opposites. But my coach is in there watching the match right now, so... Q. Do you think you'll be checking gas gauges from now on? TIM SMYCZEK: Absolutely. You better believe it. Only here, though. I'm just glad we didn't break down in the Midtown Tunnel. Would have been a disaster. They might have had to push back matches for everybody. Q. Other players joke about it when you got here? TIM SMYCZEK: Yeah, yeah. Q. Any prime material from anybody? TIM SMYCZEK: Not really. They're not very creative. Q. Do you think your driver was joyriding around and ran out of gas before she came to pick you up? TIM SMYCZEK: I don't know. It was pretty early. I don't know what you can do before 8:00 a.m. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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