Andy
Roddick Interview
Wimbledon
2010
Q. Fantastic
American hard court swing. Bit of a downtime during the
clay court season. Do you still feel you're perhaps
coming in with higher expectations than 12 months ago?
ANDY RODDICK: Uhm, I
don't know. I mean, you know, you always at this point in
the tournament are just worried about getting through the
first one. I don't think that ever changes.I don't really
get too caught up in expectations. I get caught up in,
you know, how you're gonna win three sets on Monday. I
don't think that really doesn't change too much.
Q. How is your
fitness?
ANDY RODDICK:
Physically, I'm fine. Yeah, there's no problem.
Q. What has been
the schedule since Queen's? I saw you play an exhibition.
Other than that, just practice?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah,
just practice as usual. I've gotten in a lot of court
time, which has been good. I'm definitely not short on
repetitions right now or set play or anything like that.
Just going to be
applying it to an actual match, which is pretty tough to
simulate. As far as, you know, the way I'm hitting the
ball, I feel fine. I feel good.
Q. When did Larry
get in?
ANDY RODDICK: He got in Monday.
Q. What was the thinking with him not being at
Queen's?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, he wasn't there last year. His first
son graduated from UCLA. That was always going to take
priority as far as his family goes.
Q. Besides Rafa on the clay, there's been no stand
out, dominating person. Do you think this is a more open
Wimbledon than for a long time?
ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. I mean, you know, I think you
have the normal cast of favourites, you know. So,
regardless, you know, I think Roger's always a favourite
when he comes here. Rafa's in form, he's playing well.
You know, Murray will have the home court. I could have
given you the same answer last year as I'm giving you
right now, so...
I think, you know, you're still gonna get the same five
or six names when asked.
Q. Your name is obviously among them. You put yourself
there, don't you?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, yeah, I think so. I've proven that I
know how to kind of navigate my way to the later rounds
of this tournament. It's a place I feel comfortable. It's
a surface that I feel good on. So, you know, as for names
on the list, that's for you to decide. But, you know, I
feel comfortable with where I'm at here.
Q. Is coming so close something that you can put
behind you or even want to put behind you after last
year?
ANDY RODDICK: Uhm, well, I mean, you know, I think I've
been asked this question about 86,000 times since last
year.
But, uhm, I don't know if 'put behind you', I don't know
exactly what that means. I'm always going to remember it.
It's always gonna be there. You don't generally mind
trick yourself into making it go away.
The thing is, I have great memories last year. Everyone
talks about a match, but it takes two weeks of getting to
that match of playing pretty good tennis. I played some
of my best stuff.
It's a tournament as a whole that I think I'll always be
extremely proud of.
Q. Did you know coming in last year you had your best
stuff going? Where, in a two week tournament like this,
do you realise that?
ANDY RODDICK: I did not have great stuff early on in the
tournament last year. You know, I think if you look at my
first round, I dropped a set in nearly every round until
the fourth round action and then I started playing a lot
better.
You know, the thing is, no matter how well you play on a
given day, it starts over two days later. So, you know,
like I said, I don't think you get too high or low on
form. It's just a matter of surviving, giving yourself a
chance to play again, and getting through a draw.
Q. You talk about taking the positives. There were a
helluva lot of positives to take out of it last year. In
hindsight, how would what you did here last year compare
to maybe actually winning the US Open?
ANDY RODDICK: You want me to compare last year to winning
the US Open?
Q. The feeling of
accomplishment.
ANDY RODDICK: Well,
I don't know. To be honest, I don't really deal in
hypotheticals. Last year is last year. Has zero to do
with this year, as far as I'm concerned.
You know, I'm not gonna close my eyes and think and
that's going to make me hit a better forehand when I go
out and practice right now. Maybe some people work like
that. I don't. You wake up and live each day for itself.
I think that's what
I do, you know. I don't know how playing well last year
affects this year past the point of knowing that you can
do it and you can play well.
Q. Venus Williams
said she doesn't really understand the rules of football
or soccer. Do you understand the rules and have you been
following the World Cup?
ANDY RODDICK: Yes and yes.
Q. Impressions then?
ANDY RODDICK: I understand the rules of football so well
that apparently when two Slovenian guys mug an American
guy the American guy gets called for a foul. That's how
well I understand the rules.
Q. Did you watch the England game last night?
ANDY RODDICK: I did not watch the England game last
night, no. I decided to take advantage of no traffic and
go into the city and have some dinner. You'd be amazed
how quickly you can get down there when an England game
is on.
Q. What are your
thoughts on Nebraska's new conference?
ANDY RODDICK: You
know what? I'm surprisingly unaffected by it. I don't
mind it.
I think the Big Ten is such a storied conference. The Big
12, I lost it a little bit when we stopped playing
Oklahoma every year. It kind of made that rivalry go by
the wayside.
For all you English
people, this is what it's like when you talk about World
Cup in front of us.
Q. But you take
part in the World Cup. All your sports are just played in
America.
ANDY RODDICK: That's your fault (laughter).
Anyway, I feel fine about it.
Q. What are your
thoughts on how Nebraska will do in the Big Ten?
ANDY RODDICK: We'll
see. They got a good team coming back. You know, we'll
see. I'm looking forward to it, though
.
Q. On the tennis
front, what are your impressions about how it seems older
players are doing better? It's not so much the teenagers,
early 20s, who are at the top, on both the men's and
women's side, the median age is increasing.
ANDY RODDICK: I just
talked about this. It's cyclical. I mean, three years
from now it could be different. I mean, I remember two,
three years ago when obviously Rafa was still being Rafa,
you know, Murray was establishing himself, and Djokovic
was establishing himself, all the talk was, you know, of
the young guys coming through. Now it's like pushing
back.
Bottom line is, regardless of what year you were born in,
if you can play, you have a place in the game. That's the
way I view it. As to why, why it's changing a little bit
or why the older guys are kind of reestablishing
themselves in the top 20 or whatever it is, I'm not sure.
I mean, I don't know.
Q. Are you happy with your draw?
ANDY RODDICK: I mean, I haven't looked too far, to be
honest. You know, to be honest, the first thing I thought
of when you asked that question was, Does it matter? You
go out, you play a match, you play the guy across the net
from you. I think it's a little presumptuous to look
anywhere past that.
Q. Can Lleyton Hewitt be a contender for the title
again?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I've always put Lleyton in the top
echelon of guys on grass. You know, a lot of people talk
about how well I played over the weekend last year, but I
barely beat Lleyton in the quarters.
That was a match I felt fortunate to get out of. It's not
surprising to see Lleyton Hewitt playing well on a grass
court, you know. I'm sure the tournament in Halle kind of
maybe opened some people's eyes. But inside the locker
room, I don't know if anyone was super shocked that he's
in form on this surface.
Q. Seeing as you're so close to Fish and you know
Querrey really well, did you maintain an interest in
Queen's or was that just wiped off the horizon for you?
ANDY RODDICK: No. I mean, I was there every day
practicing, so it was kind of hard. Obviously, when my
friends are in, I'm pulling for them, still watching
their matches, you know.
Yeah, sure, I was still interested.
Q. How is grass court tennis different from a mental
standpoint compared to hard court and clay tennis?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, that's an extremely personal
question. I could get into the psychosis of clay versus
grass for a little while (laughter).
I think more than anything, you kind of have to stay the
course on a grass court a little bit more, kind of point
for point, because maybe some of the points go faster.
You might not, you know, be in many games on the other
guy's serve for two, three, four service games in a row.
I think it's more critical on this surface than any other
to take your opportunities when you do get 'em.
You know, you can't really kind of coast in and out of
focus on this surface.
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