Queen's June 10 2011 - Andy Roddick

A. RODDICK/F. Verdasco

           

6‑2, 6‑2

        

        

ANDY RODDICK

            Q.  It has been one of those days, hasn't it?  You have to just get through it the best you can, and you did a pretty good job of it?

            ANDY RODDICK:  Yeah.  You know, you can't really act surprised when you get a day like that.  It is what it is.  But I was happy the way it went when I was out there.

            Q.  Can you talk about playing Andy?  Of course Wimbledon when you beat him, can you talk about that and facing him again?

            ANDY RODDICK:  Anything in particular or...

            Q.  Generalize it, about playing him again.

            ANDY RODDICK:  I mean, you know it's going to be tough.  I don't think there's going to be a lot of surprises either way.  I feel like, you know, we're probably in the two hands' worth of guys that really feel comfortable on this surface and feel like they can play well on it.

            You know, it's certainly going to be tough.  He's played a lot of matches.  He's playing well.  It's going to be a tough one for sure.

            Q.  What are your memories of that match, the Wimbledon semi?

            ANDY RODDICK:  You know, it was obviously a great result for me, especially on the heels of the way he was playing at that moment.

            You know, I remember people were talking about the Murray/Roger final already.  You know, I had to play well to beat him, though.  I had to play one of my best matches, and, you know, that's a credit to his level where it is consistently.

            Q.  But tactically you really appeared to have it all worked out that day.

            ANDY RODDICK:  Maybe.  I mean, if there's a point difference and we're in the fifth set, you know, that didn't go my way, we're talking about how I might need to change my tactics.

            You know, a lot of us know how to play a match.  You know, you guys can probably see how to play a match.  The difference is we're able to execute it sometimes, you know.

            The difference between the top guys is there's ‑‑ you know, you make it a numbers game and you kind of decrease ‑‑ the person has to be perfect in that certain percentage of opportunity.  You know, the top players, I think they give you less of an opportunity and you have to come up big when you do get it.

            Q.  How would you describe your rivalry with him?

            ANDY RODDICK:  I mean, I don't know.  We haven't played in a couple of years, so, you know...

            Q.  I mean, he was saying earlier that you had a fairly fiery one in your younger days.

            ANDY RODDICK:  Oh, sure.  Yeah, I mean, I think we get along fine.  You know, I certainly respect the work that he puts in.

            You know, if you've gotten into it and been intense on court, I mean, I don't ‑‑ I don't even pay two minds to that.  That happens with a lot of guys.

            Q.  If you look back at the 2006 match at Wimbledon ‑ I know you played him once, twice before ‑ would it be right to say that's the first time you really appreciated what a major talent he would be?

            ANDY RODDICK:  No, I think I had lost to him before that.  Normally when you're in the losing end you can appreciate the talent.

            No, I mean, I think the buzz was already out there.  It seems to be the guys that end up in the top, you know, 3, 4, 5 consistently, they're very good when they're ‑‑ they're already putting up results when they're 18 years old.  You don't see a lot of them developing late.  Andy was certainly a case ‑‑ I mean, he had a good sense of the court from a very young age.

            Q.  Talking about tactics, have you had to adapt a little bit on grass because it isn't perhaps the benefactor for your kind of game that it used to be?  You have to think different ways and play it different ways if you're going to succeed even on a grass court?

            ANDY RODDICK:  Yeah, well, not so much ‑‑ I don't have to do it as much.  You know, there's a lot of talk that it is pretty much impossible to serve and volley on the second serve, but that's not something that I've done a lot.  My chip stays down still.  No matter how slow it is, it still bounces low.

            You know, there are some adjustments to be made.  You know, you wish it was, you know, played a little bit more like a fast court more often, but you know, some of that is weather‑dependent, too.  We haven't had a real warm week.  It's naturally going to make it a bit slow, I think.