2002美網八強賽賽後訪問
Transcribed Interview
09/05/2002
Andy Roddick
P. SAMPRAS/A. Roddick
THE MODERATOR: First question for Andy, please.
Q. What happened?
ANDY RODDICK: I got beat by Pete.
Q. How come?
ANDY RODDICK: Who's asking the questions? I can't even...
Sorry. He played well. I mean, he played a lot better than I did tonight.
Q. Would you say that Pete is washed up?
ANDY RODDICK: No. You guys say Pete is washed up. I've never said it. I don't
think many of the players doubt his capabilities. He's had maybe some subpar
performances, but I don't think anybody, you know, doubts the fact that he's
capable of great tennis still.
Q. Were you a little surprised his level was that high for three sets?
ANDY RODDICK: No.
Q. No?
ANDY RODDICK: Look at his record in night matches, you look at the way he plays
the US Open. You know, he's come in the last two years, people say, "What if,
what if, what if?" But he always backs it up.
Q. How much was your foot bothering you?
ANDY RODDICK: No more than the other night. I mean, I played on it the other
night and got a win.
Q. The way Pete closed out the first two sets with pretty spectacular volleys,
was that just the way you thought this night was going to go?
ANDY RODDICK: The first set, I wasn't upset, I didn't play badly. He played
well. Second set, I gave him a little bit of a gift, a lot of a gift, in that
game. You know, played one sloppy game in the third set and two sloppy games,
if someone's playing well, can make you look pretty bad sometimes.
Q. Describe his volleying.
ANDY RODDICK: It almost seemed like, you know, I hit a couple cheesy -- like
really not great returns and he missed the ball. Then when I'd hit a -- I don't
feel like I returned that badly tonight. I put a bunch at his feet. He was
picking them up, putting them in the corners. He was pretty spectacular tonight
when he had to be.
Q. Anything different you could have done in preparation?
ANDY RODDICK: I wouldn't have done anything different as far as preparing for
the match.
Q. Pete said the other day that your second serve was really intimidating -
that how he did against that was going to be crucial. Can you describe how you
felt you served on the second serve and what he did special to do so well.
ANDY RODDICK: It was tough today with the wind a little bit on the second serve
. You know, he knew that. He was playing the wind pretty well as far as bunting
it and looking for his opportunity to get in. You know, once he got in there, even if I did hit a good passing shot, he was quick and putting away volleys pretty quick. I definitely felt the pressure a little bit when he was coming in on it.
Q. Were you disappointed with your backhand passing tonight?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. More so my footwork after the first -- after the serve.
You know? I hit a couple backhand passes that clipped the top of the net.
Couple I was just lazy standing in the middle of the court and I had no
business hitting a backhand on in the first place.
Q. You had to hear the buildup of the match, the hype surrounding it. Despite
the beating, was it fun for you?
ANDY RODDICK: Despite the beating (laughing)... Thank you for taking it easy on
me.Fun? It's always fun for me to play. Disappointing, yes. But it's a learning
experience. I mean, it's still a learning experience. I'll try my best to
soak it up. You know, I think I'll have my moment here some day. I'm just going
to try my best and keep working hard and, you know, try to take something away
from these losses, as well as the wins.
Q. What do you think you learned tonight?
ANDY RODDICK: You know, I watched what I should be doing, you know, on big
points. I was on the other side of it. You know, how to come in and just really
, from the first point to the last point, set the tone for the match. You know,
that's something that, you know, I can definitely learn from by being on the
other side of it.
Q. Do you think Pete is such a great athlete that in some ways he makes it look
so easy and it's really deceptive to how fabulous he is as a player?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. Definitely. I mean, he's a great athlete. There's no doubt
about it. He is very graceful and fluid when he plays. That makes it easy on
the eyes to watch.
Q. You didn't seem to have the same energy level as you had in your previous
matches. How much of that did Pete deflate you a little with the first break?
ANDY RODDICK: Not really. You know, I didn't have many chances to get excited.
Maybe some of the chances I did have to get excited, it would have been, you
know, down two breaks in the second set. I don't really know if, you know,
that would have been the time for it or if I could have used it, you know, at
that time.
Q. You've got a Grand Slam winning serve, Grand Slam winning forehand, enough
Grand Slam win movement, is your backhand and volleying good enough at this
point to win a Grand Slam title?
ANDY RODDICK: Obviously not. I haven't gotten one yet.
Q. Is that where you think you have to concentrate your efforts?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's...
It's funny, if I win a match, it's improving and it's so solid and it's great
and it's grand and wonderful. As soon as it -- there's a bad match with it,
it's terrible and it sucks and, you know, useless and whatever (laughter). Take
your pick. I don't know.
Q. Of course the matches get tougher as you go deeper into the draw.
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, like I said, I think my footwork was -- I was standing
still half the time out there today. I think that had a lot to do with my
backhand as opposed to it not being a good shot. It's been , I feel like, you
know -- in Wimbledon I hit it like a beginner, like I didn't know how to do
anything. Tonight I don't think it was a factor of the backhand; I think it had
more to do with footwork. I was a little unlucky. I caught the tape a couple
times.But, you know... I don't know. I'm still gonna work on it.
Q. What message is Pete sending by his showing at this Open?
ANDY RODDICK: What he's been saying all along, "I'm not done yet."
Q. Last year you played a young Australian in this round. How much of a
difference did it make in the environment, playing an American legend?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, obviously, you know, the crowd support was split, but
that's expected going in. I mean, I don't know if Lleyton made a lot of fans
here last year - whether that was deserved or not, I'm not sure. The crowd was
definitely on my side last year, gung-ho. I don't know if it was the fact that
it was an American legend or that it was an American that the crowd wasn't
one-sided.
Q. Do you feel like you composed yourself well enough on your own service games
? Couple loose breaks there, especially the one in the second set, you had the
one breakpoint. Then the game after...
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, that game was terrible. I don't know if that -- I don't
know what that was. I don't know if composure had anything to do with it. I
missed four straight balls and double-faulted. That was just... That was just
... Yeah... It was bad.
Q. Were you upset about not breaking him the game before?
ANDY RODDICK: No. I didn't play -- I was lucky to be in the situation. I didn't
have great returns and he just dumped a couple volleys. I made him play the
last one. He snuck one on the back of the line. I wasn't really too upset with
it. You can't get upset for not breaking Pete Sampras, you just kind of have to
be happy when you do.But that game was really bad.
Q. As you pointed out, not winning a Grand Slam by the age of 20, is not a bad
thing. You certainly have plenty of time. That being said, what do you have to
do in the next year to build on your game as you do get older?
ANDY RODDICK: I have a lot to build on. That's what keeps me optimistic on
downer days, is that I know I'm winning matches. But I have a lot of work to do
still. You know, I'm, you know, floating around the Top 10, you know, with a
lot of things that I can improve, you know, a lot on - pretty much everything.
So, you know, I just have to keep going and keep working.
Q. Overall how would you assess your year, now that the US Open is over?
There's obviously some big tennis to play, generally it's considered that this
is the last huge event of the year.
ANDY RODDICK: You're forgetting about Davis Cup? You don't consider that a big
event?
Q. I said there's a lot of big matches to come. In terms of individual play,
there's this and there's the European season, Shanghai. But through this day,
how would you assess your play?
ANDY RODDICK: It was good. I mean, I'm still confident that I'm going to finish
Top 10. You know, I don't have much to defend in the fall. That was my main
goal for the year.With the exception of this, I didn't play well in Grand Slams
, but I played well, you know, throughout -- I played, you know, pretty well
throughout the rest of the year. I had times when I played really well. You
know, it's -- like I said before, it wasn't an awesome year; it wasn't a great
year; but it was a good year.
Q. Speaking of Davis Cup, we've all been discounting Pete as a singles player
primarily because he's not a great clay courter. Do you think his results here
speaks for his ability to have a singles spot on the team?
ANDY RODDICK: Luckily that's not my decision (smiling).
Q. What's your feeling?
ANDY RODDICK: (Shrugging his shoulders.)
Q. How important is Shanghai, where you could be invited to play with the best
eight players in the world? Is that a confidence builder?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, it's an honor. If you make Masters, that means -- it would
show that I did have a pretty good year. Not a lot of players make the Masters.
Definitely something I'm still shooting for. I have a couple tournaments left
that I can try to sneak into one of the last spots.You know, it would be fun.
It would be fun.
Q. What did you say to him at the net at the end?
ANDY RODDICK: I just said, "Too good," and, "Hope you do well the rest of the
way."
Q. You've obviously played Pete before. How much different a player is he here
under the lights? Just a different player?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. He played -- this is the best match he's played against me.
Q. Psychologically for you, though, on this stage, was it -- how different was
it to be across the court from Pete?
ANDY RODDICK: You know what? I really didn't think about that too much, to be
honest. I've played him before. You know, we played , I've been around him in
the locker rooms and stuff, I've gotten to know him a little bit better this
year. So while it's still Pete Sampras, I'm -- I definitely have gotten to know
him a little bit and, you know, that wasn't too much of a factor for me I don't
think.
Q. All things considered, you seem to be handling things pretty well tonight.
How disappointing is it come Saturday, semifinals, you're not playing?
ANDY RODDICK: It's disappointing. I mean, it's not fun to be home watching a
tournament when you were in it. It's not a good feeling. It's not like I enjoy,
you know... I'm not gonna bring out the popcorn and the soda and sit down and
watch it probably. I don't know if I'll watch it, but...
(Note: this is a partial transcript)
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