Nasdaq Post Match Interview 3/27/06

The following is a transcript of the post match press conference after Andy’s win against Fernando Verdasco:

Shall we have a progress report?
Progress is being made.

How do you feel?
I think the biggest thing is on my serve, you know. I started hitting aces and not double-faults as much and hitting pretty high percentage. I feel like my ground strokes clicked in a little bit against Martin in the first round. Not spraying as many, you know. Not as inconsistent. Kind of keeping it between the lines when I’m trying to keep it between the lines, which is a good thing.

What about John? Is that going better all the time? Obviously you’ve know n him all your life. Its a different sort of John , isn’t it?
Yeah, I mean it’s fine. I really don’t know what to give you on that one. It’s pretty straightforward. He’s the same guy I’ve always known. You know, it’s good ’cause I’m not as patient with myself out there, and, you know, as evidenced by the last time I talked to you guys at Palm Springs. So it’s nice to have kind of a — someone with a little bit more even-keel head and bigger picture in mind sometimes.

Do you know anything about your next opponent?
I know who he’s beaten here, I know what he looks like now. you know he’s beaten three really, really tough players, all in, you know, tough matches. So he’s in form, he’s got nothing to lose. I’m going to ask around and try to get more of an in-depth scouting report.

He played Mardy?
He did, at Delray, 3 and 3, Mardy lost.

Ask Mardy about it.
Probably will.

When you get a guy, you haven’t known him, none of us knows, is that the way you do it, talk to players.
Well, I ask around

John has been scouting?
Yeah, yeah, John watched the match today. You know, you just want to ask around and doubled check that’s things that he was doing today aren’t just specific to playing Henman. You know, kind of try to figure it out that way, try to get maybe a tape of another match that he’s played this week or, you know find something, someone that’s played him before and, you know, same type of thing you guys do. I’m sure you guys are going to try to find different things about him. It’s kind of the same way we go about it.

What do you think about George Mason in the Final Four?
That’s unbelievable. I’m still pissed about Texas. I guess four people on ESPN actually had picked it perfectly, the Final Four.

Really?
I had money that every person who picked George Mason actually went to George Mason. That’s my call.

There were four people?
There were four people, that’s the rumor I hear this morning. So that’s pretty impressive. But, heck, I’m pulling for them now, know offense to Mr. Noah. That would be quite a story.

A question about Davis Cup. You have lost a couple of times with Massu and played several times with Gonzalez. What do you expect from them playing on Grass?
You know, we picked the surface because we feel like it suits us best playing against them. I’ve had a pretty good record over the last couple years on grass, and I feel comfortable on it. You know, you can take the head-to-head records for what you want, but I think it’s a totally different, totally different ballgame on grass.

And I remember you being at the Olympics, into the finals, saw the Chileans won. Would you agree with the fact that they rise their level when playing for the county?
I think the most dangerous thing is that they’re very good players. You can have guys who are terrible and if they play well for their country, they’re still not very good. But they’re very accomplished players, as evidenced by the Olympics, they get up for the challenge of playing for their flag. So that’s definitely, you know, a source of caution.

Is your confidence felling like — are you feeling exactly where you want to be right now?
I felt good about my temperament the last two days, the last two matches. I was, I just tired to relax a little bit more, not try to win, you know the match in every single point, if that makes sense. You know, I’ve done a better job of that and not getting so worked up. You know, just kind of chilling out a little bit and not driving myself crazy, which is a good thing.