ASAP Sports: Roddick Interview 3/27/2007

Q. Is it fair to say that last year you had this opponent who beat you, is that in your mind or is it old or do you want to beat him more?
ANDY RODDICK: If I had that I’d have it with a lot of people this year. I lost it with a lot of guys last year. I think just the fact that it’s the same tournament and we had actually both close to the same round, not quite the same round.
You know, I guess I thought about it but not so much while I was actually out there on the court.

Q. Your first three opponents, you’re going to get tougher opponents as you go deeper, but you play around the net in the first three matches, been pretty good. What’s your take on that?
ANDY RODDICK: It’s been okay. I don’t really feel like it’s been that amazing.

Q. 78 percent conversions.
ANDY RODDICK: Is it? Well, that’s surprising for me. I don’t feel like I’ve been volleying that great. Maybe I’ve been hitting decent approach shots then if you’re telling me that number.
I feel like I’ve actually bricked a couple of volleys. That’s part of it. I’ve been trying to come forward and take my chances a little bit more. But I think today was about being patient from the baseline.
I had a lot of errors the other day against Simon, and I wanted to cut down on those a little bit today.

Q. Have you heard Nadal is not going to play Davis Cup?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, I heard some things. Is he hurt or –

Q. He’s hurt but he’s still playing here. He’s planning to be hurt in ten days, seriously.
ANDY RODDICK: He pulled out with an injury but he’s playing here?

Q. Correct.
ANDY RODDICK: All right. I mean, I don’t really know what to say about that.

Q. Patrick was saying that it’s just kind of a shame. That it would be nice for tennis to have all the top players, but he understands, also, that the scheduling is hard for some — you know, it’s hard.
ANDY RODDICK: Well, I mean, I guess the first thing that pops into my mind is he’s sees the clay court season around the corner and sees Monte-Carlo and sees those tournaments, and maybe it’s more important to prep for that.
Personally I don’t know if you can play Davis Cup at your convenience. I think it’s a year-long commitment. I don’t know, that’s surprising to me to say the least.

Q. Are you disappointed both on a sort of a competitive level and a Davis Cup team level?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, obviously it’s kind of like a double-edged sword. I was looking forward to playing him on a court that was more suited to my game as opposed to his, and I don’t know if I’ll get that chance any time soon now.
You know, at the same time, he’s a tough out, that’s for sure. I don’t know, it’s kind of a mixed bag of emotions. It’s a little disappointing, because I think if you want to play a team you want to play their best and you want to beat their best, but you can only play the guy across the net. It’s out of our hands.

Q. Speaking of patience, Andy Murray next. What have you learned about playing him? You’ve had a few matches with him.
ANDY RODDICK: Well, it’s tough. It’s always a fun match-up when we play. He almost kind of tries to bait you into coming in, and he almost likes being approached on. It’s almost a backwards match from a lot of matches that you play.
But he finds a way to get through matches, and he fights. It’s a tough match always.

Q. Are you surprised by what Serena has done at the Australian Open and what she did today to Maria?
ANDY RODDICK: No, I told — who was it? Peter Bodo, we did a day-long thing where he followed me around, and he got on me about the Williams sisters and my opinions.
You can go back and check it. I said she was going to kill everyone this year. I talked to her in the off-season, and she was — she seemed to be pretty fed up with losing to people she didn’t feel like she should be losing to, and she kind of had that little bit of an edge in her voice.
When she starts talking like that, you probably should take her seriously.

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