Post Match Interview: O.mutis/a.roddick 3-6. 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2

Q. Tough one. What went wrong?

ANDY RODDICK: You know, I started off playing pretty well at the beginning. You know, time after time I kept letting him back into it. Once I did let him back into it, he was a different player the latter part of the match than he was at the beginning.

You know, that’s my fault that I let him back in. Kudos to him for stepping up his game after that.

Q. We had so much sunshine for the last two weeks. Picks just before your match to start drizzling. How heavy did it get out there? How difficult was it?

ANDY RODDICK: It’s also tough when we”re sitting there for 45 minutes and they decide not to put a cover on the court, it’s just raining there. That makes it really difficult, especially for me.

You know, I said at the beginning, I needed a hard court, you know. My balls just weren”t — they weren”t penetrating through the court today. He hit some great shots and he was retrieving really well. That made it even tougher.

Q. Are you and Brad suspicious enough to think that that tarp didn”t come on there for a reason?

ANDY RODDICK: No. They said — to their credit, they said it could stop any minute. So I guess you can”t argue with that.

Q. And the heaviness of the court, is that why you chose today to hit a lot of inside-outs, inside-ins?

ANDY RODDICK: I was getting good looks at it early. He kind of just started going for broke or a little bit more when he got pulled to the corners, started making them. Maybe I should have stuck to it a little bit more and tried to weather the first storm. You know, I bailed on that game plan I think too early. You know, tried to go back to it, but by then he was playing really well.

Q. How heavy were those balls? Just to hear them off the racquet, seemed like cannon balls.

ANDY RODDICK: It was tough because the outsides were wet, tarps were still wet, that it roll through it. Kind of like rolling through a puddle of water. That didn”t help match (laughter).

But it’s the same for both players. I didn”t play with a different ball than he did. Bottom line.

Q. What were the discussions you were having with Mohamed there about?

ANDY RODDICK: I’m only having a conversation with him because I can”t have one with myself. That would be weird, right?

Q. What was the something that was going wrong?

ANDY RODDICK: A lot of things were going wrong. Nothing to do with him. I just needed someone to talk to, man (smiling).

Q. We all start to feel American men have a clay phobia over here. Are you developing that or are you looking forward to much improvement?

ANDY RODDICK: I have no choice but to look forward to much improvement (laughter). You know, a round this year, who knows, maybe two next year. This hasn”t been our place for a couple years now.

But, you know, that’s just the challenge. You try to right the ship. I tried it this year. I got here pretty early, gave it a shot, tried to prepare. You know, unfortunately I didn”t have enough today.

Q. When you talked earlier about your game plan, you mean going more to the inside-out and even taking them on service returns from the ad court?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, I was dominating with my forehand early on. I was bullying him around the court. And then, you know, somewhere I played a couple sloppy games, and he started taking full cuts off of my inside-out forehands. I think that’s a direct tribute that he was able to do that because of the heavy conditions.

But, you know, I didn”t — I wasn”t quick enough to go to a Plan B or to stick to my guns. I kind of waffled in between. He just grew in confidence. You know, he played some great shots and really used his momentum well. He served a pretty high percentage.

Q. When he started hitting a few of those second serves in the ad court down the middle, one of them caught you going the wrong way. Did that influence you to come out of your game plan a little bit?>

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. I mean, no offense to Olivier, but it’s not like I was scared of him acing me up the T on second serves. I think there were a lot of other things that he did that were, you know, more crucial than that.

Q. I think you beat him in Houston.

ANDY RODDICK: Yes.

Q. Did that help contribute to your mindset before the game? Did you have a game plan in place, having played him before and beaten him?

ANDY RODDICK: Well, it obviously didn”t help me too much today. Obviously, I had a game plan. The plan was to beat him. But neither one of those really panned out for me today.

You know, it’s a different match. That’s two years ago. You know, he’s been through a lot, I’ve been through a lot. You can take some things, but at the end of the day, it’s a totally different match-up on a different day.

Q. Obviously you just walked off the court after a lousy day at the office. Would you talk a little about Wimbledon. You had a strong run last year. In your gut, do you think you can go all the way? What do you think you”re going to have to do to improve on even last year’s great showing?

ANDY RODDICK: You know, I was playing really well there last year. Obviously, I do think I have a chance, you know, probably on the list of names to do well there. You know, I stated that I thought I was playing well enough to win last year, but I just kind of ran into a freight train. I had my chance there and I didn”t take it, then he just started playing unbelievable, Roger did.

I’m looking forward to it, though. I’m looking forward to getting back there. Last year was the first time I had real good success on grass. I’m hoping to build on it.

Q. The key this year, in a word, against Roger or Tim?

ANDY RODDICK: Oh, I got to get there first, man. That’s a long ways away. I”ll let you know then.

Q. Did you feel you had a plan the whole match today? Did you always feel like what you were trying to do from point to point?

ANDY RODDICK: No. I was waffling. You know, that’s what I was trying to get across. I had it in my mind, but I wasn”t decisive enough. I wasn”t sticking with things I wanted to do. I was kind of going here, and normally I’m pretty good at sticking to my guns a little bit more. Today I feel like I did waffle a little bit on that.

Q. Any sympathy for Sampras there playing in that condition on that court?

ANDY RODDICK: It’s tough to have sympathy for someone with 14 Grand Slam titles.

Q. No French.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

Q. What are you going to do different next year when you come to the French Open based on this experience?>

ANDY RODDICK: You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to take this year, between now and then, and I’m really going to think about it. I haven”t really — that question hasn”t really entered my mind since I got off the court.

But, you know, we”ll let you know.

Q. How would you describe Mutis as a player, his weapons, weaknesses?

ANDY RODDICK: He’s very talented. You know, there’s no doubt he has great hands. You know, that’s evident right away. He was faster than I thought today. You know, I don’t remember him being that quick. I mean, he was running down a lot of balls and doing something when he got there.

He played the big points well today. You know, he was very impressive today.

Q. Did what he did contribute to your waffling?

ANDY RODDICK: Absolutely. I mean, he definitely made a mid-match change. Maybe I tried to counter it too fast. You know, I was really feeling comfortable during the match, feeling like it was going my way. When he switched it up, you know, maybe I should have just stuck to my guns a little bit more.

But, you know, if your opponent is not making you think, then, you know, I don’t know who is. So he definitely had something to do with it.

Q. This match aside, where do you feel your game is at? Do you feel good at this point going into the grass court season?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, I felt like I was hitting the ball pretty well, even in warm-up today, probably the best I”d hit the ball.

You know, I said during, what was it, the little stretch there in the States, I’m just looking for that big result to get things kind of going. Then Miami came. I played well there. It’s just kind of the same thing. I just need to kind of get my feet into a tournament. I’m playing Queen’s, so that’s where I”ll be looking to start.

You know, try to forget about this as fast as possible and really go after it with a fresh mindset there.

Q. You mentioned you came early here in Paris. How early did you come? What did you do to prepare?

ANDY RODDICK: I came — what’s today, Wednesday? I came 10 days ago, 11. I arrived Sunday, 11, 12 days ago. Yeah, I was practicing here every day. Got used to the balls. Got used to the conditions, at least what they were last week (laughter). You know, I really made a concerted effort, you know, to try to really be prepared and ready for the tournament so there were no surprises.

Q. I guess it varies, but do you play after competition? Do you play on the clay?

ANDY RODDICK: I don’t understand your question. I’m sorry.

Q. Do you practice on the clay, outside of competition?

ANDY RODDICK: During the clay court season, yeah. I mean, absolutely. But I don’t think it would make much sense before the indoor season to practice on clay.

But, definitely. I wasn”t at home after Rome practicing on a hard court, if that’s what you”re asking.

Q. Presuming your health was not an issue today, you”re over whatever you had a couple days ago?>

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, once you make the decision to go on the court, that’s not an issue. You go with what you got. I was okay.

Q. It seemed like the crowd got under your skin a bit today. Was that the case? And why?

ANDY RODDICK: No. I mean, it didn”t really get under my skin. I think I was getting under my skin. You know, they”re very passionate out there today, they were supporting their guy. That’s expected. I would wonder if it was any other way.

Q. In the third set it looked like you sort of decided you were going to play hard court tennis and try to hit through him. I’m wondering, do you feel comfortable on clay?

ANDY RODDICK: Well, I’m going to disagree with you there because early on, I was kind of bullying him like I would on a hard court, up to a set and, what was it, a break. I had breakpoints to go up two breaks. That sounds really bad when I say it out loud (smiling).

I don’t think — I didn”t just change my mind and say, “I’m going to play hard court tennis.” I kind of maybe wish I would have stuck to that a little bit more.

Q. It looked to me as if you started to lose your patience a bit, that your pace on the court was quick, you didn”t slow down.

ANDY RODDICK: I think a good word for that is maybe I started pressing a little bit.

Q. Do you feel comfortable on clay, generally, at this point in your career?

ANDY RODDICK: Not as comfortable as I would like. It’s a challenge for me. I mean, that’s no secret. But, you know, I’m going to keep plugging away. That’s all I can do.

Q. When you talked about the mid-match adjustments that he made, you were running around a ton of your backhands that you could hit the big forehand. He started hitting a lot into your forehand court.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah.

Q. Is that what you were talking about?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, he started taking risks off of my big forehands, whether it be when I hit it inside-out, he would kind of take a swing at a backhand up the line. It worked for a couple games, then he got confidence doing that. Whereas early on, he kind of was just maybe doing a little — you know, he wasn”t really doing much with that ball. He was allowing me to dictate.

So credit to him for making that adjustment.

Q. I was wondering, could you describe how your legs felt that last set.

ANDY RODDICK: They were fine. I mean, you know, I don’t think that was the issue. I think the way I was playing was a lot more of an issue (smiling).

Q. Do you think your game plays more into hard courts or into grass potentially over the years when you look ahead?

ANDY RODDICK: I mean, right now that’s a no-brainer. Obviously, outdoor hard court is where I’ve played my best tennis, it’s where I feel most confident. But it’s tough to compare because you have, what, four months a year on hard court, or five or six, and then you have three weeks or four weeks on grass.

Obviously, I feel more comfortable on a hard court just because I’m there a lot more.

I like playing on grass. I look forward to the prospect of playing on it. I feel like I play well on it, you know. So that’s kind of a tough question to answer.

Q. If there were one aspect of your grass court game you would like to improve, what would that aspect be?

ANDY RODDICK: Well, one aspect that I”d love to improve, that’s very evident on grass, is coming in and, you know, sticking my volleys a little bit more. You know, that would really be a big advantage on grass.

Q. Has Roland Garros become a one-off for the American guys, where you come in, take a loss on clay, just say, “Wimbledon is in a few weeks, no biggy”?

ANDY RODDICK: I can”t speak for anybody else. But if I ever thought like that, I”d want you to kick me in the butt, or if it ever looked like that, that that was the case. You know, it’s not for me. I come here with the intention, my goal is to make the second week, then kind of reevaluate, see where I’m at. Anything can happen then.

But, you know, it didn”t happen for me. It’s disappointing.

Q. Back to the fifth set. I know he started to zone there in the fourth set, play well in the fifth set. It looked like you, if you weren”t necessarily tired, you weren”t making the same efforts in some of the cross-court rallies. Is that because you were mentally frustrated and pretty much knew he wasn”t going to come down from where he was?

ANDY RODDICK: No. You know, I just — I don’t know what to tell you. I didn”t have it. I mean, he was playing really well. You know, I”d even, you know, try to enforce myself, grind out points. He was just coming up with really big shots.

Q. His return of serve after the first, say, set and a half, he seemed to be reading you better. Even when you were serving well, getting a lot more balls in play.

ANDY RODDICK: He was. But I”d love to check the percentages up to, you know, a set and a break or whatever I had, and then kind of after that it was patchy. I”d serve well, I”d miss four first serves in a row. It gave him looks, and he definitely took advantage of them. Then he started even reading it more and became more confident in it.

Q. This is the first time in The Open era there’s been no American man in the third round of a Grand Slam. What do you think about that? Is it a one-off thing?

ANDY RODDICK: Obviously, that sucks. There’s not much more to it. It’s extremely disappointing. You know, what was the second part?

Q. Coincidence because of the way things played out this year or a sign of clay problems to come?

ANDY RODDICK: There’s no doubt there are issues with clay. Our issues have issues that have issues right now. That’s something we”re going to have to fix. That’s not a secret. If anybody’s going to deny that, you know, you might want to ask them again.

But, you know, that’s something we got to work on. It’s better than, what was it four years ago, not just clay court tennis but all of tennis in America was looking crappy. You know, I choose to look at the positives.

Q. “What if” question. What if it’s not bad weather? What if that court is faster? The way you”re striking the ball today, you know how well you”re striking, how well you”re serving the ball, do we get a different result on a faster court?

ANDY RODDICK: I don’t know about the result. I think it would have been a different match. I would have enjoyed it more. I would have liked the conditions more.

But I think that’s pretty obvious. You know, but it wasn”t, and I didn”t. It didn”t work out like that.

Q. On the serve, because of the conditions, do you find yourself trying to serve a little bit too fine on the line knowing that it’s going to be very difficult to get an ace on that court unless you hit a precise location?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, it’s not something I consciously think about, you know, trying to hit, you know, six inches more over or something. I was just trying to hit spots, and I wasn”t, wasn”t hitting them consistently, I should say. You know, but it definitely wears on you. It’s a lot tougher.

But I think that goes without saying.

Q. Taking a loss like this at a Slam, does it stay with you for days, weeks, hours? Is it something you”re able to put behind you? You”ve had a little experience with it, of course. >

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, uhm.

Q. I’m serious. ANDY RODDICK: I am, too.

Yeah, I mean, this year is a little different. I was expecting a little bit more of myself this year. I think I am a different player than I was 12 months ago and 24 months ago. So maybe it is a little bit more disappointing for me.

But I’m going to choose to look forward instead of look back. There’s nothing I can do from this point about Roland Garros this year now. You know, I mean, that’s about it. Obviously, it will bother me and I”ll think about it. You know, Charlie Bricker’s “what if” questions will come into my head. Give me a couple days and I”ll start getting fired up about the grass hopefully.