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USTA MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 19, 2006

Sam Querrey

TIM CURRY: Thanks, everyone, for joining us today for our conference call with Sam Querrey.
Just a little background. Sam is an 18-year-old native Californian who graduated from Thousand Oaks High School this spring. He turned professional in June, signing with SFX, and won his pro debut, a USTA Pro Circuit $50,000 men's challenger in Yuba City, California. He won his second pro title two weeks ago at another USTA challenger in Winnetka, Illinois.
Sam is scheduled to play next week at the US Open Series tournament in Los Angeles, though it's not been determined if he'll be playing qualifying or main draw. He's also accepted a wildcard in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C., and is scheduled to play two USTA Pro Circuit events in Binghamton, New York in the Bronx leading up to the US Open.
Sam was runner-up to Donald Young last year at the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo and was a practice partner with the US Davis Cup team last September in Belgium, again this year when the US played Chile in the quarterfinals. Sam became close friends with the members of the team: Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryans. He restored a classic Volkswagen van which he drove to Rancho Mirage for the Davis Cup quarterfinals, where he also made his legendary karaoke debut.
Without further ado, I'll have the operator give instructions for how to sign in with a question.

Q. A broad theme, the future of U.S. tennis. So much has been made over it, particularly at Wimbledon. Could you talk a bit about your recent years competing in the junior ranks up until you turned pro, where were most of the world's top juniors are coming from, any thoughts on where the strength of the next generation's players is?
SAM QUERREY: Well, last year I played the international junior circuit pretty much the whole year. I played French Open juniors, Wimbledon juniors and US Open juniors. It didn't really seem like there was one specific country or region that had the top players. It seemed like it was spread out all over the world. I think the top 10 had 10 players from 10 different countries. It really isn't a certain area of the globe that the best players are coming from.

Q. How would you then assess the relative strength of the American players, your generation, give or take a couple years?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, I think it's pretty strong with myself and Donald Young, Scoville Jenkins, Phillip Simmons, some up-comers like Kellen Damico. Seems like there's a group of six or seven boys that are good players. Hopefully three or four years down the road, they'll be top Americans like Andy and James are now.

Q. Can you talk about why you think there is sort of a slump right now. As you were coming up, why did you choose tennis over other sports? How did you get started? Why do you think there's a shortage of young American players?
SAM QUERREY: Well, I first got started when I was five or six in northern California. My mom worked at a small racquet club I'd go to kind of on the weekends, got started there. I played all sports up until I was about 14 or 15. At that point I guess I was the best at tennis out of all the sports, so I just kind of stuck with tennis.

Q. What other sports did you play?
SAM QUERREY: I played basketball, baseball, soccer and football.
Right now, I mean, I don't really know a reason why there's a shortage of U.S. players. You keep hearing all the things about how U.S. tennis isn't doing well lately. People around the world equivalate (sic) how Americans are doing in tennis based on how they do at the Grand Slams. Since Andy and James, the two top guys, haven't done particularly well at the three Grand Slams thus far, U.S. tennis is kind of looked upon as it's not doing too well.
If you look at some of the other tournaments, a guy like James, he's having the best year of his life. He just hasn't done well at the Grand Slams, which those are the big tournaments aired on TV, what people kind of relate to.

Q. You don't think American tennis is kind of on a down right now?
SAM QUERREY: It definitely is because there's no one so far this year who has been contending at any of the majors, who has been in the semifinals, finals. I definitely think from that standpoint it is.
But overall, I think it's still pretty strong. I think there's maybe like 10 guys in the top 100. There's no true kind of champion out there right now who is like a Federer or Nadal, which I think we need.

Q. Could you talk about the transition from juniors. You made that transition really well, being able to win two tournaments. What is the biggest difference going from the junior circuit to the pros?
SAM QUERREY: For me I think the biggest difference is in the juniors, your mind can wander for a few games, you can lose two games in a row and still kind of come back just from physical ability. In the pros, all the guys are strong and mentally tough. If you have a mental lapse for three or four points, that could be the match right there. You really have to stay focused the whole time and not let one or two or three bad points topple on top of each other.

Q. You've had such a great start to your pro career, winning the two USTA Pro Circuit titles in the last month, then going on to win some ATP matches. Could you talk a bit about how playing in the challengers has helped your confidence.
SAM QUERREY: Everyone has to start at the challenger level. Definitely winning that first few challengers gave me a lot of confidence going to Newport and Indianapolis 'cause the first round there, I played a few guys that are challenger players in the first round. In Newport, I played Danai Udomchoke. In Indianapolis I played Tipsarevic. When you look at their ranking, they're both ranked around a hundred, so you know they're kind of at the challenger level, maybe the top seeds. It just gives you more confidence going into that knowing you've won two challengers and you've beat guys at this level already. That really helped going into the ATP events.

Q. Did you expect to get off to such a great start that you have?
SAM QUERREY: I mean, I knew I was capable of playing well and winning some challengers. This start is definitely pretty much the best I could have hoped for, winning the first two challengers I played in, then winning a round in Newport and Indianapolis.
I'm not really surprised by it, but I'm definitely happy about it, thrilled.

Q. What do you think of the instant replay, having experienced it in Indianapolis?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, when I played Fernando González, that was the first time I tried it out, and I thought it was great. Seems like it gets the fans more involved. They're always cheering for a challenge when there's a close call. It can be good and bad. If it's a close point, you feel you're getting a bad call, it's great to challenge. It's more kind of up to you whether the calls are in or out. It seems like players aren't complaining as much now. If you're on the center court and you have it, it's up to you whether to challenge it or not. It seems like players are not complaining about the calls as much any more, so I think it's a good thing.

Q. Were you successful?
SAM QUERREY: Yes, I was. I challenged one time and it was successful.

Q. How is your eyesight? Do you have 20/20 vision?
SAM QUERREY: With my contacts I do (laughter).

Q. When you made the challenge, how many seconds approximately did it take to register a result?
SAM QUERREY: Probably like six or seven seconds. It was pretty quick.

Q. Were you in favor of it before experiencing it?
SAM QUERREY: Yes. I mean, I've always been for it. I think it's a good thing. It just kind of adds a little more excitement to the game, a little more thought process behind it.

Q. Could you talk a little about the timing of your decision to turn pro. Obviously there have been examples of players who might have done that too early and have struggled as a result. Did you and your family consider turning pro sooner? What kind of factors went into your decision?
SAM QUERREY: Well, up until I was about 16 or 17, I was going to go to college. That was the process behind everything. Then starting kind of late last year when I started to do well in some of the international tournaments, starting this year when I started to get some wildcards into some ATP events, started doing well in some challengers, the professional side started to come along.
I wanted to have both options open with college and going pro. I waited till June of this year. That way I had enough time to make what I thought was the best decision, could sit down and really look at both sides of the equation.

Q. What colleges? Had you picked one out?
SAM QUERREY: I was going to go to USC if I went to college.

Q. Do you know if you're still growing?
SAM QUERREY: I am not. I am not.

Q. Since you've been on the pro circuit, are you traveling by yourself?
SAM QUERREY: No, I have a coach that comes with me. Grant Doyle from Australia. He was a former player. He was the No. 1 junior player in the world in 1992. He travels to all the tournaments with me.

Q. Since we're all going to be writing tributes to Andre in the next few months, can you talk about what you think of him?
SAM QUERREY: I practiced with Andre about a month ago down in San Diego. His coach, Darren Cahill, called me and invited me for a couple of days of practice with him. That was the first time I ever met him.
He's one of the all-time greatest players. He's a legend. He's done great things for the game. He's a great guy, nice and generous, fun. It seems like he does all the right things.
It's sad to see a player like him leave the sport, but he's definitely done great things for everyone.

Q. How did he treat you playing with him?
SAM QUERREY: He was great. I mean, during the changeovers, we'd sit and talk, not necessarily about tennis things, but kind of about everyday stuff in life. He was really fun on the court.
It's a little bit intimidating playing him because he's Andre Agassi. I was nervous, especially the first day I got there. But after you kind of get to know him a little bit, I relaxed a little bit, played much better.

Q. I assume hard court is your best surface. Who are the best players coming up in your age group?
SAM QUERREY: I think other than myself, Marin Silic from Croatia. I played him a couple times in the juniors. I think he's a great player. I know he made the semifinals of an ATP event last week. He's definitely up there. Also Robin Haase from Holland is another top player. He made the finals of Wimbledon last year. Then Jeremy Chardy. I think all those guys are great players, I think the future.

Q. There's obviously a sense of pride for Americans playing Davis Cup. You having been a practice partner, is this something you would want to do down the line?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah, definitely. That's definitely a goal of mine, to one day play on the Davis Cup team either with Andy or James or the Bryans, with someone else, whenever that time comes.
Hopefully in the next few years, I'll have an opportunity to play for Patrick, or whoever is the coach, and travel with the guys, be a part of that team rather than a practice partner.

Q. Can you describe about your experience, camaraderie with the guys? Can you touch on what you did with the van?
SAM QUERREY: Well, last year I was selected as a practice partner when we played Belgium in September. That was kind of the first time I got to know Andy, James and the Bryans. After that I kind of built relationships with them. I've gone to Andy's house, practiced with him for a week. I've been up to Chicago with James and practiced. Then in Palm Springs, I was a Davis Cup practice partner.
They really make you feel like you're part of the team rather than just a practice partner. Everyone treats you like you're one of the players. It's a great experience for up-and-coming junior players.
My van is a 1974 Volkswagen Vanagon. It's blue and white. It was the car I wanted since I was 14 or 15. I finally got it, redid it, put new seats in it, painted it, put new headliner, got a CD player. Kind of the car I've had the last few years. Everyone seems to like it.

Q. You drove that to Rancho Mirage?
SAM QUERREY: Yeah. I had it out there at Davis Cup for the week. All the guys seemed to like it.

Q. Did you hear about an announcement that the USTA made probably two or three weeks ago about teaming up with the Evert tennis complex in Florida to create this academy for the country's top juniors to go and train, live there. It's of no relevance to you, may never have been. Do you have any thoughts on whether something like that done under the auspices of the USTA will be a meaningful step toward strengthening the next generation of players?
SAM QUERREY: I definitely think it would help. If they get the right coaching, conditioning coaches, tennis coaches, hospitality, get some top kids there, make sure everyone is working hard, staying on a good schedule to do the right things, I think it's definitely a good idea with the USTA doing that. It definitely could help American tennis in the future if they get the best kids together from America, train every day in a controlled atmosphere with all the best players.

Q. Could you talk for a second about goals that you have, immediate or long-term?
SAM QUERREY: Starting the beginning of the summer, my original goal was to be ranked top 200 by the time the US Open started. I'm already top 200 now. I think the next goal for me is I want to be ranked about 130 or so by the end of the year, hopefully 120, 130. That's kind of the goal right now that I've set for myself.
It's hard to set it on ranking. Mostly just trying to improve your game. One of my goals would be to improve my volleys, net game. You kind of have different goals. You don't want to set a goal for a specific ranking and then not make it. It's kind of disappointing. You kind of have a number in the back of your mind. Overall you just try to get better as a player.

Q. Any tournaments especially that you would want to win one day?
SAM QUERREY: Definitely the US Open. That's the one tournament I would want to win over any other one.

Q. Before the facility was down here in Key Biscayne, what do you think was lacking in that facility? Why do you think the Evert plan will be better than what they've done so far here?
SAM QUERREY: I'm not a hundred percent sure just because I'm out on the West Coast. I've never really been out to the Key Biscayne facility when people are training. I've always been out here at the Carson center training. I'm not really sure the pros and cons of the Key Biscayne center to begin with. I can't really help you out there.
TIM CURRY: That will conclude our call with Sam Querrey. Sam, thanks for your time.
SAM QUERREY: You're welcome.
TIM CURRY: Thanks, everyone, for joining us.

End of FastScripts...

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