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TENNIS MASTERS CUP

November 17, 2007

Andy Roddick

SHANGHAI, CHINA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you feel disappointed about your match? The fans feel disappointed. Any words for them? Are you planning to go to the Beijing Olympics?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, the plan right now is to play next summer. Yeah, I'm disappointed. I played a bad first set. The second set I thought I actually hit the ball pretty well. That's about as well as I've hit a ball and lost in a set in a while.
You know, there are some positives. You know, not having played -- having played one match since the Open to get to the semis and to get four matches under my belt before our Davis Cup final was needed. You know, I probably needed that, as well.
I kind of have to try to move on because this isn't the end of my year. We have a couple matches in 12 days or so. So that's where my focus goes now.

Q. After you were broken in the sixth game of the second set, you got three breakpoints. You still lost it. Do you think that would be the key moment of the whole match? How do you feel about that?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, you know, you hope the key moment of the match doesn't come when you're down a set and a break. You know, you never want to play catch-up.
But that game, you know, like I said, I thought I played that game okay. You know, if anything, I thought I could have served a little bit better this tournament, which is kind of backwards from normal. You know, from the baseline I felt okay.
Like I said, I'm glad I've gotten four matches in against the top guys heading into the Davis Cup final after having been off for a while.

Q. Given the way you turned around 2006 with Jimmy in your corner, you probably had some pretty big hopes for this year. It's not over yet. But everyone thinks of Jimmy as a great player, but how would you evaluate him as a coach and do you plan on continuing your partnership?
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, we've been talking. We definitely plan on continuing.
Whereas 2006 was more along the lines of me playing pretty badly the whole year, except for a couple of tournaments, this year was a little bit rough, you know. Had some rough breaks and some kind of little injuries at some poor times, which is unfortunate. You know, we just keep moving forward and look forward to next year.

Q. Noting your short turnaround, the fact it was a little cool out there, you had a massage, did you have a little trouble getting warmed up?
ANDY RODDICK: There was some stiffness. You know, normally you're able to work your way into a match a little bit. With David, he comes out, makes balls right away. We had some extended rallies. It was really stiff. My range of motion was really bad.
After I got some stuff on it, it loosened up pretty well for the second set. It's not sharp pain. It's nothing that should affect me come the final of Davis Cup.

Q. Moving on to the Davis Cup, you've had four matches under your belt here. Assuming you can get the back sorted out, how do you look forward to that? As the season for a whole for Davis Cup, can you tell us maybe how important Patrick McEnroe has been as a coach and your thoughts on him?
ANDY RODDICK: The first is my prospects for the Davis Cup?

Q. Yes.
ANDY RODDICK: I feel confident. You know, it was nice to get a win over Davydenko. I've been able to beat Youzhny the last couple times we've played. You know, we have the best doubles team in the world in our corner.
I think we're feeling confident. But, you know, getting that confidence to translate to the court and getting a win is a tall task, especially we lost to them last year. But, you know, I like our team.
I completely forgot the second question.

Q. Patrick.
ANDY RODDICK: Patrick's good. You know, he's been the captain ever since I started. I played my first match in 2001. Scary to think it's been seven or eight years now.
I think we've grown together. You know, he's kind of learned how to deal with each of us individually and he's a different captain now than he was at the beginning, which is a credit to him, because I think we're not all 18 any more.
I think he's done a good job keeping us together.

Q. How much of a difference do you notice in Ferrer, if any, the last two times you've played him compared to the previous two times?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, I can tell you one thing: I played a lot better tonight than the last time we played. In Cincinnati I played pretty badly. You know, but the way he's playing this week is just, you know, he's been getting better.
He played great at the US Open. This week is above what I've seen from him before. With the way he's beating guys comfortably, you know, is impressive. He's really kind of hitting out on the ball, not really missing a whole lot. I don't know if I've seen someone move like that.
I felt like, even in the second set I was hitting the ball well, four, five, six times to corners, and, you know, to no avail. He's definitely playing with a lot of confidence right now, which will do wonders for you.

Q. How much of your work with Jimmy involves tactical stuff? In light of your poorer results this year, the tournaments you would describe yourself as frustrating results, do you have any sort of tactical rethinking to do for next year?
ANDY RODDICK: There's always rethinking. You know, it's a game of constant adjustments. You know, so yeah.

Q. About Ferrer, what is his technical ability? Everyone sees that he runs a lot, that he gets everywhere. What really gives you troubles? The fact you have to make the point five times or something else? Does he have also some kind of spin or something that bothers you?
ANDY RODDICK: I don't know about spin.

Q. Or angles.
ANDY RODDICK: I'll get to it (smiling).
I mean, he makes you play every point. You know, he comes and he makes returns every point. He doesn't miss returns. His forehand used to not be the greatest shot, and he's really improved that. He's kind of learned to hit it both ways.
I don't think you can underestimate speed. I think everybody was predicting, you know, in the late '90s that power was taking over the game. I don't know if they slowed it down at all. But, you know, it went the other way. It went towards speed. You know, you don't see a lot of slow guys out on tour, you know.
So I don't think you can underestimate that. I don't think you can say, Yeah, we see he's fast, but what else does he do? He's fast. I mean, I don't think you can say that lightly. You know, that's a big factor in today's game.

Q. Related to his speed, you kept coming into the net even though you were getting passed. Was that because you felt that was the only way you could beat him? You said it's a game of constant adjustments.
ANDY RODDICK: Well, no, I mean, a lot of times I came in because I felt like I hit good approach shots deep in the court. He was too good on a lot of them. It's rough out there sometimes 'cause it's easy for all of you in here, you know.
If I stay back and lose that match, then I have this guy asking me if I should have come to the net. Then if I come to the net, I have you asking me why I came to the net. You tell me what I'm supposed to say to you.

Q. You play against both David and Roger this week. Based on their performances this week, what do you think is going to happen if they meet in the final?
ANDY RODDICK: I don't think I'm going to base my thoughts on the final just on this week. I don't think you can do that. I think you have to look at the head-to-head. Roger has beaten David comfortably many, many times. There's something about that matchup that's tough for David.
But that being said, he's playing the best I think he's ever played. It's tough to predict. Let's also remember that Federer plays a guy named Nadal tonight and he's not in the finals yet. If it is Roger in the final, I think you have to put him as a slight favorite.
But, I mean, Ferrer's playing well. It wouldn't surprise me either way.

Q. I think the way you are playing is so great that these indoor courts, it's very difficult. Paris was quicker. Here is slower. It's becoming really important because perhaps in faster indoor courts you could beat Ferrer. This time his answer of the serve was great. Do you think that's the evolution of the game? It's very easy to say, Hey, come to the net, but they pass you. Henman is not here any more.
ANDY RODDICK: I don't think you'd be far off. I don't think you'd find a lot of players, you know, who were playing seven, eight years ago who would tell you that the conditions are a lot quicker.
You heard a lot of talk throughout tennis, you know, when it was Pete and Ivanisevic that the game is becoming serves. Maybe they should slow it down. I don't think anybody ever made a formal announcement.
You know, I'm serving harder than those guys and it's coming back, so... I don't know if that would be totally out of the realm of possibility. You know, the ball definitely doesn't squirt through the court as much as you might see in some old highlights. That's the way the game is. That's what you have to deal with.
So you sit here and wonder and hypothesize all you want, but at the end of the day you've got to go out there and play on what you're given.

Q. What is your schedule now going to be leading up to Davis Cup?
ANDY RODDICK: Well, go back to work. You know, I'll probably fly home as soon as I can, you know, get right back to work. I think all of us guys, we're meeting up in Portland. Next Saturday is the tentative plan. To get in five or six days with each other before the tie.
But, like I said, my year's not over. From here, you kind of just go right back to work. That's the plan right now. Maybe have a little bit of turkey on Thanksgiving, too.

End of FastScripts

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