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US OPEN


September 4, 2001


Andy Roddick


NEW YORK CITY

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What kind of zone were you feeling out there? You were attacking everything.

ANDY RODDICK: That's the way I have to play against Tommy. I'm not as consistent as him most days. I definitely have to take my chances out there.

Q. Got to be a lot more fun than sitting home the second week of a Slam.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. I mean, it kills me when I'm at home the second week of a Slam and you're watching guys win and stuff. It's good to be a part of it for the first time.

Q. Can you even fathom sort of where you are now versus like a year ago? Do you get overwhelmed at all?

ANDY RODDICK: You know, I don't believe it. I'm supposed to wake up any minute now or something. But I'm going to try to stay asleep.

Q. Was it any harder today, with the rain and stuff, maybe there was some question whether these matches would get in tonight, you're waiting?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah. The only way it really affected me is normally when I have a night match, I come out around 1:00 and hit. I came out around 1:00, walked on the court, it poured. Bagged it, went back to the hotel. I just hit once. But it didn't really affect me too much.

Q. When you go back to the hotel, are you able to take a rest? Are you going stir crazy? What's going on?

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. You know, it usually takes me an hour or two to simmer down after matches. That's any time. You know, I've just been getting some food and chilling, watching a movie or something, then going to bed.

Q. What time does that put you to sleep at?

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. I turn the clock away. Whenever I doze off, I doze off, sleep till I wake up.

Q. All these night matches, do you think they realize you're a draw? Have you talked to them about it at all? Have you talked to them about playing in the day?

ANDY RODDICK: No. You know, actually I wanted to play a day match at least once. Luckily, they put me there against Corretja. But either way, today I was kind of, you know, either way. I felt I played my best match during the day. I was kind of shady at night before that. Today I stepped up and played pretty well under the lights.

Q. Now there are all these studies now about how teenagers do better when they sleep later.

ANDY RODDICK: Do they? I don't know. I should have studied more.

Q. Obviously, you have to prepare for your next match. Tomorrow night do you become a tennis fan and watch that Agassi-Sampras on TV? Would you even think of coming here?

ANDY RODDICK: For sure I'm going to watch it. You know, I'm probably going to get a late hit in tomorrow. I doubt I'll hang out here. That's pretty draining. But, you know, I'll definitely watch it. I'm still a huge fan. My two biggest influences. You know, I'm as excited as everybody else about that match.

Q. What do you think about your two possible opponents coming up? Pretty familiar with Lleyton. Do you want another crack at him?

ANDY RODDICK: I've lost to both of them. You know, take your pick. I think Lleyton and I were having a pretty good battle last time before, you know, the unfortunate circumstances. You know, either way they're both playing good tennis. Tommy is playing some ball. He's been playing well all summer. Lleyton is always a fiery competitor. You're going to have to play great tennis to beat him. Either way, it's going to be a really tough match.

Q. You hit that 141 mile an hour serve. Did you take a peek at the clock?

ANDY RODDICK: I peeked (smiling). I snuck a look in. I knew I cracked it pretty good. You know, that's just one serve. I'm prouder about the fact that I didn't get broken tonight. That means more to me than speed guns.

Q. Third game of the second set, five consecutive slice backhands against a Spanish claycourter. Was that one of the more exciting points?

ANDY RODDICK: You know, I don't remember. I wanted to neutralize him a little bit. If he's getting into a groove with one shot, they can just drill. They're going to make you run. I wanted to maybe play some points really hard, non-stop, some points, throw in a lob. On big points, you know, when I'm up a set, it's 1-All, he has to hit five balls off of his shoe tops, it's a tough thing to do when you're fighting it off. You know, I just went with what I felt on that point.

Q. Sometimes golfers talk about how they have to rein in their drives. The competitive part of them wants to see how far they can hit it. They need to be controlled. Is it like that sometimes for you on the serve?

ANDY RODDICK: Not really. I mean, I know I can hit a serve pretty hard. I don't have to prove that to myself. I think one of the reasons I'm holding at a pretty decent rate this year is because I've, you know, developed a pretty good out wide slice. I have a serve that I can hit up the T at 120, 130, 35 plus. That's a big part of why I've been serving better.

Q. Difficult dealing with Tarik's father-in-law's accident?

ANDY RODDICK: I haven't gotten much sleep. In the middle of all this that's going on, all the good stuff that's going on, that's definitely on my mind. I've been talking to them. It's a tough thing. He travels with us all year long. But they know that I'm thinking of them. They know I love them. My prayers are with them. I hope they get through it okay.

Q. Could you explain the accident?

ANDY RODDICK: Tarik's father-in-law was like walking, got hit by a drunk driver in France. It was a hit-and-run. He's in pretty serious condition right now.

Q. Are you going to try to watch the football game on Saturday?

ANDY RODDICK: Hopefully I'll be occupied.

Q. Had he met Tarik's father-in-law at all?

ANDY RODDICK: Sure. Our families are incredibly close. He knows all my relatives. I know pretty much all of his relatives. They're such beautiful people. It's just a sad circumstance right now.

Q. What was the difference in the way you played Robredo today versus two years ago as a junior?

ANDY RODDICK: At that time he just had a lot more experience than I did. He was already ranked I think top 200 in the world. I don't think I had an ATP point yet. Just a lot of experience. I got faster. I don't know. He was just a better player than I was then.

End of FastScripts….

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