AAMI CLASSIC
12 JANUARY 2008
PRESS CONFERENCE - ANDY RODDICK
Q. Andy, if you keep this up you'll be the king of Kooyong?
A. Oh, I don't know about that, but it's a good place to get
preparation and, you know, I'm thankful that I keep getting
the invite back.
Q. Andy, you followed in the steps of another American,
Michael Chang, winning three consecutive events here at
Kooyong. How does that make you feel?
A. Well, it's nice. I mean, I looked up to that whole group
of, you know, Chang, Courier, and Agassi and Sampras. I
was pretty lucky to be able to follow that generation
growing up, so any time that I accomplish something and
kind of get mentioned in their name, with their names, for
a day is, it's pretty humbling, but it's nice also.
Q. Winning three in a row, is that a big deal for you, winning three here?
A. I think, more importantly, winning this event just means
I'm well prepared for the Aussie Open. You know, that's
the - I think that's what you're trying to do when you come
to this event, and I think by winning it just shows that
you have accomplished that and that you're ready to go.
Q. You have had two relatively simple wins in the lead-up to
this. You would have been happy for that first set to be a
real tussle with Marcos?
A. Yeah. I was thinking that during the match. It was - in
the long run it was probably good for me but, you know, at
the same time, you like to win every match going away. But
yeah, it's never a bad thing to get a tough win.
Q. Is Jimmy staying down here for the Australian Open?
A. Yes.
Q. How is working with Jimmy going? Is there anything new
that you have been able to learn with him in the last
couple of months compared with -
A. It's been tough. We haven't gotten a - before the last
couple of weeks we haven't gotten a lot of face time since
the Open, since I was out in the Fall with a couple of
injuries, and then, you know, obviously with the focus on
Davis Cup I spent a lot more time with our team, you know.
It's always really beneficial to be around Jimmy, and I
think we are excited to have gotten some time in
preparation in the last ten days or so, and hopefully that
will help me for the upcoming weeks.
Q. Was it always the plan for Jimmy to stay all the way
through the Australian Open, or were you trying to work it
out?
A. Yeah, I don't know. We kind of knew we wanted to get
prepared I think this year more so than last. We are still
learning on how to deal together, because obviously he's
not going to travel 30 weeks a year and, you know, I
wouldn't feel right asking him to do that. I think we are
going to focus more on preparation and spending maybe some
off weeks together preparing, as opposed to showing up at a
tournament and more or less having a band-aid effect. So I
think that's where we're going to go this year, so coming -
sorry, I'm kind of rambling here - coming into this event
we weren't quite sure, but everything is kind of going
according to plan, so I don't think we felt the need to
change up anything as far as our group goes for the next
two weeks.
Q. You would have to be pretty happy with the way you served
the last couple of days, especially today?
A. Yeah. You know, I felt like I could have got my
percentages up a little bit today. I don't know. I
haven't looked at the stats at all this week but, you know,
getting through an event like this and not getting broken
is, you know, it's a good effort and hopefully, like I
said, it will keep going.
Q. Andy, you used the slice backhand a lot today; was that
because of the opponent, or was that the surface, or what?
A. Well, I've been using it a little bit this week. I think
one thing that we've been focusing on is trying to have
options out there and not just kind of playing one way, and
I was able to adjust the last three days pretty well, and,
you know, the slice is probably a small part of that.
Q. I was wondering whether you actually were a little bit
frustrated out there today. Were some things not going
quite right?
A. No. I feel pretty good about the way I'm hitting the ball
right now. I don't feel like I'm missing a lot of shots;
therefore, when you do miss one it ticks you a little bit,
and you are trying to get things right before the Aussie
Open and, you know, if I can feel like I'm a little, little
bit off, you know, and still be comfortable in a match
against someone who is top 15 in the world, that's
ultimately a good sign for me heading into the next two
weeks. Thank you.
да неужели. Это радует. Может быть скоро он научится и писать
