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French Open
Thursday, May 28, 2009

A. RODDICK/I. Minar 6‑2, 6‑2, 7‑6

An interview with: ANDY RODDICK

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Could you tell us a word about your next opponent, Marc Gicquel, and the fact you play a French player here?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, well, obviously it's going to be a challenging atmosphere, you know, whatever court we do get put on. He's certainly talented, certainly comfortable here.

I didn't see much ofhis match today, but, you know, he moves real well. I'm sure he's very comfortable moving on thissurface. I think we're both prettyfamiliar with each other's games. We've'played a couple times. Obviously itdoesn't get easier.

Q. That had to be one of the best matches you've played here. First two sets pretty perfect, and the thirdeven. When he pushed you, you held upand then won the breaker convincingly.

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I was pretty happy with the way Iplayed. I can remember maybe just onebad little series. I had a couple breakpoints early in the third, and I might have laid off a little bit on those.

But besides those, itwas pretty clean. I was happy with it.

Q. In 2001 when you made the third round you probably wouldn't have takenthis long to get back to that same place.

ANDY RODDICK: Or at least hoped not.

Q. What are the feelings on being back in the third round?

ANDY RODDICK: Well, I mean ‑‑ I don't know. I don't ‑‑ there's a lot of work togo. By no means have I accomplished anythingyet. So, you know, I know I'm supposedto separate this from the other Slams and stuff.

But I've been in thethird round before, so, you know, it's obviously nice here because I'vestruggled. But certainly it's a place I'm comfortable to be.

Q. Talk about the setting. Closequarters, intimate, fans hanging from the rafters, so to speak, smallcourt. What was it like playing there? What were your thoughts about being assignedthere and so forth?

ANDY RODDICK: I was kind of pumped when the schedule cameout. Some people were asking me, youknow, if it was all right. I said, Whywouldn't it be? I mean, last time Ichecked, I hadn't won a match here since 2005, so I don't know if I deserve anycourtesies as far as what courts I'm playing on.

That could be myfavorite court here, you know. Like yousaid, it was an intimate setting with the people watching, and, you know,everything growing on the walls, able to hear the highway and everything. It was cool. I enjoyed myself.

Q. Do you have to make any adjustment playing in a court that intimatecompared to, say, playing on the center court here?

ANDY RODDICK: I don't think so. You know, if anything, the only thing thatyou're maybe a little bummed about is that if you're playing someone like Iplayed today who's used to kind of maybe that size of a court. Sometimes it's an advantage playing in abigger court, because it takes them a little while to adjust.

So that was really theonly downside, I think, or potential downside of playing out there.

Q. Being lighter on your feet, does that still pay off on this surface, ordoes it give you less of an edge than it did on hardcourt?

ANDY RODDICK: I think it's always going to be less than itdoes on a hardcourt, but I think it certainly can't hurt, you know, here.

You know, I'm ‑‑Larry calls me a gripper when I move. Ikind of ‑‑ I'm a little bit of a power mover as opposed to, you know,nimble and based around footwork. Idon't know if that gripping‑type movement translates that well to clay, but Ithink it is easier, being in better shape and being lighter. There's a little less to move around.

Q. You had a lot of success at the net. It just was very striking. Yourtransition game seemed very fluid and easy.

ANDY RODDICK: I felt good, and, you know, I think more sothan anything I was hitting really good approach shots. You know, I was working the lines over prettywell, and kept them honest. I hit acouple of dropshots early so he couldn't kind of get settled in, you know, inthe trenches way back. That opened upthe length on the approach shots for me a little bit later on in the match.

Q. Have you ever played on center court here?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, yeah.

Q. Things are getting sort of bigger and grander in tennis of late. They're talking about putting a roof on astadium here and building a new stadium in France. Obviously Wimbledonhas the roof now. Madrid just opened. How do you feel about that, and do you thinkthe French Open, because it is a lot smaller in terms of overall space than theother three, do you think it needs to grow and get bigger from a player'sperspective?

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know about "needs to." You know, I think it's a little bit more ofa ‑‑ I'm speaking from a completely ignorant standpoint. I don't know the research that's been putinto it or whatever. It seems a littlemore landlocked than the other events, so I'm sure they're going to have to getcreative if they are to build any more.

I think that's a goodsign. You know, especially in theeconomic times we're in right now, where around the world they're gettingbigger and better and fans are still coming and we need to accommodate, youknow, bigger venues. I think that's agood sign for tennis overall.

Q. Speaking of roofs and buildings and things, if I could just change thesubject, last year in Shanghaiyou had kind of a quick visit. Wasn'tthat long. What kind of changes or whatwould you be anticipating when that tennis tournament, the Masters Cup, becomethe regular Masters Series?

ANDY RODDICK: I think it will be fine. The one thing is that venue is huge. We haven't even seen ‑‑ you know, wewere kind of accommodated in a very small part of that stadium. I think they built that so it had options,you know. They built it with the roof soit could open. I think it will be justfine. I think it will be different thereand having whatever it is, 63 other guys or 47 other guys, whatever the drawsize is there. I don't know if we willget our private locker rooms anymore, but... (Laughter.)

No, it should befine. It seems like they have plenty ofspace there.

Q. You think having a Masters in China is going to be kind of a differentlook for everybody, isn't it?

ANDY RODDICK: I think it's necessary. You know, you kind of have to be good to theparts of the world that have been good to you, and they certainly answered thebell with the Masters. It's nice to seethe interest. They're rewarded withsomething a little bit more permanent.

Q. Do you know better what you have to do on this surface from over theyears? And second question: Did Larry tell you to approach this eventspecifically, or just clay specifically, in any different way?

ANDY RODDICK: I don't know. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and jump up on a soap box like I'mreally good on this stuff now because I won two matches. I think that's what you need to guardagainst.

Today I felt prettygood, and I felt pretty in control of what I was doing. I think I have improved physically from thepast times I've been here, and I think that lends itself to having some moreoptions out there.

Q. And now your next against a French player, Gicquel. What do you think about him?

ANDY RODDICK: Same thing I thought in the first part of thepress conference. You can check thetranscript.

Q. One question is with all the pressure in this tournament from Nadal andFederer, the last three or four years, a top player like you, when you comehere, do you feel that pressure, or do you sometimes say to yourself, Now I canwin this tournament? Did you feelsometimes that you can win this tournament?

ANDY RODDICK: If you're asking me if I've come herethinking I can win this tournament, the honest answer would be no. Do I feel like I can make a run and then seewhere that takes me? Yes. I think it would be extremely presumptuous ofme with my record here to come in and say I think I'm going to win thistournament.

Right now I'm going togo match by match, and I think I have a shot to win my next match. We'll go from there.

But, you know, the reason that Roger andRafa have been talked about as the favorites is because they've proventhemselves time after time. Not only atthis event, but at other ones. So I'm going to have to earn it. I'm going to have to convince myself a littlebit more, but I think this is the best start I've had. I'm excited about the prospect of trying tomake the second week.

Q. Youwere talking about venues and changes. Looking ahead to Wimbledon, what are your thoughts on a roof, having acourt where there won't be rain delays. Will it impact the atmosphere?

ANDY RODDICK: If we're calling a spade a spade ‑‑ Idon't know ‑‑ it's going to affect a very small amount of the actualplayers. You know, those players have tobe scheduled on the stadium, but I think it's great, you know, and probably themain reason why they built it is to keep things going on television.

You know, that's where,we have to keep fan interest and you can't have three or four days of dead TVand Cliff Richey singing. (Laughter.) That's an upside.

Q. Maybe a small advantage for Roger, Rafa and Murray, because they'realmost always will be assigned?

ANDY RODDICK: Absolutely, but again, you earn youradvantages.

Q. The fact that you're going to be playing on clay in the Davis Cup semisafter the summer, is it even more important to get your clay court game inshape or...

ANDY RODDICK: I don't think the two ‑‑ I guess it's nice,but it's not something that's in my thought process at all.

Q. Right at the start of the third set, the drizzle picked up and youbarked out an angry word that I use a lot myself. I'm not condemning it. I was wondering...

ANDY RODDICK: That would be darn, for all of you that weren'tthere.

Q. Because things were going so well? You just didn't want anything to disrupt what you had going?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I didn't want to come off. You know, I felt like the momentum was goingmy way, and if we would have been on a bigger court, you wouldn't have beenable to hear me say that.