WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS
Date: 2006-08-17

WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 17, 2006

Andy Roddick
CINCINNATI, OHIO
The Moderator Questions, please.

Question Can you feel yourself getting better match by match here?
Answer Yeah. You know, I felt like I clicked. I could honestly tell in the first two or three games last night that I turned the corner and was hitting the ball crisp, you know. So I know I'm gonna at least play well the rest of the time I'm here. Hopefully, that will translate to wins.

Question What do you think about playing Andy Murray tomorrow?
Answer I'm excited. You know, he's gotten me a couple times. He's a very, very good tennis player. You know, he sees the court well and has great feel for the game. Uhm, he's been on a bit of a hot streak. So unlike the two times before we've played, you know, people probably might give him the edge right now with how he's been playing, and he's been playing a lot more frequently than I have. It will be a little bit of a different match. I feel like I'm hitting the ball better right now than I have going into any of the other two matches against him.

Question Third set today he was so tired he could almost not stand up. There's no way you can come out tomorrow and exploit that?
Answer I'm not gonna exploit it. If it happens, it happens. I've been moving the ball around pretty well. The stuff that I've been successful doing this week is attacking. If I get into a game of cat-and-mouse with him, that's not good for me, that's not optimal for me. I'm just going to come out and play my game. He's got all night and all day tomorrow, you know. So, you know, it's pretty much -- he's got more than 24 hours in between matches and he travels with a trainer, so, you know, I expect him to be recovered.

Question After he broke you, you came right back. Were you interested to see how you would respond to that?
Answer Yes, that was good. I haven't done that this year. That's probably the first bad game I've played in the last two nights was on my serve there. Actually, the game before I didn't make him play much on his serve either. But to come back the next game was good for me, and, you know, it was almost a good test to get broken there.
I feel good with where my returns are at. I feel like I'm getting looks almost every game.

Question Have you surprised yourself at all how well you've played here given the injury and the layoff?
Answer No, because I -- you know, I said the other night I was hurt, I couldn't serve, but I was training. My coach was with me last week, and I started hitting the ball really well in practice last week. Well, it kind of carried over. I started hitting the ball really well in Indy, went to LA, won two matches, got hurt, and couldn't play. I felt like the momentum was a little bit halted.
Last week in practice I felt great and, uhm, I feel like the last month or so I've been a different player than I was the last the first whatever months of the year. That's definitely a welcome change.

Question Are you still feeling your side?
Answer Yeah, I can still feel it.

Question Is it any worse?
Answer No, it's getting there. You know, the first test I think was the first match 'cause I hadn't served at all coming in, and, uhm, you know, to get through that and then the big thing was the way it recovered the next day. It wasn't any worse the next morning. So I feel like that was the worse -- I didn't re-injure it. Each day that happens, that's a good thing.
I feel like there's definitely progress being made which is a really good thing considering I'm beating on it a little bit out here, too.

Question Do you feel good enough with your game right now that you can look ahead, see the bracket sets up nicely for you possibly?
Answer No, 'cause I have a tough match tomorrow. Like I said, I mean, he's been as good as anybody the last couple of weeks, you know. His draw here hadn't been easy either.
You know, like I said, I said last night, I said I'm not playing well enough this year to look ahead. It's just not a luxury that I can afford right now. So I'm looking at tomorrow night, and then that happens, then you look at the next night. I'm really not looking too far ahead.

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