Andy Roddick: It was tough. Um, yea I wasn’t feeling my best today. Yea, I said I was going to try to go out there. I told Larry, I’m going to serve and try to slop together something. And um, that’s kind of what I did. Um, you know, I knew it wasn’t… the good thing about the match-up today was there’s so many quick points with the serves that I thought I could… You know if I would have been playing Lleyton today… you know where you’re playing every point, eight to ten balls, it would have been probably a huge physical problem. You know I think that the fact that we both serve pretty big was actually to my benefit today.

Question: Andy you had to dig deep no doubt about it. After winning 30 titles… 50 finals… how many different ways are you starting to learn how to dig deep in tournaments?

Andy Roddick: Well I’ve always tried. You know, there’s something to be said for giving yourself a chance. Honestly today at about 1:15 or 1:30, I didn’t like my chances of going out there. Um, you know, I woke up from a little nap at 2:30 and said I might as well go for it. You know, you just stick around and sometimes they roll your way. Today was definitely one of those. You know, I don’t think he was his best day. You know, but I’m just…

Question: Were you a factor in him not having his best day?

Andy Roddick: Was I bringing him down with my level of play? (laughs) That’s a possibility.

Question: Have you ever ended a match falling in the air before?

Andy Roddick: That’s the best shot I’ve ever hit in my life considering the circumstance. I mean I played a pretty good point before that. I mean I made… just making the return… you get disheartened when he doesn’t miss the next ball. It’s tough to get a serve back and then he hit a great volley there. I don’t really remember much besides the fact that I went for the ball. I hit it. I didn’t really think much of it. I was already in my head, you know ‘there’s no way.’ And then I heard people cheering. I was like ‘there’s no way that went in.’ I guess it did.

Question: You were are far back as the wall permits. How often do you do that? And what’s it like back there for you?

Andy Roddick: Ah, I little lonely. (smiles) No I was literally having to move officials around. You know, on second serves, I’d call at the middle linesman and say ‘he’s coming there so you’re going to have to call it from a different angle.’ Um, I don’t think I won a ton of points the first five service games so I figured it was time to try something different. I started doing a little bit better when I went way back. There’s not a lot of guys who force you to have to do that.

Question: What do you think today was like on Graham Andy?

Andy Roddick: (laughs) Yea, it was probably tough. For those of you who don’t get the question, Graham’s helped manage my career since I was 17. And now he’s kind of… he works with Milos also. I think he sat in the top row today. He was neutral.

Question: Hey Andy what do you think of this Canadian coming up and the young talent he brings to the game?

Andy Roddick: I mean, he’s as exciting of a tennis talent as we’ve seen in a while. The good news for him is he’s going to be able to learn on the job. Because that serve is going to win him a lot of matches even if he goes up and down with the rest of his play. It’s one of the bigger serves I’ve seen. I still think he can learn a lot playing the game. But it won’t surprise me if he’s top ten sooner rather than later.

Question: With all the wins you’ve had here, where does it rank with all the things you’ve done it tennis that’s happened to you this year and every other year?

Andy Roddick: Um, I don’t know. I get a certain amount of satisfaction when I get kind of routinely buried, and people try to retire me before I’m ready. And I normally come back pretty strong. I came back after Australia, and there’s a lot of negativity after that tournament. You know so I look forward to the opportunity of getting back out here. Winning tennis tournaments… I don’t ever take for granted. You know, I’ve won 30 of them now but I think every one of them is just as exciting. I got just as much joy today as I did my first one. You know, I think I should be able to play because I enjoy it. You know I don’t need to answer to anyone else… and um, live up to anyone else’s expectations. I have a blast doing what I do. I feel like I work hard enough and treat the game with respect. You know, at the end of the day, that’s good enough for me.

Question: Andy you took one little break. Was it related to the illness or…

Andy Roddick: No, I had to pee.

Question: You talked about not feeling good around 1:15 or 1:30. Was it a fever or was it…

Andy Roddick: I’ve had a little bit of a neck issue all week and then I’ve had… I’ve been a little sick. My wife was really sick last week. And I think I might have caught it this week. I’d been feeling… I had a cold and a cough and that’s fine. But today was the first day where I woke up and things were aching… really was kind of low on energy… wasn’t feeling really stellar. I think I warmed up for about four minutes before and was like I’ll try to wing it.

Question: Are you conscious of the fans? The old DiMaggio line that someone might be out there seeing you for the first time? Does that run though your mind?

Andy Roddick: Everything plays into it. Everything plays into it. At the same time you weigh going out and insulting them with a half-assed effort. You know so… you know, it’s certainly… finals day, there’s not another match they can put on. You know, I’m aware of that. Um, I don’t know if that was going to be the ultimate decision maker. I have a hard time making myself go out there and play if I don’t feel like I can give the effort that it might take to win. Um, I’m not going to go out there and put on an exhibition, You know, I don’t think that shows fans much respect. That kind of almost insults their intelligence a little bit so. You know, when I did go out there, I decided to kind of pick and choose my spots. I was trying to just kind of figure my way through the match and kind of use my energy in bursts.

Question: You mentioned you were feeling poorly. You wanted to get out there quickly. After you lost that second set tiebreaker, how did you kind of rally yourself in the third set after you were down a break?

Andy Roddick: I didn’t. I… You know, it’s the old… I got asked this question a lot after the Wimbledon final in ‘09. You know, how are you going to keep playing? It’s like, well you’ve got two options. You either quit or you just stop or you try to keep going. You know, I just kept trying to go. I don’t think there was a you know big great horror movie scene going through my head or anything like that. It was like ok, try to hold your next service game. And I was able to do that.

Question: Experience maybe helped you get through a day like this compared to Raonic?

Andy Roddick: Um, I don’t think the match-up itself, experience helped me. I think figuring out kind of how to navigate my way through this match; that probably helped. But as far as experience over him, I don’t think so. I don’t think that had much to do with anything.

Question: He seemed to pick himself up after a couple of match points and he played well last week?

Andy Roddick: Yea, he’s going to be just fine. I mean I’m not going to spend my time worrying about him, I promise you. Sorry, worrying for him. You know, he’ll be just fine.

Question: Your good friend Mardy Fish played him yesterday. Did you learn anything from that? What did you talk about?

Andy Roddick: The text conversation went like this. Hey dude, sorry about your loss today. You got anything for me? And he goes, ‘I have nothing for you. I thought he served in different spots. There weren’t a lot of tendencies. You know, he kind of goes for broke.’ I was like, ‘alright, good talking.’

Question: All you guys are great physical athletes. The match looked like it came down to mental strength. Is that something you and Larry work on? What sets you apart? You seem to be obviously in the top ten for so long. You can win these matches. What sets you apart from guys who can’t?

Andy Roddick: I have a real bad guilt complex if I don’t walk off feeling like I gave it my all… (laughs) in all honestly… I don’t know. One thing that you can control as an athlete… you can’t really control how you’re playing at a given moment… but you can control your effort. You know, even if you’re playing terrible, play terrible with a hundred percent effort. That’s something that my dad always told me. Seems simple enough to me.

ATP Tour: Any more questions?

Andy Roddick: Thanks guys.