"I hope I'm very nervous"

Sunday, June 20, 2010

With less than 48 hrs to go until Andy steps on court against Jan Hajek, he freely admits he’s likely to be nervous. Very nervous in fact.

“It shows that you care, that you’re ready to play,” said Andy. “If there’s no nerves, that’s when I get worried.”

He starts against a little known world No. 80, a player who has never won a round at Wimbledon and someone he admits he’s never seen play. The media expectation is he’ll come through unscathed, but he doesn’t feel comfortable with discussing hypothetical match-ups in the rounds ahead. Asked by an American journalist on the prospect of Sam Querrey in he fourth round, he was politely dismissive.

“There’s a good chance that one of us is going to lose in the tournament,” said Andy. “It could come early; it could come later on. It’s very disrespectful to the rest of the guys in the draw to just look ahead of who’s in front of you. A lot can happen at Grand Slams.”

And asked whether he was an improved player from last year – where he lost a tough semi-final to Andy Roddick – he was matter of fact.

“The last few months haven’t been particularly good,” said Andy. “But I think the improvements I made were shown at the Australian Open this year. You don’t make improvements over two weeks, It does take time to put them into your game. I feel like I became a better player. Got stronger, started serving harder, and more often I was hitting the ball harder more consistently, was playing better up at the net.

“That’s something that, after the Australian Open, I got away from a little bit,” he added. “Something that I’ll look to do better here.”

He spoke last week of the ‘pain’ and ‘suffering’ in his off court preparation, and the way in which it gives him confidence on court. Yesterday there was recognition that the team plays a crucial role too.

“You have to make sure that you’re doing the things that the guys you’re working with are wanting you to work on,” said Andy, “If they’re happy with the way things are going, the way that you’re playing, and also yourself, if you’re comfortable with how things are going, that’s the most important thing.”

And with practice sets against Djokovic and Lopez under his belt already this week, those nerves may soon disappear on Tuesday.

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