ATP Men's Tennis

Robby Ginepri French Open Tennis Interview May 31st

Q. Bad luck, Robby. You seemed to have things under control at the end of the second set. What switched it around?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Little unlucky not to win the first set. I thought I outplayed him. Just didn't capitalize on breakpoints. Obviously the second set turned it around a little bit. I think he started missing a little bit more and I was finding my rhythm.
Then I guess beginning of the third set I was up 30 Love in that first service game, and I slipped on the overhead at 15 30, and, you know, did a few pushups; never doing those again on court. I think that kind of changed the momentum a little bit.
I don't know. It was just a tough way to go out in the third. And the fourth set, was little unhappy with how it ended.

Q. You're the last of the Mohicans for the Americans. Did you picture anything like that when you started the tournament?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Not really. You don't go into a tournament hoping you're the last American. If it works out that way, fine. If not, you know, you just try to worry about yourself.
There are so many tough matches you have to get through in a Grand Slam. Three out of five, anything is possible. Just worked out that I was the last American again.

Q. What was the lowest you were ever on the computer?
ROBBY GINEPRI: When I first started I didn't even have a ranking.

Q. Oh, yeah. What was your...
ROBBY GINEPRI: Um, I probably dropped to maybe 170, 180, maybe.

Q. When was that?
ROBBY GINEPRI: I think 2007, beginning of 2007.

Q. Why?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Good question.

Q. Looking at your record in these Majors, you either seem to have a long run or lose right away. Is there some sort of momentum? Are you a momentum player? I just thought that was a strange...
ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, usually the first match I kind of get some rhythm going, get some confidence, get a little bit more belief in myself.
You know, it's tough to say. Maybe I'm a little bit slow starter if I don't win that first round match in tournaments. After I do win a match I usually go pretty deep.
Just cross my fingers I can get those first round matches under my belt, and good things usually happen.

Q. You managed to level at one set apiece. How did you feel? Were you optimistic? Did you feel you had a real chance to beat him?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, I was feeling good. Even though I lost the first set, I was still pretty happy with the way I was playing. I thought I was dictating a lot of the rallies.
In the third set after I got broke, I kind of let my foot off the gas a little bit. He started controlling more of the rallies. Any short balls I was hitting, he would just exploit them. You know, he would attack.
I thought he stepped his game up a lot more. He started playing a little bit bigger, hitting the balls deeper. Anything that he tried, it seemed like it worked. If I would step in to hit a second serve return, you know, he'd serve a big one to my forehand and my body.
Hats off to him. He played well, I thought, in the third and fourth set.

Q. You spoke about sort of a hot or cold situation in these tournaments. But also in your career as a whole, has there sort of been some streaks? You know, good junior career and then some troubles, then the '04/'05 period darn good, et cetera, et cetera.
ROBBY GINEPRI: Juniors I was pretty solid always. I had a pretty tough career. I was pretty tough to beat in the juniors.
But into the pros, a couple years it took to kind of get to the top. 2003, had a great year reaching I think I won my first tournament the. Then '04 I got to fourth round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
So I've had good results, but it's always been a roller coaster ride. Hopefully I can manage that a now little bit better. Off to Queen's next, and hopefully can take some positives out of this week and go into that tournament and play well.

Q. The neck aside, when you say roller coaster ride, I'm assuming you mean it's more of a question of mental and how you're approaching the game and whether you're engaged or not. Obviously you've gone through a lot; a little bit older. What has this run done for your sort of mental engagement with the game? Are you feeling sort revived by it? What does it do for you?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, I'm very ecstatic when what's been going on this week, coming into this tournament having one victory the whole year. It's a pretty terrible stat.
But to be able to play here and win some matches and beat Juan Carlos in five, definitely was thrilled about that victory. Then to have Novak one set apiece and having some chances to do something else.
But I'll take some positives away from this. I'll learn from it again, which I always do with every loss. I'm good.

Q. Can you talk about your immediate plans? You mentioned going to Queen's. Are you going to take a couple days before you get back on the court? How are you going to switch to grass? Can you talk about the preparation, please.
ROBBY GINEPRI: I'll take a few days off, reflect on some things here, and get my mindset ready to compete as well as I can in Queen's. I always look forward to that event. It's very fun playing on the grass. I enjoy it. Won my first tour event there, so I know I can play well.
You know, hopefully I can go pretty deep in the grass court season, and off to the hardcourts, which I feel very comfortable on.

Q. Fourth game of the final set, you had some words with the chair ump, and then there was that crazy mishit.
ROBBY GINEPRI: I felt like that he played that ball and then he stopped because it didn't go in and then checked the mark. But it's not up to me. It's up to the umpire.
Just a little disappointing, because there were a few calls that seemed to, you know, always go his way. I mean, if it was out, then it's out; but, you know, I thought he played it.
No biggie, it's not like it turned the match or anything. It wasn't a big point. You know, he played well. He's not No. 3 in the world for nothing. He's one of the best out there, and he beat me today.

Q. Was your issue more with Novak or with the chair umpire?
ROBBY GINEPRI: No, just with the chair ump. I think he should have gotten out of the chair immediately. He kind of stayed up there a little bit longer. Just kind of agreed with Novak and really didn't listen to anything I said.
He was gonna, you know, stay with that call regardless.

Q. I'm just wondering if it carried over to the next point where you sort of shot the ball up. Or no?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Not really. Left it at that.

Q. How is it to play against Novak? It looks like he's tired, that he can't breathe, and then on the next point he runs.
ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, no, I know Novak is extremely fit. He goes deep in a lot of Slams and plays some long matches. I think he's just trying to get as much air into his lungs by taking deep breaths.
With that being said, it doesn't really affect me at all.

Q. I think Patrick McEnroe was in the stands. How is the coaching situation? Has he been helping you for this tournament?
ROBBY GINEPRI: I just saw him briefly yesterday for the first time. You know, he was just up there supporting me in my match.

Q. You said something a little while ago about hopefully you can manage the success better from here. How do you do that? Also, do you have any theories on what has gone wrong, you know, in the past when your ranking has gone down?
ROBBY GINEPRI: I think in the past it's been a little bit of motivation from a day in, day out perspective. One day I'd be really happy on the court and want to play, and the next just not want to hit. You can't do that as a professional.
You've got to go to work each day, no matter what kind of day it is. If you're feeling down, you have to find some positives and take some momentum into the practices and do your very best.
That's what I'm going to try to work on from here on out. I'm 27 now. You know, my career is kind of midway through, and I feel like I can still do a lot of damage out there.

Q. You're not exactly known for your flashy showmanship through your career. But you called on your inner Jack Palance with the pushups. What happened? Talk about that.
ROBBY GINEPRI: I felt a little stupid slipping and falling on my face, so tried to get the crowd back to my side. You know, maybe that took a little bit of my focus away doing that.
Like I said, I'll probably never do pushups again on court.

Q. Do you think it actually changed...
ROBBY GINEPRI: A little bit. It's hard to say. You never know. It's one of those things that might work for you, but today it didn't.
If I, you know, win the next point and hold that game, then it looks great. But I think I won three games after that, so it's a no no.

Q. So we won't see any more pushups from you on court?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Not on court. If you come to the gym, I'll do some there for you.

Q. You've never done that before?
ROBBY GINEPRI: No.

Q. You've played Davis Cup for a while. Do you consider yourself a candidate now that the lineup seems to be changing?
ROBBY GINEPRI: I know Patrick always likes to take the younger guys, and obviously with Querrey and Isner they've been having a phenomenal year. It's going to be hard to shy away from those guys now.
Obviously the Bryan brothers are pretty much a lock every time they play. I think that's the team for now.

Q. What would you be doing if you weren't playing tennis? Were you going to go to college or...
ROBBY GINEPRI: I probably would have gone to college. But, you know, I had to make the decision. I was young. I played Roddick in the finals of the junior US Open, and he was probably around 150 at the time doing pretty well.
Pretty much raised my levels with him throughout the juniors. I had a tough match with him, and felt like it was a good decision to go pro. It's been working. I've been happy with that.

Q. There was a rumor that said you'd be pumping gas if you weren't playing tennis.
ROBBY GINEPRI: Where at? Chevron or Shell?

Q. You've had a good run at the French Open, but the downside is that you've played a lot of games and sets. Today at one point did you feel a bit tired? Did you feel like your legs were not reacting as quickly as you wanted?
ROBBY GINEPRI: I felt pretty fit the whole match. I was a little disappointed, like I said, with how the last two sets went. I thought I had a lot more in the tank to give, but I just didn't get a good opportunity.
Novak was playing too well, was hitting some of the best shots I've seen, and made some unbelievable drop volleys when I would get the ball down low to him. Just felt like he had an answer for everything that I was doing to him.
He played better than I did today.

Q. Have you ever played on a worse day than when you beat Juan Carlos, the conditions?
ROBBY GINEPRI: It's tough to say. I think that was probably one of the toughest conditions I've had to play in. It wasn't fun that when every other point there was clay getting in your eyes.
It was very heavy conditions out there, but I took pride in that match. I knew he was going through the same things. It was whoever was going to stay mentally stronger was going to succeed in that match.

Q. Do you think that Novak can win the French Open?
ROBBY GINEPRI: Anything is possible in sports. You know, there's always an opportunity for anyone that day. The good thing about tennis, you know, it's one on one combat, so if someone's not feeling up to it that day, the other person is usually going to win.
He's extremely talented. He plays really fast off the ground. He's very quick, very flexible. I was surprised on how well he would slide into a lot of the shots when I'd get him off court.
I've seen his flexibility in the locker room, so he can go deep. I don't know his draw. Obviously Nadal and Federer are the two contenders here, but he's beaten both of them before. I know he believes that he can do it. We'll see how he does.



Interview from RG.com