TENNIS US OPEN – 29th of August 2014. R. Federer d. S. Groth 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. An interview with Sam Groth
Q. Were you competitive enough out there to enjoy the experience?
SAM GROTH: Yeah. I mean, obviously it was an enjoyable experience. Like I said, I’m pleased playing in front of a crowd as big as the amount of people here, so to play on a packed house on Friday night against the greatest of all time, yeah, it’s an unbelievable experience. To be honest, I feel I should have won the third set. Game points at 4-2, game points at 4-All. I didn’t execute when I needed to.
Q. What is it like to play Roger Federer? I asked Marinko the other night. He said it’s like he’s floating.
SAM GROTH: To be honest, for me, I was trying not to get caught up in the whole Roger act out there. You walk out, you get a few cheers. He walks out and the crowd goes ballistic. So from the word go you know he’s there. I was honestly just trying to focus on what I was doing. If I go out there and I worry too much about what he’s doing, especially the way I play, I’m not trying to grind a guy down. A lot of it even until the very end, a lot of it – especially on my service games it’s on my racquet. A lot of the points I lost was missed volleys and things that I probably — he puts the pressure on you, of course, but I can’t worry too much about what he’s doing. I tried to run with that the whole night and not worry about Roger and just play tennis really, I mean.
Q. Does this taste leave you wanting more?
SAM GROTH: Yeah. I think my whole year’s left me wanting more. This is the biggest stadium you can play on and it’s a packed house on a Friday night. Like I said, you know, leading up to this match, it’s a dream come true to play on a stadium like this, especially where I’ve come from over the last couple of years. Not just the last couple years. I refer to that because I sort of walked away and that. It’s been a process. I’ve been traveling full-time as a pro since I was 17, 18. It’s not just a couple years. It’s building up when you’re a junior and building up the last few years. To be honest, I want to be here. I feel like I’m doing a lot of things right. I’m going to go away from this and work out what I need to get better now. I’ve improved a lot of things, but it’s time now for me to take it to the next level as well.
Q. You’re a big guy physically. When you walk into a place like Ashe, which is so big, how intimidating does it feel? Do you feel small?
SAM GROTH: No. To be honest, when I walked out there — we’d spoken about it enjoying the experience — I walked out and I just tried to soak it up at the start really. I tried to look around and take it all in. Smile, you know. Yeah, I mean, it’s huge. I mean, the stadium is massive. Sometimes you look up, you look at the top tier and the top tier is packed. I was in there the other day. I couldn’t hit a ball halfway up the top tier. Probably the only stadium in the world I can’t hit it out of. The place is humongous. I’m disappointed I lost. I’m not happy walking away with a loss. I am not happy I lost to Roger. Not saying I could have won, but I enjoyed my experience out there, and I want to be there more often.
Q. Do you stay in New York a bit?
SAM GROTH: I’ve got doubles tomorrow. My doubles ranking has been pretty good this year. Improved that a lot. Semis at the French; won a title. So my focus switches to doubles now. We’re up tomorrow. Got the second seed in doubles as well. I’ll go home and chill out and be back here tomorrow morning to get a hit and on court tomorrow at 2:00 for dubs.
