Q&A; with Sam Querrey on staying relaxed, gaining confidence
WIMBLEDON, England — Sam Querrey created quite a stir on Saturday at Wimbledon, when the 28-year-old American registered a shocking four-set win over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the defending champion here and current holder of all four Grand Slam titles.
The world No. 41 will play again Monday in the fourth round, where he looks to advance to his first major quarterfinal. He faces veteran Nicolas Mahut, a Frenchman who excels on grass.
Querrey sat down with USA TODAY Sports for a brief chat after his whirlwind day, which included a slew of interviews around the grounds of the All England Club.
USA TODAY Sports: Well Sam, congrats. First, I wanted to ask you about putting. I’ve heard you do some of it in the locker room, is that right? To stay relaxed?
Querrey: The members' locker room here has a putt putt. All the guys mess around with it at some point. I think it’s been there for maybe 10 years. Federer, Roddick, they’ve all done it. I’m a decent golfer, but I can’t find a comfortable putting grip. I’m atrocious; an awful putter.
When were you actually putting then in the midst of this match?
Querrey: Last night for sure, and then during one of the rain delays (Saturday). It’s nice to have in there, it keeps you calm as something to do.
Were you putting well?
Querrey: No. I’m such a bad putter.
Did (Friday) night, with that two-sets-to-love lead, really feel so relaxed? It sounds like you just had dinner with your girlfriend and family. Your mind wasn’t racing?
Querrey: It actually wasn’t. I never turned my computer on; I didn’t check Twitter. I don’t even tweet, but I do scroll through it. My parents, their friends, my girlfriend, we all hung at the house. I did work with Christian (LoCascio) my trainer and went to bed, woke up this morning.
None of my friends texted me that much because I don’t think anyone wanted to jinx it. It’s like a no-hitter in baseball; you don’t talk to the pitcher. You don’t talk to someone when they are two-sets-to-love up.
And you slept OK?
Querrey: I slept probably seven hours. It wasn’t the best night of sleep ever, but since I’ve been here I haven’t slept that well. Light shines into my room at like 4:45 in the morning.
Did the rain delays help you? At times they stopped your momentum, but then today you were down 4-0 in the third set and it seemed to help, you getting to talk to your coach, Craig Boynton.
Querrey: It hurt me (on Friday night). Today, at 4-0 it helped me for sure. The next one (Querrey led 6-5 as Djokovic had to serve to stay in the match in the fourth set), it probably helped me, too. He had to come out and serve to stay in the match.
What was the mindset that you took into (Saturday) being up two sets to love?
Querrey: I tried to keep it pretty simple. Throw the ball up on the serve, pick a target and go there. I didn’t feel like he was blowing me away off the baseline. When I was in trouble, I wanted to make sure I got the ball back in the court and just reset. There are a lot of times when you play a top guy like that and they pull you wide and you hit a bailout shot because you feel like you need a screaming winner down the line or else you can’t hang.
I felt like I could today, I could compete with him at the baseline.
Why did you feel that way?
Querrey: It was a mix. With every game that passed by I grew more confident. I’ve been playing well lately and he wasn’t at his best, either. The pressure was on him and it builds. With every game I got closer and closer.
Have you checked your phone since the win?
Querrey: Yeah… there are tons of texts, oh man.
You and Steve Johnson (who is also into the fourth round) share Craig Boynton as a coach. Talk about that a little bit.
Querrey: Steve and I both live in L.A., so we spend a lot of time together. We are at the same tournaments. We have always been good friends. It’s a good little group that we have right now and everything is clicking. So it’s fun to have both of us still in it.
There is a whole bunch of you in Los Angeles that work together, as well as with Rodney Marshall via the USTA on fitness. How good does it feel to have success as a group? Are you motivated by one another?
Querrey: It’s great. There is a good group of us in L.A. The people that you work out with and practice with and hang out with everyday, you want them to do well. It’s great to see Steve and Madison Keys into the fourth round. Nicole Gibbs has had a good year, as well.
Is this a childhood dream realized? Beating the world No. 1 at Wimbledon?
Querrey: Yeah, it’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I’ve played here nine times and you could have a career where you might play the world No. 1 once or twice on one of the big courts, so it was nice to make the most of that.
PHOTOS: BEST OF WIMBLEDON
