He [Vince Spadea] was about as down and out as you could see from a Top 20 player. Then to claw his way back through the minor leagues and do it the hard way where he wasn't young, wasn't getting wildcards, wasn't getting any help. I guess he decided he was just going to do it.

I don't really rate press conferences. It's not as though I leave the room fist-pumping my way down the corridor after a good one.

I got to play in a crowd, play in Wimbledon finals, be the guy on a Davis Cup team for a while. Those are opportunities not a lot of people get.

My backhand is definitely a lot more solid and consistent. There were times when I couldn't hit it into the ocean.

I think I have a lot of room for improvement. My serve is okay, but I need to work on a lot of things: return, transition game, backhand.

I've become better at the net. I've got a 135 mph serve so I'd be stupid not to follow that in. Overall I'm a better player than I was last year.

Almost everybody's here doing the same thing. Who am I to come up with an excuse when there's 64 other players here doing the same thing? 63 others, sorry.