Roddick also defended his decision to save his body some wear and tear by not playing Davis Cup this year.  “To be honest, I don’t know if I would have been the best guy over there this time,” he stated.  “I don’t think I was put together the way I needed to be.”  Despite the Americans’ loss to Serbia, Roddick commended fellow Davis Cup teammates Sam Querrey and John Isner on their efforts.  “I thought they did a pretty good job trying to navigate their way through pretty tough circumstances.”

Patience has been the name of the game for Rafael Nadal since his injury forced him to retire against Andy Murray at the Australian Open.  “You have to be a little bit more passionate and you have to be with calm with these problems,” he said in his pre-tournament interview.  “You can’t do nothing with this when you have [been] unlucky with injuries.  Just play your best, play positive all the time and wait for the better moment.”  Returning to match play at Indian Wells is definitely a positive for him. “[This is] one of my favorite tournaments.  You feel like a little bit out of the world here, so, yeah, I like a lot this tournament.”

Nadal has a full clay court season ahead with Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona and Roland Garros on his schedule and he doesn’t foresee any reason to alter it from years past because, as he puts it, “I don’t think I have to change when the results was always really good doing the same.”  What’s the bottom line?  “Play well.  Be healthy and play well.  If I do both things, I gonna have good tournaments and to have good results.”

Roger Federer

For his part, Roger Federer took about a week to acclimate to his return to North America.  “That’s why I arrive really early,” he said in response to questions about his health.  “I’m back to my normal self.  Yesterday I practiced for four hours, so this is when I knew, ‘okay, no problem.  I’m ready to go.’”

And everywhere he goes, the Swiss finds himself fielding questions about maintaining the top ranking and the possibility of winning the Grand Slam with one title already in his pocket.   “It’s not something on the top of my list, you know, because I can’t prepare in a different way just to win the Grand Slam.  It’s something that’s going to happen or not.”  Tonight, though, the top seed’s focus is on enjoying the opportunity to play both his former and current rivals in a fun exhibition for a good cause, Hit for Haiti.  “Obviously I’m in this fortunate position that I can, you know, help in a big way, and I’m very happy to do so,“ he commented.  “I think every human being who has an opportunity should give maybe something back.  If it’s time, if it’s money, or if it’s just inspiring others, I think it’s really important.”