"My mom would ask, 'What did you do today?' I'd say, 'I beat Lendl, Becker, Edberg. They didn't put up much of a fight. Pete and Andre were a little tough, but I took them out, no problem.'
"Now I'm here at the US Open doing it all for real and I just can't believe it is happening. I just can't believe I'm the US Open champion.
"It's certainly shaping up to be a really good group, with Roger winning Wimbledon and Juan Carlos winning in France, and now him becoming world No1. "We're all kind of close. I think it's gonna make for a real exciting group. I'm just kind of pumped to be part of it.
"I'm not gonna say I'm gonna be the best thing since sliced bread. I just want to keep playing, working hard, and try to improve.
"Who knows what the future will hold? I'm just gonna try my best and we'll see what happens."
Roddick had to come back from match-point down to beat David Nalbandian in a five-set thriller in the semi-finals, before demolishing Ferrero in the final.
However, he singled out his firstround win over British No1 Tim Henman as his most significant victory.
"That was huge," he said. "I mean, I wasn't happy when I saw the draw.
"I'd had a great summer, but he was the only person I'd lost to. So I knew that was huge.
"I knew I was playing good enough tennis to make a run here, but I also knew that there was a chance that I could go home after the first round. So that was big for me."
On Saturday, Justine Henin-Hardenne also heralded a new era in the women's game when getting the better of Kim Clijsters in the second all-Belgium Grand Slam decider of the year.
In repeating her French Open success over the world No1, when romping home 7-5, 6-1, she also became the first Belgian to capture a singles title at Flushing Meadows.
