DAVIS CUP MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 11, 2004

Patrick McEnroe

PATRICK McENROE: This is nice. We did the Austrian restaurant earlier this year. And if anyone has any ideas on a good Croatian place in New York, let me know. And assuming I'll be back as a captain which I'm very hopeful to be back, which I'm sure I will be, we'll be playing Croatia in the first round in March. It's good to see you all here. Obviously to have Ham, Vic and Tony here is a great honor to have you guys come back. You know, Davis Cup is really about sort of bridging the generations I think in tennis and the past, the present, the future. So to have you guys here is fantastic. I remember being a little kid and I think it was in Palm Springs when we played the final and Tony was the captain, and my brother played against England and won three matches. And I think you're the only guy that John never listened to, Tony. (Laughter) maybe Tony Palofox, as well. I've seen a lot in Davis Cup, and as Jeff said, my goal coming in four years ago was obviously to win the Cup. But I think just as important at the time and now into the future is to get a group of guys that are really passionate about playing, about committing themselves to Davis Cup, and that, you know come in with the mind set that if you build it, they will come. If you come and you play with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, that the interest will come back in Davis Cup in this country, and I think that's really starting to happen, judging by all of you here. And obviously winning helps a lot, and so I'm here to announce that I'm going to stick with the same four players that have been there throughout most of this year: Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, Bob and Mike Bryan will encompass the Davis Cup team for this final. Great group of guys. I think it's a group that gives us best chance to win the cup, to do it this year. It's going to be difficult obviously in Spain. They are going to have a super-slow clay court, and it's going to be rather chilly probably, judging by my investigating of the average temperatures in Seville in early December, I think the high is 60, so it will be sufficient, but our guys are really looking forward to the challenge. It's a great opportunity. And I think it's a great experience for us and for these players. So we're looking forward to it. So let me just say first of all to quickly thank the three men that are here, that 50 years ago went to Australia. How did you guys get there, by the way, at that point? Swam? That's how strong you were. So first is Ham Richardson. And Ham, who used to play tennis with me up on the Columbus clay courts years ago, and his beautiful bride here, Midge, I've known them for many years. So Ham, come up, we have some gifts for the three of you. We appreciate you all coming and letting us know how the hell we're going to win this over there. Here is one for you, and thank you for running me around back in the day. (Applause). Say a few words and tell them how great my forehand was in those days.

HAM RICHARDSON: The first time that I played Patrick, I was playing this young kid. And I had been the No. 1 player in the country and still thought I was playing pretty well, and I couldn't believe how hard Patrick had hit his two-handed backhand and how disguised it was, and I realized then how much for the first time really how much the game had changed with the new racquets and the new rules. But without reminiscing too much, I'll just say that the 1954 Davis Cup trip was certainly one of the highlights of my tennis career. I was a very happy third member of a two-man team. Vic and Tony played both the singles and the doubles. (Laughter). We had been over to Australia for the first time trying to recapture the Cup from the Aussies, who had won it in 1950 and then 1951, '52, '53, '54. We went over and lost first in Sydney and then in Adelaide and then Melbourne; great match in Melbourne we could have won. I'm surprised you said that we upset the Australians in '54, we certainly didn't think it was an upset, because Tony and Vic were playing extraordinarily well against the two young Aussies, Hoad and Rosewall. But my job, really, was practice player, the alternate just to make sure I was ready in case I had to play. But they also kind of chose me as a social director, and also I was the one elected to drive the car. I remember the day before the matches we had had good practice at White City, and then we are driving back to the Hotel Australia where we stayed every year, and I was driving. I was a little better on the left-hand side of the road than Vic or Tony I think was at that time. But as we were chugging along, all of a sudden the car started sputtering and we ran out of gas. So here we were the day before the matches were to start, slight uphill grade, service vacation about 200 yards ahead. I said, "Fellas, I'm sorry, you guys have got to play. I'll get out, I'll go get some gas in a can and bring it back." They were aggravated. They just said, "No, you sit there and steer and we'll push." So they got out, the day before the Davis Cup matches in Sydney on a main street, the two American stars pushing the car up the street. We were hoping that none of the Australian press would see us, (laughter), thinking this was a new form of training that we did. But at any rate, they didn't. I hope you guys have forgiven me after 50 years. I remember again the matches were brilliant, and Tony and Vic beating Rosewall and Hoad, both singles and doubles. And we did have some celebrations a few days later, I think it was New Year's Eve. We were invited to a party, a lovely home in the suburbs of Sydney. Again, I was driving. I got too vague of directions to get out there. So we finally got on the right road and we came to the home, beautiful home, a lot of cars parked, and we went in to the party, had a marvelous time, people greeted us. We really didn't see many people we knew. Turned out we were at the wrong party. (Laughter). We stayed there for about probably 45 minutes, had a good time and made some new friends and back we went. (Laughter). A few days after that, the American ambassador then, Amos Peaslee, loved tennis, and Bob Menzies, the Prime Minister of Australia, was also a big tennis fan. They invited us to come to the Australian capitol to play an exhibition match against the Aussies at the home of the American ambassador. So Vic and I were the team. Billy Talbert went out with us; Tony didn't make that trip. Any rate, we had a marvelous time. The Ambassador had set up on his front lawn with the lovely tennis court a seating for about 500 or 600 people, and all of the members of the diplomatic core and some guests were invited. So, naturally we had a receiving line. So before Vic and I played, it was Rod Laver and Neale Fraser, the two Aussies. So we shook hands with everybody in the line, standing up for about an hour, went out; and my hand was so sore, I could hardly hold a racquet to play. So the Aussies beat us fairly easily. And after the match, I said to Harry Hopman, the captain, I said, "Harry, I'm sorry we didn't play any better; I've never shaken that many hands before I played."

He said, "You'll notice that I had my two left-handers playing." (Laughter). So, Patrick, that's the kind of thing you're going to have to learn, some of the tricks of the trade. But you're doing a great job, our team is doing a terrific job. I think with Andy and Mardy in the singles, and you have a great doubles team. I will say that my favorite Davis Cup match was in 1958 when Alex Olmedo and I won the Davis Cup for the United States. And we crushed the Australians in the doubles in four and a half hours, the longest Davis Cup doubles match that had ever been played until that time. But the doubles is an important part of the Davis Cup. More important than it has in the rest of the tennis world, and I'm delighted that we have a great team now with the Bryan twins. We're confident, we're going to be rooting for you and watching ESPN television. And the very best and we know you're going to win. Thank you.

PATRICK McENROE: Thank you. So I got some valuable advice there. Make sure the team van is -- or maybe make sure there's no gas in it. The Spaniards would like to see that, Roddick and Fish out there pushing the team van. Well, you didn't play in that final, Ham, but you were a huge part of helping the U.S. get to that match and get to that final. And Mr. Seixas, you came in from California, will come up and tell us how we did. Vic?

VIC SEIXAS: You'll notice that none of us walk too well.

PATRICK McENROE: You guys played on grass.

HAM RICHARDSON: I forgot to say that I was stuck getting over here because there's a parade on Fifth Avenue because it's Veteran's Day, and I thought it would be appropriate to have this luncheon on Veteran's Day for us.

VIC SEIXAS: I should be in the parade instead of here. I had a big speech prepared, but Ham did it all. (Laughter). I just want to add a couple of things to what he said. Well, first of all, I want to thank Randy and Chris for this beautiful luncheon and inviting me to come back from California. It's a long way to come for lunch, but I think it's worth it. Ham mentioned that party that we went to on New Year's Eve. I don't know if you finished the story, Ham, because we were at the wrong party, and we finally found out. And we went to the right party, and it was so stuffy, we left and went back to the first party. (Laughter). I think you were driving one car and I think I was driving another car, because I got stopped by the cops, the policemen in Australia. I was following Frank Sedgman, because he knew how to get there. They opened the window and they looked in and they saw us. They said, well, you know, you're going too fast or you're driving on the wrong side of the street or something. I said, "Well, I'm just following Frank Sedgman. I'm following Frank Sedgman." "Oh, okay." And they gave us an escort right up to the place. Obviously, Ham and Tony and I and another member of the team who isn't here who is with us, Mike Green, I don't know if any of you remember Mike, and of course Billy Talbert was our captain. We were, I think we dedicated ourselves, I know Tony and I did for a year, we were beaten badly -- not badly, but we were beaten in the 1953 final in Melbourne. It was a close match and a famous match that Tony had with Lew Hoad which has been written up a lot. And then of course, a day later, I lost to Rosewall in the final match to make it 3-2 for them. So we got together that night and decided that we were going to win the Davis Cup the next year, which was '54. And Tony and Billy and I, especially, made a vow that we were going to do everything we could do to win the Cup. And I have to tell you one cute story, because we went over early in October every year and played all of the tournaments over there leading up to the Davis Cup, plus the Inter-Zone Final, and then I think the last tournament they had in Melbourne before the Challenge Round, before the Inter-Zone Final, I played Rosewall in the Finals, and he beat me. And we had to make a little talk afterwards which we always did and I said, "Ken, you'd better watch out," because I lost eight straight times to him, and I said, "nobody's ever beaten me nine times in a row." And I finally won that next Challenge Round match. So I can still say nobody's ever beaten me nine times in a row. (Laughter). But anyway, the Davis Cup in those days was unbelievable, especially in Australia. The fanaticism that they had over there for tennis, starting from 1950 on, and wave after wave of good players that came along. It was amateur in those days when two would turn pro, two more would be right there, and those two would turn pro and two more would be right there. And I went through three waves of that and I said, that's enough, because the next wave was Laver and Fraser, and then Hoad and Rosewall had turned pro. So it was Laver and Fraser, and then Emerson and Stolle, and Hartwig and Rose. They just kept coming at you all the time, so it was pretty tough. But we loved the matches there. Australia was a fabulous place to play in those days. We had come back from there after we had been over there, and nobody knew who we were when we got back to the States. But it was enjoyable. And I think Patrick, you've got a good job ahead of you to try to win this Davis Cup. It's a great thrill to do it, and I know you're going to do it; if you don't do it this time you'll do it, eventually. But I'm sure you'll give it everything you have this time. And if it's any good luck to Andy Roddick, we have the same birthday, so maybe that will help him a little bit. Anyway, I want to thank you for inviting me, Chris, and Sandy, and wish Patrick the best of luck and go get 'em. (Applause).

PATRICK McENROE: You guys will be happy to know, Ham, Vic, and Tony, that our young players that we have on our team like a good party, too. So sometimes I'm the guy that's arranging the social activities for them. But they are a great group and they work hard, and it's interesting to hear you talk about that, Vic, about you and Tony getting together, because we sort of had a couple of those moments. We had one in France two years ago when we lost in the semifinals there. We had a little meeting right after we lost, and I was just impressed with the way our guys handled themselves and competed in a losing effort. But Roddick and Mardy Fish were there and James Blake was part of that team and Todd Martin was on that team. He told me at that time that these are the kind of experiences together that were going to help us down the road. I think in a final like this, it's obviously a lot of those things hopefully will come back and help us, those experiences. This is a great group of guys, and they really -- they are really committed to not only the Davis Cup, but to each other. So I think that plays a big part in having success, ultimately in Davis Cup and the man who knows a lot about -- how many times did you win, Tony as a captain? Twice. Mr. Tony Trabert.

TONY TRABERT: Thank you. I walk like Vic.

VIC SEIXAS: You walk better. You're younger.

TONY TRABERT: Thank you, Patrick. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Certainly a pleasure for me to be here. It's hard to believe it was 50 years ago when Ham and Vic and I with our great pal, Bill Talbert, who we wish was still here regained the Davis Cup. I can say without equivocation that it was the best thing that ever happened to me in tennis. The opportunity to represent your country, we were halfway around the world. They played the national anthem, they raised our flag, and every place you play, they'd say "Trabert serving Austin." I say it's the United States serving the arms, you get a little tight and your mouth gets a little dry when they say you're representing your nation. We knew not everyone cared, but we knew enough did. And it meant a lot to us to win the Davis Cup; to regain the Davis Cup was a fantastic feeling. And Patrick, we hope you will experience that with your team. I know you've had some tough times with your team when you knew some of the older guys you could not count on anymore, you went young. I think it was absolutely the right decision. As you say, they are learning and getting the right experience. And hopefully it will culminate with a victory in Spain next month. I want to revert back to 1953 for a second. We played in Melbourne, and I beat Rosewall the first day. And Vic lost to Lou Hoad. But Vic and I won the doubles the next day so we are up 2-1. On Sunday, I played Hoad the first match, drizzly-day-kind-of-thing, and he won the first two sets and I win the next two and he beat me 7-5 in the fifth. The court was so bad, they could not play the match till the next day. And as Vic mentioned he lost to Rosewall so they beat us 3-2. Afterwards at the ceremony, one of their officials said, "Yesterday was Lou's day and today was Ken Rosewall's day." So when it was my turn to speak, I gave what Frank Sedgman called my McArthur speech. I said, "Yesterday it may have been Lou's day, and today may be Ken's day. But I guarantee you, next year is going to be my day." Fortunately we backed that up and were able to win the Cup. As far as pushing the car, Ham, I know the USTA was a little tight in those days. We could not afford a full tank of gas. But having to push the car that was a fun memory. I had forgotten that. One of the nice things about Davis Cup to me is the camaraderie. The Australians have always had it and we have a special links, Ham and Vic and I, because we have a lot of fond memories. We've worked hard and we've played hard together. We practiced a lot and finally got the job done. And Ham was no less a partner on that Davis Cup team as Mike Green than the rest of us. We were fortunate enough to get to play and we knew Ham was with us to back us up in case one of us got hurt. Patrick, again, I just want to wish you a lot of luck. I don't know about shaking left-handed, but you're obviously going to be underdogs on the clay. And hopefully your guys will be patient enough and fit enough to stay out there and battle them. And if you can win one first day and win the doubles, I think the pressure will be on them the third day. So we'll be following very closely. We wish you the best. I want to thank the USTA for inviting me and for having us and inviting you to be here today. Your support of Davis Cup obviously is very important to all of us. So we thank you for your help and your cooperation. Thank you very much. (Applause).

PATRICK McENROE: Thank you, Tony. Also one of the guys who got me interested in getting into the broadcasting world, listening to you for all of those years at the Open and learning from you and still listening to you. I'll take any questions anybody has about the team, about the match coming up anything at all.

PATRICK McENROE: I may take a fifth guy. I haven't determined that yet. I might. I was thinking about taking Robby Ginepri, since he's been on the team, played for us this year. So he's had some back issues the previous couple of weeks, and so I'll get in touch with him and figure out where he is. But that's a possibility. I'll let you know if that happens down the road.

PATRICK McENROE: I'm taking two of the juniors. So we'll have a couple of young guys.

PATRICK McENROE: Well, I don't want to tell you yet because I haven't told them yet. But two of the top young kids coming up.

PATRICK McENROE: Everybody's health is good. I think as Tony said, you know, the key for me is the physical fitness. I think that, you know, from the moment that we clinched the match in Charleston in the semifinals, you know, Andy was already talking about training for the Davis Cup, and that was really his goal for the rest of the year. So he's been doing a lot of work. And the Bryan bothers have continued to work. And Mardy is a guy that I'm going to continue to push and continue to stay on him about upping his fitness level. I think not only for this match, but I think overall, that's always been a key for him is to get a little bit stronger and get physically fitter, to allow what I think is one of the best all-around games in tennis to really come out. I think if Mardy is in great shape, and hopefully he's doing that work now. Of course I'm keeping in touch with him on basically a daily basis; that hopefully he's getting that done; that he'll have a good chance to win a match. I think physically the guys are fine. There's no injuries. Might have a little injury issue with back over the summer, Mike Bryan. He's in good shape. They had a very good stretch over in Europe and played well over there. I'll see them down in Houston. I'm going down for the Masters down there, so I'll see the Bryans and Andy down there.

PATRICK McENROE: Well, I think as Tony said, I think if we can win a match on day one, I think we have an excellent chance. That doesn't mean that if we're down 0-2 we'll pack it in, and that doesn't mean if we win the first match, we wouldn't love to win the second match that day. But I think looking from a bigger perspective, if we can go into the doubles at least 1-All, we're in pretty good shape. So I don't look at one guy. They have obviously had great players down the line. You know I wouldn't be shocked if Robredo or Nadal play singles. It would not surprise me at all. Obviously Ferrero and Moya are not playing at the peak of their game where they have been. Ferrero has had a down year and Moya is a little bit questionable with his shoulder. You know, they are French Opens champs, so obviously they are extremely capable, but they are not at their peak of their clay court games at the moment. So I think that's something that we can be optimistic about. Nadal has got a tremendous amount of energy and will be a factor. I think the certainly the doubles, I think we're the favorites in the doubles, but I think it's going to be a tough match. I think those guys are going to play well. And the Bryans have played great. Probably their best tennis I've seen them play in Davis Cup. I think they are going to have to do that again to win the match. So overall, just my concern is just being able to have options, and that means physically being able to grind some points out if we need to. If we do that, Andy has had success on clay. He has not played great at the French, but he's played well in clay court tournaments, and I think he's extremely motivated to play well here. If our fitness level is real high, I think we'll be able to weather a lot.

PATRICK McENROE: Right. Well, that's a good problem to have. It's one of the things that I've really tried to focus my energies on is having different options and having guys that really want to play. I've got to be honest, it's nice to get kudos myself and credit for fostering this team spirits, etc. The bottom line is, these guys really want to play and they are really committed to it, I think irrespective of who the captain is. Obviously, I'm real happy to see that; that was one of my goals coming in. But they are genuinely passionate about Davis Cup. You know, they talk about it throughout the whole year, as soon as we get through one match, they are already looking ahead to the next match. They send me e-mails from wherever they are, they are thinking about it; they are gearing themselves up for it. They are pushing each other, which I think is very healthy. They get in each other's face a little bit, which I think is a mark of the team that really cares. So we've been really lucky, and knock-on-wood, we can continue that, because I think that -- it's interesting to hear you, Vic and Tony talk about no one really paid attention too much over here when you came back from Australia. You know, we heard Pete Sampras talk about that the last time we won the Cup in Moscow, and he came home and nobody cared. You know, to me, that's not why you do things in life. Yeah, we'd all love to get lots of attention and lots of respect for what we do. But I think if you're all passionate about what you do and you really care, that's what counts. Our guys are sort of building that and building that energy and enthusiasm. And if people catch on it; meaning the general sports media in this country, then great. But that's not going to take away from what the experience is that we have, and I don't think it took away so much from what you guys did.

PATRICK McENROE: Well, to me what Mardy it's about, I've talked to him, I've talk to his coach, I've talked to his trainer. I've talked to everybody about the importance of him doing the physical work, the off-court work. You know Mardy is a tremendous tennis player. Mardy has got a lot of natural ability and a lot of game. To me, if he's physically in great shape and better shape, it will allow his game to come out, to come through more and more. He played well against Belarus in a tough four-set match that I think a lot of pressure was on him to win that match, based on his loss earlier in the year. So I think he felt a lot of pressure there. Obviously we won the match fairly comfortable when you look back on it, but he won a tough four-set match against a very good player. So I'm not really that concerned with his match play. So he's been in Europe, he's played a few tournaments, he had some matches. My No. 1 concern is that he's physically doing the work now, and obviously we'll have plenty of time as a team together before the match we are going to go over to Spain early and have a lot of practice on the clay. So, in that sense, I think to me it's more important that he's doing the off-court stuff now, rather than out there playing a million matches. He's played enough tennis, he's played big matches. He won probably -- and at least as far as I've been captain, the biggest single match we've had, which was we were down 1-0 against Slovakia away on clay, to go down to the second division, and you know down a set in front of a hostile crowd and he won that match in four sets. So, he's won some big matches in that sense. Obviously Olympics was a big moment for him to play well there. So that's where my priorities are with him.

PATRICK McENROE: Well, he's not going to play this tie. I had a long talk with Andre about three or four weeks ago before he went over to Europe to play, and I did ask him to play. I've asked him to play almost essentially every time we've had a match. He's Andre Agassi, and for what he's done for Davis Cup and for who he is, I feel I owe it to everybody involved in tennis to do that. He had a very strong opinion about he felt very positive about this team and the direction we were headed. He loved the spirit. He loved the camaraderie. I think he and Andy have formed a real friendship and real bond together and played a lot of exhibitions and done a lot of practicing together. As far as next year goes, I think there's a chance that he might be interested in playing next year. I don't know that. I don't think he's made up his mind on that. But I think he was extremely positive about what he saw and what we were accomplishing as a team. I think he felt, at least from what he told me, he felt that coming in for just a particular match was sort of against the reasons that he decided not to play four years ago, which was a bigger-type picture, tennis. His priorities were the Grand Slams and obviously his family and doing the training necessary and all of those things, which I certainly understand. I mean, it would have been great to have him play Davis Cup and just focus on the majors. I would have loved to see him do that, but he made that decision. And he felt that coming back and playing just the final, because it was a final, because he knows we could use him, that it was sort of going against his bigger picture decision as to why he didn't play; and if he just decided to play one match here or one match there, that that wasn't in keeping with his principal decision about why he decided not to play. And also, he said, "Look, these guys got you there and you have a great group of guys and they deserve a chance to play for the Cup." So I certainly understand and respect that.

PATRICK McENROE: That's the idea; right.

PATRICK McENROE: I think clearly the home court is an advantage, and clearly I think more than that is playing on clay and playing on their favorite surface. Look, we know that it's going to be difficult. But we've had experience now. We've played at Rolland Garros in front of 15,000 French fans. We lost, but we played well. We had some good moments. We went to Slovakia and we played in there, and we won a big match on the road on clay. So we'll be prepared. I mean, we'll be ready. Certainly one of the keys for me is to find the right balance of energy, enthusiasm in the match with, you know, not letting the crowd get overly involved. Obviously they are going to be involved. So, there's going to be that sort of walking that line between not being too emotional early on, and trying to stay pumped up and stay into it; but not for lack of a better word, piss off the crowd and be against us any more. I've heard this is where Spain plays when they need to win a match in soccer or football; they go to Seville. We know it's going to be tough, but this is what it's about. Our guys are excited about the challenge. They are excited about it. So we know the Spanish are passionate about tennis and they love their team and they love tennis. So that helps. You know, anybody would like to play in that environment. Thank you, everybody.