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SAP OPEN MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 4, 2009

James Blake

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining for the call with James. James returned to the 2009 SAP Open for the ninth time in his career. He reached the semifinals in 2002, and twice a quarterfinalist in San Jose. Last year, James reached the quarterfinals losing to American Robby Ginepri. In 2004, he won the doubles title with a good friend Mardy Fish.
In Memphis, James will be returning there for the sixth time in his career. He was a finalist in 2002, where he lost a three-set thriller to Andy Roddick. And James opened up the season by advancing to the fourth round of the Australian Open, last year he finished in the Top 10 for the second time in three years at number 10. James is the winner of ten career ATP world titles, and we'll start the call off. Darren from San Jose.

Q. I wanted to get your thoughts on what it's going to be like on Monday going up against Pete?
JAMES BLAKE: Monday's going to be a lot of fun. I did an exhibition with him last year, and we had a really good match. He's obviously one of the great champions we've ever had in the sport if not the greatest. It's a lot of fun being around someone like that, a great tennis mind. Someone who can still teach you plenty.
You know, it's not really pressure packed, we're just having fun. He still obviously has the game that he can compete, you know, for one match or two matches at a time. I think what's gotten him the most is he wasn't able to do the grind all year, playing three out of five sets every other day and playing match after match and getting on the practice court and putting in the time. But on a given day, he can put up a pretty good fight.

Q. Have you faced him before in an exhibition?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, just for the first time last year we did a little exhibition in Baton Rouge, actually.
THE MODERATOR: Before we get into the media, I apologize to Bill Rapp for just a few opening comments, bill?
BILL RAPP: James, I just want to say thanks again for joining us.
JAMES BLAKE: My pleasure.
BILL RAPP: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. I was going to ask about playing against Pete in San Jose. Another thing I wanted you to talk about, if you could talk about some of the good memories from playing in Memphis and also in San Jose. And talk about the final in 202 against Roddick at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, Memphis was my first final. So that was a big deal for me. It was a week where I went in and beat one of the greats of the generation past in Michael Chang, and had a really close match with Taylor Dent. A good match with Tommy Haas and Jan-Michael Gamble, so I was riding really high. And playing another young guy in Andy. He just played a great match. I think I might have been up a break in the third. We were having such an absolute battle. It was a lot of fun. The crowd was behind us both.
For me, it was a really memorable match and really memorable time in my career to be in uncharted territory, getting to a final and to feel like I can be with the top players.
Andy immediately went on to great success, but to know that I was right there with him was a good feeling for me. And in San Jose, I've had some good memories there, playing in the doubles a little bit more. So me and Mardy won it. Unfortunately, I've not made it to the finals there. So I'd like to change that this year.
But I've had some pretty close matches. Probably the most was when I played in the semis against Andre, that year he was playing unbelievable. He kind of mopped up on the whole field. Just went into that match, and didn't feel like there was that much that I did wrong to be honest. He played great.
BILL RAPP: Any memories you have from playing in Memphis and San Jose?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, San Jose, probably, that Agassi match was exciting. Winning the sportsmanship award in San Jose was a great memory, because when I was a kid I was definitely a little bit of a brat. So to get a sportsmanship award on tour with such great ambassadors for the game is something that's very special to me.
So that was an honor. And Memphis, just the memories of getting to your first final, you'll always kind of have that. Of course, your first win might be a little bigger, but your first final is your first time you get that opportunity it's such a big deal. So that was a big deal for me.
BILL RAPP: There's a newcomer to the game that some of the folks at San Jose and Memphis may not be really familiar with, from south America, and Argentinian, Del Potro, talk about him?
JAMES BLAKE: He's got a huge game. Just has absolutely come on like wildfire in the last eight months or so. About halfway through last year he was probably ranked, I don't even know, 30 or 40 in the world, and just went on a tear of winning tournament after tournament.
Had a great run at the US Open till about the quarterfinals, I think. Was doing great at the end of the year as well.
The guy's about 6' 6", 6' 7", and has an enormous serve, a big game. Just kind of swings to the fences from both sides. So he's been locked in for the last eight months or so. And from the looks of it, he doesn't seem to be slowing down. He was playing well from down under.
He's just really taking the game that's become more prevalent in today's in tennis, and swing for the fences, and have a huge serve and go after the ball and taking it to a new level. And been successful with it.

Q. I just want to reflect back on Australian Open for a moment, since it was, again, another epic final between Rafa and Federer. And I'm wondering, it seems like not very long ago where everyone talked about Federer as he was this wall that nobody could hurdle, and he would be there for so long. I'm wondering are guys on the tour looking at Rafa the same way already? Or has he kind of already assumed that mantle of the ultimate hurdle because he's been so dominant in the last month, or is he still too young for that?
JAMES BLAKE: No, I think what you're looking for is who has that No. 1 next to their name. When you've got No. 1 sex to you, you've got the biggest target. You've got that bullseye on your back. He's got it. A lot of guys still respect and admire Roger as one of the greats of all time the same way when Pete was 32 years old, he wasn't No. 1 in the world, but people still respected him and didn't want to see his name next to theirs in the draw.
But if you've got the No. 1, you've earned it. It's not like -- this isn't a sport where you can just kind of milk your way to No. 1. You've got to prove it over an entire year. That's why we have that rolling system. So if you have the No. 1, that is the ultimate hurdle. You beat the No. 1 player in the world, and you've really accomplished something.

Q. What is your thought since you're playing the guy on Monday with the 14. There was Roger was clearly so emotional about not getting that. I'm wondering, do you think he has plenty of time to still get it at some point?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I think he does. He's only 27 years old. He'll be playing for at least three or four more years. You know, he's still extremely successful on hard or grass.
He's always said he felt just as comfortable on clay, but the way Rafa's been playing and the way a lot of these guys specialize on clay, I think that's going to be by far the most difficult. But I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him get one, two, or three more. You never know.
The thing is the way he was playing the last few years, he set the bar so high. But if he relaxes and gets one more, I don't see any reason why he can't still get two, three, four more. That would pretty much solidify him as the greatest of all time.
But I don't want to be sort of -- I don't make tons of predictions or anything. But I think he's got that opportunity.

Q. You mentioned some good memories in San Jose. Can you go back to last year, I don't think you were really happy with that loss that knocked you out. You said it wasn't a good day at all. But a year later, could you reflect on that?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, that was a tough one for me. I'd beaten Robbie a week earlier. But, unfortunately, I hurt my leg a little bit. It was similar to like a pulled hamstring, basically in the back of my leg, and I was feeling a little bit of pain. I was just a little upset. That's always frustrating. It's one thing to lose and play a bad match, but it's something that's out of your control when you're injured and you don't know what it is.
Unfortunately, I had to pull out the next week because of it in Memphis. So this year, no matter what, I'm hoping it will be better if I just stay healthy for both of them. It will be a good sign.
But it was definitely frustrating because I don't know. When you don't have control over the next step, it's difficult. When you have no one to blame but yourself, and you didn't play well, or the other guy just stepped up and played too well, that's something we've learned to deal with over our many years on tour. But if you're injured, it's about as frustrating as anything can be.

Q. On the mental side, is it sometimes tough tore get up for a tournament? We'll say San Jose versus a major, or even the Olympics when the sport is such a long grind, the season?
JAMES BLAKE: No, I feel very, very lucky about the fact that I still get up for every single tournament, every single match. If I stop doing that, then it might be time to scale back my schedule and not play nearly as much.
Because, you know, I feel like when I go out to San Jose, especially when playing those night matches, I've got the crowds into it. Really I feel great in those situations. Whether it's in San Jose, Memphis, whether it's in the US Open, if I've got a crowd behind me, you know, if I'm competing, I'm going to be into it. Whether I'm competing in ping pong, pool, checkers, whatever, I'm going to be pretty serious about competing. So I haven't lost that yet.
Sounds weird to say that I'm old at 29, but at 29, I definitely have not lost that fire to keep winning every single title. I've got ten now. And I'd love to make San Jose No. 11. And I'm going to be competitive in every single match. It still hurts every time I lose. Not just in majors.

Q. Is there anything to American players wanting to win, you know, even more American tournaments or even rooting for fellow Americans to do the same? Is there like a pride thing, or is tennis such an international sport that maybe it doesn't matter after while?
JAMES BLAKE: No, it means a little more to win it in America. You've got in terms of TV audience, it's easier for them to see it when it's in America because of the time zones. You've got your friends around. I know out in San Jose, actually, three or four of my friends from college are going to be in the area and they'll come watch.
You've got people around that can see it, and you've got close friend that's can watch you play, you want to do your best and you want to win. So for me, I think I've won the majority of my titles in the states. I've definitely felt the best playing in the states. Just much more used to the surroundings and everything seems more comfortable in the states and you've got more fans.
So definitely you feel like there's a little more, I say pressure, but I don't say it in a bad way. I say pressure more as a synonym for an opportunity. You've got a greater opportunity to do something special when you're playing in your home country.

Q. Curious about how you assess your game right now? Are you happy with it, working on anything in particular?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I feel good. I had a little bad luck down there against Tsonga. I didn't exactly have my best day. But I feel good about the way I was hitting the ball down are there, actually. I played all right.
Coming indoors now, I grew up playing a lot indoors, so I hopefully will have plenty of success when you take the elements out of it. But just doing the same things I've been doing to get better, a lot of moving forward. Working on serve-and-volley once in a while. Just all of the things I need to do to move forward. The approach shot, the transition game and volleying are a little better.
So that can be effective indoors, especially on indoor hardware. A lot of times you're looking forward to get forward as quick as you can.

Q. Brian has taken a vastly different approach to your career. She enlisted the help of other people, you just had Brian. Can you tell how that's worked for you, the pros and cons of having one voice over many?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I've noticed that a lot of times in coaching and the relationships. But for me, you know, I've always said about tennis, it's a very individual sport. So what works for one will never work for another.
If Pete Sampras tried to train the way Jim Courier did growing up, I don't think he would have been as good. If Jim Courier tried to train like Pete Sampras, I don't think he would have been as good. You have to find what works for you. Sometimes that's trial and error, sometimes it's just knowing yourself.
For me, I would not be nearly as successful with someone that didn't know me as a person, and know my strengths and weaknesses on the court. Not just in watching me play a couple of matches, I mean in terms of watching me practice and what I've tried, what I haven't tried. What I'm able to do, and what I'm unable to do. Brian knows all of that. He's known it.
We've done the trial and error since I was 11 years old. We've tried me just pushing. We've tried me playing a lot more defense. We've tried my backhand slice being more effective. We've tried serving and volleying more. We've tried every different scenario for my game, and we've honed it down to what works best for me. Whether or not it's going to get me to No. 1 in the world, we don't know. But we do what we can to maximize my ability.
If I were to get a new coach, I think it would be such a long process of trying to relearn all of that with a new coach and when to talk to me, when not to. Because Brian is so good at knowing when I need to just hear nothing, and when I need to hear something, and when I'm not sure of myself or of my confidence, that's when I need to hear someone telling me what I'm doing right, what I need to change, what I'm doing wrong.
And other times when it's just a bad day. I got a bad night's sleep or something. And there's really nothing wrong. I feel like so many errors in judgment in coaching, you have one bad day, and they feel they need to fix everything, and that ends up spiralling into making things worse and worse and worse because you're thinking about it.
Brian and I are pretty good. He's a lot better than me at it. But every once in a while I would panic about something. I need to fix it or change something. He's got great perspective, and, okay, if it continues and if it's more than just, you know, one bad day, we'll start adjusting it.
Lo and behold, a lot of times the next day I come out and it's not even an issue. I think he's great of having that perspective and seeing the big picture. Without him, there's no way I would have had near the success I've had. I know a lot of people credit my athleticism and all that stuff for it. But I don't know where they get it from. I make things look athletic due to a lot of hard work and lot of times doing the right thing with Brian. So I credit him with all of it.
Like I said, if two people train differently that are very different people, they need to find what works for them. And Andy seems to benefit from hearing a new voice once in a while instead of hearing the same thing over and over, whether it's right or wrong. He needs to hear something new that works for him. I think just the same.
If he had the same coach the whole time he wouldn't be as good as he is. If I had changed coaches, the way he has, I wouldn't be as good.
I think that's a common theme among guys in the Top 10 or top 20. They wouldn't be nearly as good if they had changed and tried to emulate someone else. That is one of the greatest things about Brian with me. He never tried to make me into the next Sampras or Agassi or anyone. He let me be who I am, and made me the best at that.
So I credit him with making me the best player I can possibly be, and absolutely maximizing my potential.

Q. So it's more the nuisances of that long-term relationship than the X's and O's on the courts with him at this point?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, yeah. It's funny. Because the nuisances are so important so people a lot of times, Brian is not a self-promoter. It's my job to let everyone know how much he's helped. A lot of people will think because of that with the X's and O's, he's not that strong.
If he would let me, I would put him in any sort of challenge with X's and O's with coaches in the world. There are so many times I can barely think about things. Everyone says he looks so stoic when he's watching me practice and watching me play. Like he's not even reacting or emotional.
But that's because when we're done and I ask him about what happened at 3-All in the third set, 15-30, he knows. He's got every single point, and he said, you know what, you did probably 60% of the time, and you changed it to this much. Because of that you lost this many of those points. He definitely know's those X's and O's. If he didn't know those, I would probably -- I don't know, I may have him around as a friend or something like that, because we're going to be friends for life, that's not even a question.
But if he didn't know the X's and O's, he would probably tell me before I would that someone else can help more. But the other thing is he knows those X's and O's as well as anyone in the world.

Q. Now that you're officially pushing 30, which sounds strange to say, do you take comfort in a guy like Agassi knowing that his best tennis really came at this point and beyond, and do you feel like your best runs at the slams are still ahead of you?
JAMES BLAKE: I hope so. But like you said, I do take a little bit of confidence from that. You know, not that I would never want to compare myself to Andre for fear of sounding extremely arrogant, because, you know, if I were in the same sentence with him I would take it as an absolute honor.
But I feel one similarity we have is we both somewhat have a little bit of a break in our career where I came back better than I even had been before, and it seems like he did as well. And I think that's something that is pretty easily explained by the fact that our tour is so long. When you have time off, it's when you get a chance to improve on certain things, take a step back and get a look at what's going on in your game, what's going on in your life. And how much tennis plays a role in your life.
So in that regard, I think it helps you. Andre's game was awesome, but his was a little -- he didn't use quite as much energy as I did. He was the one running people around. I do a little more of the defending, little more running, and feel like I'm on a string sometimes as opposed to he was the one that was always punishing guys physically. So I think that helped him extend his career as well.
I don't know if my game and my body will allow me to go as long as him. I'm going to go until my body does give out or I'm irrelevant in the game and can't compete on this level. But for right now, I'm pushing 30, I'm darn healthy. I'm practicing with a bunch of these young kids out here in Saddlebrook, and I'm not afraid to stand right next to them on the treadmill and do a lot of running on the court with them, and see who is left standing at the end. I'm perfectly fine with that at this age.
I'm waiting to see a few years down the road if I'm still feeling that way. But right now I'm ready to mix it up with them any time.

Q. You mentioned before that the losses still hurt regardless of where they happen. Were you surprised to see how emotional Federer was after the loss, or can you relate to that?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, he's a pretty emotional guy, so I could definitely understand that. You know that's just the human side of sports. There's so much that goes into it. There's so much effort, so much training these days that people put such a large part of their lives into it. There's no way I can relate to the feeling of 13 Grand Slams and being on the verge of 14 Grand Slams.
But I think every player at some point has felt like they've gotten to a certain level, and they feel like they could be one notch higher or they feel it would be so much nicer to get that. Whether it's for me or getting that one Grand Slam, or for someone else. Whether it's to get into that Top 100 or they just missed it. And for him, he's dealing with such historical references to be basically the greatest of all time, that you can see how tough that is to be on the verge of it, and not quite get there.
I remember talking to one of the other guys on tour early on in my career when I think a lot of in a few ATP Tour early rounds. I wonder if it's better to be almost good or is it better to have almost no chance and feel this kind of pain. I think that's, you know, and we joked about it and said you want that chance. You want to be in that position and put yourself in there.
Looking back, I think Roger would like to be in that position. He put himself in there, he's got his head on straight enough and enough perspective looking back on it now, that he put himself in that position, and that's all he can do. He did his best. He can't really -- you can't really fault yourself for that. Once you get out there and give it your all.
But at that time he said it, you can't -- the finals is the toughest because you can't just get off the court and jump in the shower and hide from people. You've got to be out there the whole time and go through the ceremony. So that is tough.
Just those emotions took over. That's tough. But it's the human side of sports. I hope people appreciate it and don't think any less of him. You know, there's no stigma anymore about being a man and crying. He really is one of the greats of our sport in terms of his ability. But he's also one of the greatest guys. So I would never want to take anything away from him for that show of emotion.

Q. How important was Brian during that break in your career?
JAMES BLAKE: You know, that's another way I couldn't have possibly had anyone else. The guy that was in the hospital with me when I was in Rome, when I broke my neck. Then when I was sick, he was there. We made a concerted effort, because for me to go out and try to hit was almost useless at the beginning. Because I would whiff balls and couldn't balance, you know, to stand up and not fall down at times. So we didn't do anything for a while.
But he would call and check in every couple of days. How's everything going, any progress? What are you up to? Just checking in and that kind of stuff. I had a few friends doing the same thing. But to have it from someone who for the latter part of your relationship you've been paying him. He's been in a way an employee. Then to have him not getting a check from you anymore but still concerned. That's something that means a lot.
Then as I was able to start hitting a little, we made an effort of what we were going to do. We were going to hit every other day. Not put any pressure on forcing it back because we knew it was a long journey.
My doctor told me it wasn't coming back any time soon. So take your time so we did that, and to have someone every two days, and once in a while a practice would be kind of the way my lessons were when I was a kid, hitting, and then we'd sit and talk.
We'd talk about my dad. We'd talk about life. We'd talk about, you know, if I was going to get better. We'd talk about what if I got better, what if I didn't get better. To have someone there that understands how hard you've worked at tennis, and what you've won and what you've lost, can also understand life.
Can put you in perspective in terms of the big picture. It really means a lot. I still give a lot of credit to him and to my other friends for getting me back on the court quicker, because they made it so easy for me to be okay with the way life was. With having them around me and not even questioning if I got back and won any tennis matches would I create anymore friends or would I have anymore joy in my life.
You know, it wasn't as important because it took the stress off of me because I had such great friends. And Brian is one of those that's one of my closest friends, but also a coach.

Q. With what you had to come back from, how much more enjoyable has this second go around been?
JAMES BLAKE: It's been crazy. It's been so great to have the perspective I got in that year off, basically. Brian talked about it a lot. Because sometimes, losses still hurt. I'm pretty down. I take it pretty hard. Brian knows how long to give me to not talk to me and let me stew on my own.
But there are times since then where I've been so hard on my self and he'll just remind me that, you know, I've been through a lot. I could have never had this kind of success afterwards. I could have been done. I wouldn't have had this opportunity, so you've got to sometimes think about that. And I do.
That's not to say that I ever get content, and say you're right. I should just be happy with a loss, and I played okay and that kind of stuff. I don't get content like that.
But when you start looking back on things you start appreciating what could have happened, what could have been and what you've done since then and the hard work you put in. You tend to forget that you've put in all that work. It seems natural, seems like it's just the right thing to do or just part of your job. I don't know if I could have done the same if I didn't have the setbacks that I had.

Q. Was there a moment you knew you were back? I know you won a challenge in this part of the country, but do you remember?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. I'd say I won a couple of challengers, which made me feel like, all right, I can at least be a professional tennis player again. I might not be where I was. But if I can win challengers, those guys are out there. There's sometimes they're just doing it for the love of the game.
It's not like they're getting a ton of fans or getting rich off of winning challengers. But at least I can have respectability and do that.
But when I really started feeling it was actually in D.C. where I won the matches, got to the finals and played Andy, and it didn't feel like -- he beat me that match, but it didn't feel like it was a man against a boy. It was a close match and he got me, but it made me feel like okay, this guy is playing on one of his favorite courts in one of his favorite tournaments. Playing well, and he's Top 5 in the world at this point. And I can hang in with him?
I'm back to where I should be. The greatest thing at that point was that I also really felt like I was getting better. I was back, but I also felt like there was room to improve, and it continued next week in New Haven, and that run at the Open was a good feeling. So I definitely felt like I was back then.

Q. It's been a couple of years since you've been playing at the racquet club, but it's quite a tight configuration there. Does the atmosphere feel different because the fans are so close to the action?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, it is a little can I have different. It feels almost like a club that I would play in growing up. It's not an arena. It's not a big stadium like we're used to at times.
So it feels very close-knit like you get to know some of the fans, and the volunteers and the staff there, you do get to know it's a bigger tournament than most, but it feels almost smaller they feel like they're a part of it. It's a great experience for the fans. When you're that close, with Andy Roddick serving 140 from that close, they know and they can appreciate how hard it is to return, and what we're out there doing.
So I think it's great for the fans. And it really fits the community very well. She get good fan support, and some people that really appreciate the game.

Q. When you talk about the 500 level of Memphis, and the way the tour reorganized, what are your thoughts about how that's settled?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, I was on the player council when a lot of this stuff was going on. I'm not anymore. I wasn't really a big fan of it then. The main thing I'm not a fan of is the fact that there's more mandatory tournaments. I like the way the PGA TOUR is developed where you can choose which tournaments you play, and you have the freedom to pick your schedule. If you want to play more.
Because like I said earlier, there's a very individual aspect of tennis where some people need to play tons of weeks. Some people need to play fewer weeks. I like having that ability to do what you want. With the mandatory tournament, it makes it a little more difficult to just pick your schedule. So I think that's tougher.
But making it easier for the fans in terms of Grand Slam, 1,000, 500, 250, I think that's great. Anyway the fans can feel more part of the game, and more a part of the sport like they understand every part of our lives, I think that's better. But the mandatory aspect of it, I definitely don't like.

Q. As you approach 2009, you've been to Grand Slam quarterfinals, Top 5, what would make this year a success?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, first and foremost, I think Davis Cup. Having that success in 2007 was unbelievable and unforgettable. So to have more success, right now it looks like the same group of guys that Andy and the Bryans, where we have so much fun. We have a great time. We tend to kind of get the best out of each other. That would be a huge success.
But otherwise, just the same thing I say every year is I want to keep getting better. As I'm getting older, I think it's more challenging. It's tough to accept it, but it's also a lot of fun. You put out, you want to challenge yourself. They always say anything that comes easy isn't worthwhile.
I don't think winning a Grand Slam is going to come easy for me. I don't think Top 5 in the world is going to be easy for me, but it's worthwhile to put that challenge to myself. And I get out there and do those kind of things and put in even more time on the practice court or less time in because I need my rest and my body to be healthy and rested for tournaments, it's just finding that balance and finding a way to continue to improve at 29 years old.

Q. James, any comments about the game in your hometown on Sunday?
JAMES BLAKE: It was a great game. First Super Bowl I ever went to. First half was starting a little slow, and second half was unbelievable. It was a lot of fun being in the stands and seeing all the Steelers fans go crazy. That Steeler Nation is incredible. So it was a great event to be a part of.
Although, I'll stay out of the city I'm in for the next few years. Because it was hectic and crazy, and traffic was insane. But well worth it for an unbelievable game.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time this afternoon. And good luck with the upcoming schedule ahead of you.

End of FastScripts

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