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ROLAND GARROS

June 4, 2016

Paris, France

LOPEZ-LOPEZ/Bryan-Bryan.

6-4, 6-7, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. My question is not about this match. I know it's not easy to talk. Representing the Croatian media. Question is about Davis Cup. Is it fine for you to talk about this?
MIKE BRYAN: Sure. Yeah.

Q. First of all, you play almost -- I'm not saying you are very old, but you play almost all Croatian generation. What is your positive or negative experience memories, et cetera, et cetera?
BOB BRYAN: With who?

MIKE BRYAN: Croatians.

BOB BRYAN: The Croatians? I mean, we had a great tie with the Croatians in -- where was that?

MIKE BRYAN: Carson was --

BOB BRYAN: Oh, yeah, that was a tough one. They caught us by surprise and they went on to win the Cup, which was, you know, amazing.

I think Ljubicic won every match all year except one. Didn't we play them -- where was that?

MIKE BRYAN: We played them at home in Croatia. Porec.

BOB BRYAN: Porec, yeah. Beautiful place. Same thing. Croatians beat us again. So hopefully third time is the charm for the U.S. team.

Q. How do you see this next match? ? Not only doubles, I mean, in general.
MIKE BRYAN: I think Cilic is very dangerous. He obviously can win two matches. He's probably going in and thinking he's the favorite. He's a great player. I think doubles points can be massive.

Our good friend, Dodig, we have played many times and had tough matches against. I still don't know his partner, but we're just gonna try and do our job. I think that's going to be the pivotal point.

Q. Is it harder to play against two players like the Lopezes who have two different games?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, they have contrasting styles. Obviously a big lefty server and a guy that stays back and has great groundstrokes. They posed a lot of challenges for us today.

Tactically we were trying to do a few things to counteract that, and, you know, we didn't execute to our top ability.

So, yeah, they're a good team and a new team, and, well, I'm sure we will play them a few more times.

Q. My question is not about the game. What is the main advice you will give to nonprofessional player who want to start playing doubles?
BOB BRYAN: Well, No. 1 key is to pick a good partner; pick someone that you enjoy hanging out with. It's a little bit like a marriage, you know. You've got to have fun with your partner. That's the most important thing.

And then, yeah, I mean, teams like that, the Lopezes, us, lefty/righty teams with contrasting styles are the most successful. So if you're a big server, pick a good returner.

Q. And about tactic?
BOB BRYAN: Tactics? Well, the middle in doubles is really important, so you want to make sure you block the middle. You know, if balls go across the middle, poach. The middle is -- whoever controls the middle in doubles is in good shape.

Q. Lopez was main key in the match?
BOB BRYAN: Which one?

MIKE BRYAN: The little one played a great third set. He hit a lot of good lobs and he was returning pretty solidly.

He was the tough point in the ad court to win. I think that's why they broke a couple of times in the third set.

BOB BRYAN: But, yeah, Feli, the lefty, handled himself in that very well today. I'm not sure we have ever lost to him. We have played him maybe 25 times. He was very solid at the net. That was the best he's volleyed against us.

Q. If I could, I have two questions, guys. First of all, I mean, in your minds, you must be saying, Great, we reached the finals, but this...
BOB BRYAN: No, we're not. The tough thing about us is that if we don't leave with the big trophy it's devastating. And that's just -- we have high standards, and sometimes that makes it not fun, because we can't get any kind of enjoyment out of a final or semi like maybe some other players.

You know, that's the burden that we carry. We're feeling that pain right now. There's no -- I don't know. We don't take any solace out of leaving with the square plate.

Q. You guys are so gracious in defeat. Is it ever a little bit of a challenge when you're sort of doing the concession thing not to say, This really stinks?
MIKE BRYAN: No. I think we're basically reading cue cards. We have done a bunch of those. You just hit your congrats, you know, the crowd -- yeah, basically you --

BOB BRYAN: What you really want to do is go break your racquet or --

MIKE BRYAN: Yeah. You've just got to tough it out for 10 minutes and you go inside the locker room and you have it out.

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of cool to see how they reacted. I mean, it was obviously the biggest moment of their career. You know, seeing tears shows how special winning a Grand Slam is.

Q. This is a little rambling, but here you are in Paris where huge news breaks from home where the best athlete we have ever produced has passed on with the passing of Muhammad Ali; lived by his convictions, changed sports; changed the world. Any thoughts?
BOB BRYAN: We were glued to the TV this morning watching, you know, the bios and all the videos about his life. You know, we knew how great he was. We didn't know the details of his story, which make it even, you know - for us - even makes it more amazing, his life.

Yeah, and then they were going through his quotes. He's got ten legendary quotes that I didn't even know came from Muhammad Ali. The guy has got -- he's left an incredible legacy. He'll be missed. Yeah, we were just fascinated by the stuff on TV this morning.

MIKE BRYAN: I didn't know he got Parkinson's at 38 years old, our age. He had a big battle, you know, his last 34 years.

BOB BRYAN: I didn't know he didn't fight for all those years in the '60s when he was world champ. I didn't know that he was stripped of the world title. I didn't know that whole story.

Q. Yeah. He stuck up for his convictions and sent a message. Do you ever get -- people like Jack Kramer say there are actually quite a bit of connections, similarities, between boxing and tennis. More in singles, but in the ring by yourself, have to have a big punch, fast feet. Any thoughts about that? You know, Murray is a big boxing fan. Any thoughts?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, in today's tennis, in singles, you know, the first couple of sets you're just wearing a guy down. Body blows, body blows. I think that's the way they're thinking. You know, just try to take out their legs. I know the Rumble in the Jungle I think with George ForeMan, didn't he just try to get him tired?

Q. (Off microphone.)
BOB BRYAN: Guys like Murray and Nadal and Federer, when they square off it is like two heavyweights going at it. They're wearing each other down physically. You know, a lot of times that knockout blow comes in the fifth, when one guy is completely spent.

But, yeah, there are a lot of parallels between boxing and tennis.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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ROLAND GARROS

June 4, 2016

Bob Bryan

Mike Bryan