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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 14, 2018

Wimbledon, London, England

BRYAN-SOCK/Klaasen-Venus

6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How does it feel?
MIKE BRYAN: It feels really good. I mean, obviously a long fortnight. I think we were on the court for almost 20 hours, down match points in the third round, down breakpoints to be out of here in the fifth set in the semis, I think we were down a breakpoint in the fifth set tonight.

I told him it was like a mental training kind of two weeks. It's going to toughen us both up for the future. But a blast to play with Jack. He's got so many skills. I was in awe a lot of the time. He hit some amazing shots. His speed is unbelievable.

It's just a lot of fun playing with him. Going to dedicate it to Bob, though. He's back at home supporting us. Just got off the phone with him. He's super excited. He watched every point in the final. Dedicate it to my grandpa that passed away two days ago. He was watching the first week and supporting us, then he just passed away.

Those two guys, two Bryans. But, yeah, thanks to Jack for suiting up with me. I texted him a couple weeks before Wimbledon. He agreed to play, which is cool.

Q. Your grandfather watched every match?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, he watched every match our whole career. He charted it with my grandma. She just passed away a month ago. He went a couple days ago peacefully in his sleep.

So, yeah, he was a huge supporter of us. Even the juniors, came to all the junior tournaments, all our Stanford matches. I was happy I could bring joy to him. He watched Tennis Channel, whatever was on, he would watch it in the middle of the night. He was one of our biggest supporters.

Q. His name?
MIKE BRYAN: Carl Bryan. My dad's dad. Lived in Santa Maria. Pretty emotional to play through that, him passing.

My mom actually has been battling an eye infection, too. It's been a tough week. She can't see out of her eye. It's pretty crazy back at home right now. We're still ecstatic. Too tired to really even talk right now.

Yeah, I mean, if Jack will play with me again, I'll gladly suit up with him.

JACK SOCK: Always.

MIKE BRYAN: We'll see how Bob's health is.

Q. At the French Open you said your good-byes, maybe not sure you'd see us again. What made you ready to play on?
MIKE BRYAN: The opportunity to play Wimbledon. It could be the last time. I don't know. Just wanted one more shot at it. Bob said, Go for it. I want to stay sharp just in case he comes back. Opportunity to play with Jack, one of the best doubles players in the world. It's definitely a shot at a title when you suit up with Jack Sock. That was why I came over here. It all worked out. The rest is history.

To hold up a trophy, it's been a lot of years since I won a Grand Slam, so it's a special feeling standing up there holding the Wimbledon trophy with a good friend, Jack. It's a new experience winning with someone else. Won 16 times with Bob. To do it with someone else is cool.

Q. 17, tied for the most by any man, with Newcombe.
MIKE BRYAN: I didn't know that.

Q. Now you're ahead of Bob.
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, yeah.

JACK SOCK: He can have mine. I don't like that (smiling).

MIKE BRYAN: It's a weird feeling without Bob. But, yeah, I mean, we've been talking that we want to dedicate it to him. He's back at home busting his butt to get back out on tour. He wants to come back. He's just as motivated as anyone to be back. He wants to finish strong.

But Jack is a pretty good fill-in partner.

JACK SOCK: I'm just filling in.

MIKE BRYAN: He's a lot of fun to play with. Our energy was positive the whole time. We never got down. There's a lot of times where we could have been negative, but we kept pumping each other up. He always keeps you in the point. When you think it's over, he just is flying. His legs, he's as quick as anyone. He's 25 years old, has blazing speed. His forehand is one of the scariest in the game.

I think a lot of these guys fear that shot. He probably hit 500 winners on that thing this week. I was seeing it just whizz by my ear for two weeks. Has a lot of rpms. It's fun to hear.

One of the best overheads in the game, too. Every time a ball went up, seemed like it just got smacked down. Amazing athlete.

Q. Wimbledon has great acoustics. Did you notice the sound?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we were saying in the warmup, the ball was coming off in that Centre Court. It's really intimate. It is louder than any other court. His serve, his return, everything was coming off loud.

It was just fun. We were smiling a lot during these two weeks. Even though sometimes we were down and out, we were just having a blast. He keeps me loose. He's dancing, he's singing in the locker room. He brings a lot of youthful energy. I try to bring some experience, whatever I can bring.

But, yeah, it's just a different experience. I'm really happy. A piece of me is sad that Bob is not here with us. It would be cool if we could play triples.

Yeah, a Wimbledon title, it's the biggest title there is in doubles.

Q. What are your plans going forward? Do you know what Bob's prognosis is?
MIKE BRYAN: I'm talking to him every day. He watched the first set. He was in the pool rehabbing. He had a screen watching. Second set, he's been working hard on it, just doing everything he can. Right now it's still up in the air. He's getting sore after he hit a few days. He got a little tightness in it.

Atlanta looks like it's not going to happen for us. I think Jack and I will probably play that one. Then I got to get back and see him, see how he's doing. But he hasn't hit too many balls since he hit that serve in Madrid. I think he's only hit two or three times. They're just hand-feeds.

We just got to talk to some more doctors. He got some stem cell treatments that's supposed to kick in. It's been about two weeks. It hasn't been a huge success, so... Yeah, it's still iffy. Keep Jack on speed dial.

Q. You might qualify for London just on this one tournament.
MIKE BRYAN: Bob and I are looking good for London. Jack and I are looking good.

JACK SOCK: Mike looks good for London. That's what it is.

MIKE BRYAN: I'll probably qualify with someone (smiling).

It would be cool. I want to finish the whole year. To play with Bob or Jack, I mean, I'll be happy to be in London. If Bob can't come back, Jack's ready.

JACK SOCK: I'm on standby. I'll be in the batter's box.

MIKE BRYAN: To win a slam, I think that gets you a berth if you're outside the top 8. As long as no one else wins the US Open, that shouldn't. We'll see how it stacks up in a few months.

Q. Mike, you're the oldest player to win Wimbledon doubles.
JACK SOCK: And be No. 1 in the world. Don't forget that.

MIKE BRYAN: Longevity is pretty special, just to be able to play for so long. It's a cool thing to do. I definitely work hard on the body and the diet. I don't go out late. I get my sleep. I do everything to keep playing.

I'm just happy that I'm still out here at 40. As you've seen with Bob, we have the same hips. He went down a little early. Hopefully I'm not next.

To hit No. 1 at 40, it's a great feeling. I didn't think actually I'd get back up there again. Bob and I had a great stretch. Jack and I had a great Wimbledon. It's really cool to be back on top of the mountain. Now let's try to fend guys off, see how long you can keep it. It's a cool feeling.

Q. What did the slam win mean to you? What it's like playing against Mike as opposed to some of your other partners?
JACK SOCK: First of all, it means a lot. We had a taste of it in 2014, unfortunately against these guys. But obviously I think that gave me some confidence and experience to go out on Centre Court again. I hadn't been out there too many times. Obviously same pressure, same feeling out there.

But to have a guy, half of the greatest team of all time to ever play the sport, alongside you only gives you that much more confidence, that much more experience, wisdom, everything.

It gives me a sense of comfort out there. I can relax. I mean, I'm always pretty relaxed when I play doubles. I know if I can kind of stick to my game plan out there, he's unbelievable at cleaning up at the net, and doing all the basics of doubles, the best of all time. It means a ton.

Like he said, this one's for Bob. Obviously I'm ecstatic on the inside for myself and my family and my team and everybody that supports me. At the end of the day this one is definitely for Bob. Like I said, I'm just filling in for him. Whether that's one tournament or multiple, obviously I hope he comes back as soon as possible. The tour misses him. I miss him. Mike misses him. He's a legend of the game. That one is for Bob.

Yeah, I mean, it will help with confidence going forward. I'm having an unbelievable singles year, so hopefully this will give me some confidence, get those demons out of my head, play the tennis I know I can play.

Q. Do you think this will help?
JACK SOCK: Yeah, of course. Any time you're playing on a weekend, holding a trophy of any sort, I said this my whole career, that's why I play a lot of doubles. If I have success, it can catapult me into my singles a little bit.

I'm excited for the summer, my favorite time of the year, playing in front of home fans. I know the level I can play, the level I can be at. So I showed it last year a lot obviously at the end of the year as well.

I'm not too stressed about it. I got a great team around me, great support system. Just going to keep working hard and going after it.

Q. What is your take away?
JACK SOCK: The forehand one?

Q. You had a forehand winner.
JACK SOCK: In 2014? That finished the match. A pretty big take away.

This one, I pride myself on solid returning in doubles. I return a lot better in doubles than singles. I usually go after them, pretty aggressive with them. Mike was getting us to a lot of chances to break in the fourth and fifth. I wasn't necessarily going after it as much as I'd like to.

We had that last breakpoint. We finally broke, Mike came to me was like, Seriously, just miss it, hit it as hard as you can. I seriously want you to go big.

I had a feeling on where it was going. Went after it. Hit a good return. Backed it up with obviously my bread and butter with the forehand, was able to break. Mike obviously serving 145 cannons the next game to hold, we were good to go. It was crazy fun out there. Special to play with him.

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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 14, 2018

Mike Bryan

Jack Sock