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FEVER-TREE CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2019

Joe Salisbury

London, England

RAM-SALISBURY/Bryan-Bryan

7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. We've got a Brit in the doubles final. Obviously Andy might be there. You know, if he does make it to the final, kind of how big an occasion would that be in your career?
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah, it would be huge. I mean, it's obviously been an amazing event sort of with Andy coming back here, and it's, yeah, great to see him back and great for the sport and especially great for doubles, as well, having him in the tournament.

Yeah, it would be amazing. I think if I wasn't playing, if it wasn't Andy, I'd get a bit more support in the final (smiling). Yeah, either way, it will be an amazing occasion to play the final here.

Q. If it is Andy, it could be a full house tomorrow. Have you ever played a full house of doubles on a center court?
JOE SALISBURY: I played on some big courts before, a couple of finals, 500s, but this would probably be the biggest yet.

Q. Just how local are you to here? I know you're from Southwest London. How far from here did you grow up?
JOE SALISBURY: Just in Putney. Yeah, just over Putney Bridge. I moved to Peckham recently, but I grew up, yeah, the last 26 years I lived in Putney.

Q. Did you ever go to Queen's? Did you ever sneak in or buy tickets for Queen's when you were growing up?
JOE SALISBURY: I came a few times when I was younger. Sometimes played a few club matches. I played for Roehampton, so I sometimes came here for that. But, yeah, first time playing the tournament.

Q. What is your actual home club where you grew up playing tennis?
JOE SALISBURY: My home club is Roehampton Club.

Q. That's been where you have been since you were a kid?
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah, I have been a member there since I was very young. Then I have kind of trained at various different places, but that's always been sort of my home club where I have played for the team there, played golf there.

Q. Have you been staying with your parents during the tournament?
JOE SALISBURY: No, I have been staying with a friend actually from Roehampton who lives in Chelsea, just because it's closer by than in Peckham.

My parents don't actually live in Putney anymore. I would have been there, but I wanted to be a bit closer than Peckham, so I'm staying in Chelsea.

Q. What would it mean if you could win this trophy, if you could lift that trophy?
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah, it would be amazing. I guess I haven't really thought about it. I mean, I have won two 500s before, but I think this would be extra, extra special and sort of even bigger title just because of the fact I'm playing basically at home.

So that's always makes it more special. Yeah, I hadn't really -- even though we're in the final, I haven't really looked that far ahead. Just been taking it a match at a time. Even when we first came here, I was just thinking it's sort of great to be playing here.

But I knew that we could win the tournament, and, yeah, I'm sure it will be a great experience in the final no matter what happens.

Q. Your ranking's a very healthy position now, but do you still find it quite difficult to be out there on tour? Is it a comfortable existence being a doubles player? What, about 30 in the rankings?
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah, I mean, what do you mean? In terms of the lifestyle or...

Q. Financing, life on tour.
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah, in terms of the financial side, it's been a lot better this past year kind of since I had that run at Wimbledon and then been playing the bigger tournaments this past year. I have been earning a considerable amount more than I was -- I mean, I wasn't really earning any money before when I was playing the challengers.

So obviously that makes life a bit easier. And then other things on tour are slightly nicer. You're staying in slightly nicer hotels. The tournaments are a bit better. But ultimately you're doing the same thing. At the end of the day, you're still out there practicing, training, playing matches, going to the gym, still having to travel and being away from home. So sometimes that can be tough.

But, I mean, yeah, I think I'm extremely lucky to be doing what I'm doing. We have a great lifestyle. It is our job to be out there practicing, training, and playing the tournaments, but I think for most of us we are doing what we love doing, and, yeah, it's a good lifestyle.

Q. Your partnership with Rajeev seems to be going pretty well. How much do you socialize outside of kind of playing tennis together? Have you shared any local spots with him since you're so close to home?
JOE SALISBURY: I haven't actually this week. We get on really well on and off the court. We haven't spent loads of time off the court, which I think in some ways is quite healthy. Even though we get on quite well, you don't want to be around each other 24/7, because you spend too much time and can, yeah, just get a bit, feel like you need a bit of space.

He's actually staying out in Wimbledon, and then, yeah, most tournaments, a lot of the tournaments we stay at the same hotels, so we go and have dinners together. Here we haven't spent too much time together away from here.

Q. How did it come about, that partnership?
JOE SALISBURY: Basically we just, at the end of last year, we were both playing with kind of different people. Didn't have any set partnerships.

I approached him first. He was kind of the top of my list of players I wanted to play with, and I think he had some other people that he was speaking to, so kind of we didn't sort of set it up straightaway. He was waiting to hear back from other people, mainly from one other person.

And then, yeah, I was kind of having to put off the people that were asking me to play because I wanted to play with Rajeev. Eventually I think it was around the time of the Paris, or just after he won the Paris Masters that he said he'd want to play this year.

Q. A lot of family here? Have you had any ticket requests for family and friends?
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah, I have had quite a few. I had great support today. I had pretty much my whole family and some friends here. So I think that was probably, yeah, about 11 or 12 of them here, which is always -- it's always nice having that home support, and obviously all the other fans.

There were a few Bryan brothers supporters out there, but it's great to have the home crowd as well as the family and friends.

Q. I don't know if you played Bob Bryan before his op?
JOE SALISBURY: I played him once, yeah.

Q. You obviously will have seen him because he's a legend of doubles.
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah.

Q. Have you noticed any change in him since before and after the operation he's had?
JOE SALISBURY: Not that I really noticed. If anything, he seemed to be serving bigger than he was before (smiling).

But I haven't really seen him play too much before we played them today, at least since he's had his operation. Yeah, I don't really know if he's feeling any different or I didn't notice, no.

Q. What sort of relationships do you have with Andy? Do you speak or talk on tour?
JOE SALISBURY: Not too much. Yeah, I only properly met him sort of last -- well, last year. And then I haven't seen -- obviously haven't seen him too much because he's been away from the tour.

But, yeah, we are friendly. We say hi to each other, have a little chat. But I'm not sort of, yeah, haven't spent that much time with him.

Q. Have you watched many of his matches this week? Can you give us any insight from a doubles perspective what you think makes him a good doubles player?
JOE SALISBURY: I actually haven't seen too much. I have seen a little bit, but, yeah, not enough to really know what kind of things he's doing well or not so well.

But I probably will watch the match later on today if they get on (smiling).

Q. Could that be to your advantage? They will be finishing late.
JOE SALISBURY: Yeah, maybe, but I don't think too much. I think they'll be fairly fresh going into tomorrow. Probably the more you're playing with the doubles, the better you'll be feeling.

So I don't think the -- the matches aren't too long. I don't think it has an advantage either way.

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