MEDIBANK INTERNATIONAL

January 13, 2006

James Blake

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, it's a great way to start the year off. I'm pretty excited about it. To be in a final, this tournament, when you looked at the draw at the beginning, you see some of the top players in the game, people that are all excited to start the year well. To be in the finals is, to me, a pretty good accomplishment. Whether it's right before a Slam or anything like that, it's just a really good accomplishment to be in the finals in this level of field.

JAMES BLAKE: Every tournament you go in to you hope to be in the finals, but it was tough. I mean, I just looked at my first round, second round. I looked at Sanguinetti, who's a great player, he's very tricky. Then, I mean, second-round match against either Moya or Grosjean. I mean, former No. 1 in the world. I think Grosjean's been in the semis of just about every Grand Slam. That to be playing in the second round, you don't think -- you don't really think about Saturday; you think about winning your first round and your second round. I got through those. Obviously very much helped by Moya pulling out. But the way I'm playing is really what I was looking for this week, and it's great to see it. Last week in Adelaide I was still adjusting to playing outdoors. Every match I've played so far this week, I've felt better. I feel like I'm back to the form I was in at the end of last year where every time I step on the court I feel like I'm getting better, and that's really a good feeling.

JAMES BLAKE: Well, right now it's getting used to being outdoors. I was practicing indoors for about two and a half weeks before I came down here when I was in Connecticut and Chicago. So it was pretty cold there. Now it's just more getting used to that. Otherwise, I just really feel like I've -- I can't explain exactly what's been getting better, but everything's been getting better since that time I had off. My whole perspective on the game and just my mindset out there, that's one of the things I've talked about with my coach. I had I think that really long game at 2-All, got broken. You know, a few years ago I might have gotten pretty bummed, pretty down, maybe gone for some silly shots the next game just out of anger, and I didn't do that this time. I stayed focused. I didn't worry about little things. Little things going wrong on the court now I think exit out of my head a lot quicker. I just worry about kind of the big picture, playing the best match I can each point. I think that's been the biggest difference. But, otherwise, I mean, my defense has definitely gotten a little better. My serve's gotten a little stronger. I've put on four or five pounds, which I think has helped me make it through the long seasons without getting injured. I think all that combined is turning into me feeling more confident when I play top 10 players like I did today.

JAMES BLAKE: I don't know. I was just trying to survive for a little while there. At the beginning I played a pretty tentative game to get broken early on. I think I missed two forehands that I'd like to think I would normally make. And otherwise, he puts a ton of returns in the court. He's one of the better returners on tour, especially off his backhand side. That made it difficult for me. But the beginning of that second set, traded -- the first four games were breaks. One of them I think -- I don't even know how many deuces there were. There had to be 12 or 13 deuces. It just seemed like every time someone got the opportunity, the other person came up with a great shot. You know, that's why he's a top 10 player. He fought hard for that game, he got it. Then on his serve, he makes a lot of first serves but he doesn't have the huge weapon like an Andy Roddick or a Max Mirnyi or Ivo Karlovic or anyone like that that's gonna get a ton of aces, but he puts a lot of them in the court. Then I was just trying to kind of fight off those first serves and get a lot of them back. I was able to do that today which put me in position. Seemed like he would give me a free point here or there on his serve. Maybe it wasn't his best tennis today, but I felt like I was kind of pushing him every time by putting all those returns in. I think that's one of the things that puts Roger above so many other guys, is his ability to do that. He takes even guys like Andy Roddick's serve and he kind of nullifies it. He puts the return in the court, and I think eventually that really frustrates people, especially guys with big serves. Nikolay, I think in getting so many first serves in, he might get used to getting at least a few free points. In my attempt to not give him any of those, you know, I know from being on the other side of it when I play a guy like Federer, it's frustrating. You go for a little too much sometimes, you're trying to get free points, you end up missing more first serves. So I think I was able to do that, and I'm pretty happy I can do that. That's not always one of my strongest points. Now it's getting to be where I feel pretty confident that I can do that.

JAMES BLAKE: Twice now, I think.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I won both times. One of them should be thrown out the window because it was before he improved the way he has. I know when I was first on tour and played a lot of guys and they got wins against me, I try to throw those out the window because I wasn't the player that I am now, and he wasn't the player that he is now then. I think even since I played him at the US Open he's improved so much. I noticed pretty much after that, I think he went on and might have won two titles after the Open. So he's obviously playing with a lot more confidence than he was even at the US Open where I think we had a pretty good match. The guy on the on-court interview claimed that I pretty much smashed him, but I wouldn't say that at all because it was three sets, but each set was very close and he made me work hard. I know, I mean, even a match like today's, you know, change three or four points and it could go really either way. So I wouldn't say I killed him at the US Open, I think we had a hard-fought match and he played some good tennis and that happened to be around the time of the year I was playing really my best. I'm going to have to do that again to get a win because he's confident now. His first serve's huge. His forehand is huge. You know, I think we have kind of similar game plans - get as many forehands as we can and to control points with those. We'll have to see who's executing better tomorrow I think.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, that would be a great thing. The last Grand Slam I went into, I had won a tournament right before, and that was my best result in a Grand Slam so far. And I feel like I was, like I said, pretty close to being in the semis or possibly even in the finals of that. I don't feel like it's bad preparation. I think having that much confidence can only be a good thing. It definitely makes for an interesting match in the first match because you've got such a high of being in a final, playing a match like that, and then you have to go to a first round, especially if I'm playing on Monday or something. In New York I went from a Sunday final straight down there, hit for one day, and then played a match. It is a little difficult, but I was lucky enough in the US Open, I have great fans that were supporting me and they definitely got my adrenaline going through that match. And just for me, that's kind of the, I don't know, the hallowed grounds for me because that's my biggest -- for me the biggest tournament of the year. I know going into this first Grand Slam with the new perspective I have that hopefully I can be in that second week and really causing some damage to the big names, I want to go into that and see how I feel in that first match because that's the one that's tough to get through. If I do, I know I'll be proud of myself because a lot of people don't -- like you said, a lot of people want to get one or two matches then have plenty of time to just practice before that first match. I'm not going to have that luxury, but I do have the luxury of having a lot of confidence. Whether I win or lose tomorrow, I have a lot of confidence that I can beat top players like Davydenko and Clement and Sanguinetti. Either way, I'm going to feel pretty good in that first round.