WESTERN AND SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 5, 2002

James Blake

JAMES BLAKE: I was a little bit. I knew I was on grandstand so I knew a lot of people would be staying in the stadium watching that match. But it was a really good feeling know that I had a lot of fans. I think maybe they realized that last year this tournament was very special to me where I first kind of felt like I was part of the Tour. I really did well here last year, my first big event, and this one is definitely -- it was a stepping stone last year. Now I want to relive those fond memories here again. The crowd really helps that when they are that supportive of me. I had a great time out there. When you hit a great shot and the crowd gets into it and they were, you know, really getting excited that makes a big difference to me. It makes me have a lot more fun playing. I think it makes Andrei have more fun playing. Sometimes that leads to better tennis. Today I think it did.

JAMES BLAKE: I always keep it in the back of my mind that we are also entertainers. That's kind of our job. We are athletes, but we are also playing for the fans really. So I want to show little bit of emotion. I always feel like I have to be myself out there. As I grew up I learned to control my emotions a lot better, so I am not going to be someone who is going crazy every point and doing things like that. It is just not me. I feel the best show is just being yourself, and we have enough characters out on Tour. Some of them are extremely calm; some of them are extremely emotional. I think it's just the most genuine when it just being yourself. I appreciate when other players do that as well.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, that's just to save it from cracking. I don't want to have to get anymore. But sometimes you get frustrated, you have got to just toss it, let off a little steam, then right back to focus and playing the next point.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I think he got a little frustrated at times during the match. That happens to every player if the guy on the other side of the net happens to be playing really well, maybe you can't figure out what you are doing wrong, can get away kind of quickly sometimes. I actually felt like he did a good job of getting back into it when he did get frustrated. That's why he's Top-20, top 30 player and he has had a lot of success. Also it's tough, I appreciate the crowd being so supportive, but I think maybe that gets him a little flustered when every time I do something, they are cheering and he does something good and he doesn't hear it quite the same. So that's an extra benefit of having the home crowd.

JAMES BLAKE: It felt great because I was down at that point and getting the breakpoint at 5-4 playing such a high level of tennis, I felt like that tiebreaker was a very high level. There weren't that many errors. He doublefaulted at, whatever it was 8-all, but it was really good tennis. We both had to play really well, came up with a few aces, each of us. Everyone, I think, gets a little more nervous in a tiebreaker just because they can change so quickly. But I didn't really feel my nerves so much. I just wanted to play my game. That's what I talked with my coach about beforehand was not letting him dictate and me just playing my game and having this match kind of be a measuring stick, see if my game without worrying about the other person is good enough to beat a player like Pavel. Luckily today it was. I am sure another day, it might not be; another day it might be easier, you never know. Today it was and it is very gratifying for me.

JAMES BLAKE: When I was down in the tiebreaker, let's see, he was serving for it at 6-4. Mainly I wanted to -- if he got the first serve in I wanted to put the return just deep because I thought there was a chance he might come in. He'd done a really good job of changing things up with serve and volleying and staying back a lot, so I just wanted to get that deep and give myself a chance at the next ball. If I got into the point I felt like I'd have a good chance to go for my shot. If I missed one of those, I wasn't going to be angry about it, just go for your shots. Then on my serve I wanted to get a first serve in and try to put the pressure on him. Then when I did, it was a whole new ballgame, when it gets to 6-All, it's just a win by two situation, those are fun. Those are when, you know, you test your nerves, test when you are really going to go for your shot, test how good your patterns, your -- the shots you have been working on and the things that you do most comfortably, you test how well those are going to hold up.

JAMES BLAKE: I'd say "phenomenon" is pretty strong, but it's fun. It's definitely something that's a little different. I got a buddy here with me that's travelling for the summer and he couldn't believe it when I walked in and the kids are kind of running up for autographs. He said, that's out of control, and I kind of didn't really notice it anymore. So I guess I am starting to get used to it. But there's still definitely times when it's weird to me, the kids wanting my sweaty wristband, and, you know, asking for pictures all the time. It's really weird. Because I was one of those kids a few years ago, just wanting to get autographs at tournaments and things like that. But I am glad I have friends and my parents and my family to keep me pretty humble from not letting any kind of, as you say, James Blake phenomenon get to my head. I hope it never does.

JAMES BLAKE: I lost to Rafter. It's definitely special just because that was my first big event probably playing on TV and playing in front of a big crowd against two-time US Open Champion, it was big deal because at that time, actually my win over Clement was my best win of my career. And so that was, in my mind, my breakthrough kind of where I felt like I belonged on Tour; where I really felt like if I played my game of tennis I was going to be able to play with the top players in the world. So it's very special for me and I do have really fond memories of this place now from last year and I hope it continues throughout the year and throughout my career.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, after the match he said "the only reason I think you lost that match is because you didn't believe." I think I had talked to him a while ago about, you know, he was joking that I could beat him or someone like that if I was playing well, I was kind of joking, yeah, there's no way. I didn't have confidence at that time that I could play with a player like that, anyone of a Top-10 caliber. Then after the match he said the only reason you lost that was because you didn't believe. Now you should believe that you can beat someone like me because, you know, he played well that day, and I was close. So for him to say that and not -- he could have just brushed it off and he doesn't need anymore friends in the locker room, that's for sure. He doesn't really need the appreciation of a young player. He has that from everyone, so for him to take the time to say that and to help me out and give me confidence to say that, you know, I really played okay and you took me to the limit. That was extremely nice and that's why he won so many sportsmanship awards and he deserves them. If he comes back to play he's got my vote again for the sportsmanship award.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, that was my first time doing a long trip, I started in Rome, stayed all the way through Wimbledon. That was a good experience for me. I wanted to see how mentally tough I'd stay throughout that whole time in Europe, you know, not being in my comfort zone in Europe since I only speak English unfortunately. But it wasn't really my comfort zone and I felt like I handled it pretty well. I didn't want to be mentally fried by Wimbledon. I figured I would be able to get up for that. I think I did, played a good first round, had a battle with Krajicek in the second round where he just came up with the goods a little too often. I think on another day I would have won that or against another opponent, I played well enough to win. And I fought two sets to love down, bring it back to five sets, I really felt good about that. I felt pretty proud of my trip over there. Then coming back it was great to stay -- I stayed at home in Connecticut before I went up to Newport. It was a lot of fun. It was the perfect way to just kind of release any kind of tension that I had, and hang out with my friends, have a barbecue for the 4th of July; then head up to Newport.

JAMES BLAKE: I did notice a few 12 year olds and thirteen years olds out there. It's just -- I think they are the most enthusiastic tennis fans. They are the ones that keep the purity in the sport. They are just out there, happy to see good tennis, just having a lot of fun and not really worried about anything else. That's the goal, I think, of any of us. We wish we had that kind of innocence, and it is a lot of fun to see those kids out here that are just having a ball. You know they are going to go out tomorrow and pick up a racket and try to be like their favorite player. And I really hope I can -- I hope more of those kids pick up a racket and be an influence on them, and let them see that you can be a nice guy, still show some emotion, and hopefully be a good role model for them because as much as athletes sometimes say that they don't want to be role models or don't appreciate the burden put on them, I think it's something that just comes with the territory. That's our job and that's just another part of what we have to do and I take it very seriously.

JAMES BLAKE: Growing up Arthur Ashe was someone who I learned more and more about as I grew up. And I appreciate everything he did. He was a great human being first, and second a good tennis player. He made it possible to overshadow his great tennis career with being a good person, humanitarian and social activist and used every bit of fame and fortune he had for the good of others. Then he even used his tragedy for the good of others. He tried to help, when he was stricken with AIDS, he didn't say why me, and just kind of stayed shut in. Which he definitely could have done and no one would have thought any worse of him. But he decided to try to help others in that situation, others that weren't as fortunate as him. I think that what he did for this world is incredible, and I wish there were more people like him.

JAMES BLAKE: That's something that was a little different with me because my coach never tried to pattern my game after -- he wanted it to be comfortable for me. He wanted me to play my game. If it happened to looked like someone else's, fine, but he didn't want to try to put me in any mold because he knew that that could kind of restrict what I was doing, restrict what was comfortable to me. My idols really tennis-wise weren't people who I wanted to be like their game. It was more like Jim Courier for his work ethic because I knew he wanted it more than anyone else and he knew he was working harder. Then Stefan Edberg for his attitude on the court, how calm cool and collected he always was and just the kind of the grace that he showed on the court, but not necessarily their games because I don't feel like I play like either one of them. I just admired their worth ethic kind of their attitudes.

JAMES BLAKE: No, I am just trying to play my best on every surface. I want to find what works for me which is why it was great-- I think this trip over the Europe playing on the red clay over in Europe for the first time I wanted to see how my game on clay matched up to these guys, and I am still making adjustments while I am on-court and still learning a little bit, but I feel like I have the ability to play on any surface just because I think I can move quick enough to get in quickly on the grass, and I can run down a lot of balls on the clay and I feel like my forehand is becoming a weapon so I can use that on both surfaces and I feel most comfortable indoors on hard because that's what I grew up on. But I am just trying to do my best. I am just so competitive that I want to win on every surface. I want to do well on anything, so if I feel like I have a weakness, like if clay is my weakness I am going to try to work on that and try to get better and improve on that. I think it was Jimmy Connors who always stressed, working on your weaknesses; that's something that I believe in as well.

JAMES BLAKE: Definitely and I try to get points geared towards my forehand so I can either take it inside-out and run them, or if I am going to the forehand with them I feel pretty comfortable with that. In the tiebreaker, that's where you kind of see where you are at and I wanted to -- I didn't want to go out and lose the tiebreaker and say I wish I hadn't just pushed that one, I didn't want to push a couple and let him just dictate and then say I really regret that, I didn't want to regret that. If I missed a couple of those forehands and lost that tiebreaker because I missed them, I could go into the third set with a clear conscious and say I went for it, nothing wrong with that, I played my game today, my game wasn't good enough to win that tiebreaker; now I could move on and that would be it.