TENNIS MASTERS SERIES - ROMA

May 10, 2002

James Blake

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I got down a little bit, you know. But actually felt good - that first game I came out and won it at love. I felt like I still had plenty of opportunities. I just played one bad game. And he really never changed his game. He played the same way throughout, which is tough to deal with - someone who's not going to get down on themselves, not going to hang his head. And I felt like he played better in that third set than any other set. He played great. I did my best, and he just, you know, never faltered at all and put pressure on me the whole time. I still had some chances to break back at 5-4, and he played some good points. Very disappointed with the fact that I lost because I did have those three matchpoints. But I can't really be too disappointed in the way I played because I thought I played an okay match and he just played a little better.

JAMES BLAKE: No, the first one. Second one, I went for a big forehand which I can't really fault myself for. That's my favorite shot. It's my weapon. So I went for that. Don't think I did anything wrong there. The third one, I did go for a big first serve. I went for an ace, which, you know, looking back, in hindsight maybe I should have just tried to kick that in and attack the point. Whereas, he put pressure on me on that point. But, you know, you got to go for it. I mean, it's a big opportunity. I took my chance and it didn't work out today. If I had just happened to make that serve and gotten an ace there, I would have come in and said, "I'm glad I went for that." So it's -- I'm not disappointed in any of the points I played. He played well on them. One of them might have happened to be a little bit lucky as it caught the tape, but he made me hit an extra shot.

JAMES BLAKE: I'm feeling good. I feel like I'm learning every time I step on the court. I came in with no expectations really, not knowing how I was going to do. This is only my second tournament ever on European clay besides the French Open quallies. So I feel good that I won some matches that were against really good players - and players that are experienced on clay - El Aynaoui, Gonzalez, Gaudenzi. For me, those are great wins. I'm going to take a lot from that, and I'm going to try to learn from the fact that I just took one of the seeds here to a really close match, and next week try to get even better. And, hopefully, all this is leading up to the French Open where I can maybe do well there.

JAMES BLAKE: It's still -- I still think I feel a little more comfortable on the hard, but I'm getting to feel all right on this stuff. I'm not as opposed to it as I used to be (smiling).

JAMES BLAKE: Absolutely. I think we are maybe trying to send a little message with the fact that we had three Americans in the quarters here, and the French had zero (smiling). But, no, we're definitely just trying to get better, and hopefully we can all learn how to play even better on this stuff. I mean, Andre's already proven himself ; he's won the French Open. Andy's proven himself ; he's won two tournaments in America on clay - three tournaments in America on clay - now doing great here. Pete made the finals in Houston a couple weeks ago. I don't know what's happening, but we're learning how to play on this stuff. Maybe it has something to do with our new coach of the Davis Cup team, he is a two-time French Open champion, and he's supporting all of us.

JAMES BLAKE: I don't know. I try to forget matches like this (smiling).

JAMES BLAKE: No. It was another learning experience. I won my first round, then really didn't feel like I played well in the second round. Just a match -- another match I'd like to forget that I didn't really feel like I played well. I mean, very different than this match, because this match I feel like I played okay. But, you know, last year I was playing well before that, and then just - I don't know what happened - had an off day. So I'm looking forward to getting back there and hopefully playing a little better than I did last year.

JAMES BLAKE: I lost to Clemens Trimmel (phonetic spelling).

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, you don't get a lot of practice when you try to return Andy's serve, though. You just watch it go by. But, no, I've worked on that for a long time because that's been a weakness of mine for a long time, actually, is my returns. Just had my coach serve me a ton of balls and just try to, you know, sometimes when I know where he's going, just try to keep putting them in the court. Other times, I don't know where he's going, trying to guess. It's just a lot of hours on the practice court.

JAMES BLAKE: No. I don't think they play the qualifying matches on center court (smiling). No, never played on center court. Never even practiced there. Really, that was the only time I ever played there was last year. I never played for Juniors or anything. So, hopefully I'll make it far enough to play on center court there before September.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, it's the best thing I can do in tennis, I think - some of my best memories. My most emotional win, I think, was my first Davis Cup win. It's just something that's a little different atmosphere than a normal tournament. Today, I'm disappointed I lost. My coach is probably disappointed. But, you know, it's kind of a selfish reasoning in these kind of tournaments. It's just for points, ranking points, money, you know, things like that, and getting better. But, you know, the Davis Cup, you're playing for your country. When you hear them say, "Advantage USA" or "Game USA," then you know it really means something. And you're trying to represent your country the best you can, and that's something that, you know, I still feel is selfish because I get so much out of it. I get a thrill out of playing for my country. But, you know, it's also for others. The USTA feels - or Patrick feels - that, you know, you are the best representative for the team out of the whole country. So that's, you know, an amazing feeling to me, that you don't really -- you try not to think about while you're on the court. But afterwards, it hits you, how important that is. And you're following in a tradition of great, great players, you know - McEnroe, Connors, Ashe, Mal Washington. You know, just some of my idols, Courier's unbelievable record. So, to me, it's amazing.