US OPEN

September 1, 2001

James Blake

JAMES BLAKE: It's their decision. That's Brian Earley's decision. That's a tough job he has. I'm sure he's always done a very professional job and I'm sure he did again. I'm sure he weighed all the evidence, and just made his ruling on what he felt. It's not up to me. It's not my job. My job is to go out and play as well as I can, which is all I did. All the stuff afterwards, that's up to him.

JAMES BLAKE: No. What I said yesterday was just that I was trying to put it out of my mind and go on with the match and not even really think about it. And I wanted to know after the match, I wanted to know what he had to say in his interview and to me or to otherwise, when he had time to think about it. I take those kind of comments more seriously, when people have time to think about them. Then that's obviously what they really believe. Something that can be said in the heat of the moment when you're in competition, I mean, I'm sure a million guys have said things that they didn't even know they were saying or they really didn't mean to say. Maybe they let out swears in front of a child or something, that you really shouldn't do. And, you know, that's unfortunate but it happens to everyone. And then he -- when he came back and he said what he said, that in his conversation between him and the umpire and he didn't mean anything by it, then those are the words I take to heart.

JAMES BLAKE: On the video?

JAMES BLAKE: I haven't really reviewed it. I was watching Sports Center this morning so, I caught it quickly but I didn't really pay too much attention to it. I was just pretty happy I was on Sports Center for the first time. I was calling all my friends and telling them to watch.

JAMES BLAKE: My first thought was it was just a comment made during competition, and I wanted to know what he really felt about it and what he did mean. Because I can't tell, like just like Brian Earley said, in his mind there's ambiguity, so I mean, there obviously can be other interpretations. I just tried to accept -- I just accept what he says and if that's what he believes, then that's what I'm gonna believe. I can't speak for what he meant. I can only take him by his word, and that's good enough for me.

JAMES BLAKE: My interpretation does -- I mean really does no good here. That's Brian Earley's job. My job was to play tennis. I try not to let things interfere with my job, which is to be as good a tennis player as I can be. I mean, he made his decision, and that's why he's the umpire. I mean, that's why he's -- I'm sure he's watched the tape, I mean countless times. I saw the clip one time. So it's kind of tough for me to say my opinion could be right or even to give my opinion, because it's -- I know you guys will take it more seriously than it's -- than his opinion, which is much more important because he's the one that's done the studying of the tape.

JAMES BLAKE: Today? We spoke in the locker room, and we just -- we put this behind us and we got past it. The exact details of the conversation, I mean, that was said in the locker room. I mean, just like they say, "the things that are said on the court are meant to be left on the court." Things said in the locker room are meant to be left in the locker room. I'm not going to get into exact details. We've moved past it. We both acknowledged that we'll be out here on tour hopefully for many years. I know he's already proved that he's going to stay here, stay at the top, and I'm hoping to do the same.

JAMES BLAKE: We got past this. We're past anything being said on the court. We just realized it was a good match and we talked about that.

JAMES BLAKE: The decision really doesn't have any bearing on me. I was never in jeopardy of getting fined. So, I mean, I wasn't really awaiting a decision very anxiously. I was -- I mean, I was just worried about my doubles match today. I wasn't really thinking about it. I was trying to -- I was just trying to think about getting healthy again. I lost a lot of fluids yesterday. This morning I woke up pretty sore. I was more worried about that than I was about the decision.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. And I appreciated that. I'll say that. It was very much appreciated.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. I didn't really know him very well going into this match. Sometimes it's -- it actually could make a relationship better to go through some sort of - I don't know what the word is, some kind of drama going on. I'm sure this is going to be -- I mean, I hope this will blow over and there won't be any other incident even slightly reminiscent of this and we'll just, you know, keep playing good matches throughout the years hopefully. I really hope I stay at the level he's at because he's at a very high level of tennis right now. If I can keep playing the way I did yesterday, then I think we'll have a lot of fun and the fans watching us will have a lot of fun.

JAMES BLAKE: Like I said, I didn't really know him very well before this. I don't know what to expect of him. I can't speak on how he acts normally. His -- it was just very -- he seemed very sincere to me.

JAMES BLAKE: Well, I didn't answer the question directly. What I said was that my opinion really doesn't have much of a bearing, because my opinion really means nothing except it may make a headline. And there's really no need for that. Like I said, we're past this. We're past this incident. He's got a singles match to play tomorrow. I had a doubles match to play today. I have to get back to, you know, being in good shape to play better tennis. And so, their ruling in my mind only had to do with-- I mean, it didn't have anything to do with me. It had to do with Lleyton's wallet and whether or not they were going to fine him or do anything like that. That's really not of much interest to me.

JAMES BLAKE: Absolutely.

JAMES BLAKE: I think if you want to read -- we can keep going over the same thing. I understand that I'm an African American and there are very few of us out here on tour. So my words can carry a lot of weight. With that realization, I want to make sure that I'm not gonna get into any he said/she said slanderous type of words. I don't see any point in that. I really don't -- I mean, like I said, he was very sincere in what he said to me today. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. People say maybe I'm naive or I give people the benefit of the doubt too much. I'd much rather be that. I try to have a positive outlook on things. I don't know if I should apologize for that, I really don't think I should. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on that.

JAMES BLAKE: I've said that I can't make an assessment of what was going through someone else's mind. To be honest, I feel it's unfair for you to make an assessment of what's going through my mind.

JAMES BLAKE: You're saying I'm not giving my true opinion.

JAMES BLAKE: I know it was said. I've had it read back to me now quite a few times. I realize what was said, and I also realized what was said to me in the locker room today. And I realize that this is -- I understand that you guys are trying to make this much more than tennis, and I realize that there are things that are much bigger than tennis. Racial issues are one of them. But I don't feel that -- I mean, I don't feel that this warrants all the attention, because like I said, I'm past it. I assume Lleyton's past it because he's past it with me. And I mean, we'll see when he goes out. I realize that, I mean, what he said, if he is completely -- I mean if it was just a remark made in the heat of battle, he's gonna pay for it by, I mean, having to deal with a lot of reporters for the next two weeks and maybe even longer. So I feel sorry for him for that because he may have just made a reference that happened to be taken a different way. And I don't know what else to say.

JAMES BLAKE: Okay.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, we did.

JAMES BLAKE: No, we started obviously with the issue, and we moved on to the fact that it was a great match. He said, you know, "Congratulations," that it was a good match. I said, "Congratulations and good luck." It was very friendly. Like I said, he was sincere and we're gonna move on from this.