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DAVIS CUP QUARTERFINALSApril 8, 2006Bob BryanMike BryanDean GoldfineCHILE vs. USA , RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. (No microphone.) BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I think it's a credit to what we do all year. We worked really hard to become No. 1 in the world. Maybe that gives us a little intimidation factor. I know the Romanians did that out in La Jolla, too. They threw in a lower-ranked player. We just got to be ready to play whoever is out there. We just want to get a point on the board. We were real happy to see they put the younger guys in, less experienced guys on the court. We just outplayed them from the first ball. Felt good to get the early breaks. Never really felt pressured at all. They didn't bring out a lot in our games. We both served well and moved well and volleyed well. Mike returned well, as always. They didn't pull a lot, didn't make us play that much. Q. Based on what happened in the Olympics, were you upset you didn't get to play that team? THE BRYANS: You know, actually, no. It's 1-All. It's a very important match. We've seen those guys play some great tennis before in big matches, especially at the Olympics. They changed the lineup 45 minutes before the match. I was actually extremely nervous before. Right when Dean came and told me, it gave me new life. It was pretty nice to hear. I know these guys haven't played too many doubles matches. I think they just didn't really believe they could come out and win today. Q. Bob, did you realize till that last point you hadn't given up a point on your serve? BOB BRYAN: I thought I was serving really well. I knew when I was getting my first serve in, I wasn't losing any points. I didn't know that stat. I look a little off on the match point, threw them a bone, you know. Q. If you had been Gildemeister, would you have made the same decision? DEAN GOLDFINE: I think you have to look at the whole thing. I think one of the reasons why they did it is because González has had a sore shoulder. I know at Nasdaq he did. Yesterday during the match, the trainer came out and was rubbing his shoulder, as well. I think if that was the case, if that was going to possibly cause him more trouble tomorrow in that singles match, then I probably of would have done the same thing and pulled the player out. I think once you've pulled one of them out, you might as well pull both out. I couldn't imagine if you stick Massu out with one of those other guys, they would have a chance. If that's the case, in terms of a bad shoulder, I think it was the right call. Q. Dean, going into Sunday, you feel good? How is Roddick feeling? Is he practicing today? State of the union for tomorrow? DEAN GOLDFINE: I feel good. We're up 2-1. The guys just went out there and dominated. I feel good about that. Andy and James practiced this morning for about half an hour. Both guys felt good. Tomorrow, just going to come out again and play their games. The key for them, again, is to be aggressive out there, to take the play to these guys. I think the first two sets, first two and a half sets of James' match against González, James pretty much was the aggressor. Maybe not at the very beginning. But when he got it going, James was the aggressor. Fernando was playing probably too much defense, especially with his backhand. But then when he got it going, he started playing a lot more aggressively. Not a lot is going to change for us. Both guys feel good. They're going to come out and try and take it to these guys. Q. Mike and Bob, except for Carson, each time the team has had a headache after the first day, you've been like the aspirin, the go-to point. Could you talk about that, how that feels to give the team a lift. THE BRYANS: There's no better feeling in the world. Andy and James feel like that point is in the bag. We're like the hired gun. They work on their singles all week. We see them at the hotel. When they come out here, they're practicing at different times, they just work on their stuff. They know we're out there just doing doubles drills, working on the quick hands. I think it's a little intimidating for the Chileans to see that. They're doing their singles stuff. They see on the next court we're just intensely doing volley drills. That pays off. We're really sharp. Come Saturday, we've had such days of just practice. By that Saturday, we're really sharp. Q. And the toughest or most valuable of all of your volley drills is which one? THE BRYANS: Our favorite drill? Probably the RDC drill. You've probably seen us demonstrate it. We're at the net, crisscrossing. My dad made up that drill 15 years ago, whatever. We're still doing it today. It stands for Romanian Davis Cup drill. We'll have to change the name. Q. It still seems as if what happened today was kind of the equivalent of a home-run hitter getting walks. All things being equal, wouldn't you have rather faced the best doubles team? THE BRYANS: We just want to get a point. I don't care who we beat. I don't care if I go out there and beat you. I just want to get the point. THE BRYANS: We just played at the them in the US Open in September. We beat them. They got four games. Maybe that's what turned the tide here today, that demolition out there on Armstrong. Maybe that's what won us the match easily today. Q. (No microphone.) THE BRYANS: It's Davis Cup. I'm thinking about it for seven days. Once I get out here on the grass... Not sleeping that well, not really eating. But, you know, the weight is lifted off right now. It feels good. I tell you, when I woke up this morning, it's just a bundle of nerves. It does go away when you get out there. The anticipation kills you. I was telling Dean, this is my favorite part of the week, being on this court. Q. Dean, for tomorrow, with Andy, played a pretty composed match yesterday, how do you keep him staying composed against González? With James, how do you get him to keep his aggression throughout the match? DEAN GOLDFINE: With Andy, he knows what he needs to do out there. Obviously he's going to come out. I think what happened in La Jolla with him maybe getting a little too amped up, that's in the back of his mind. He knows he needs to keep even-keeled. With that being said, over the past year when I was with Andy, I think he played some of the best tennis when there was kind of an in between these two, when he's out there showing energy, having fun, kind of strutting his stuff, so to say. For him, I think it's important to enjoy the moment and go out there and really let it fly, go for his shots. I think when he does that, that's when he plays his best tennis. Q. James said the serve let him down yesterday. DEAN GOLDFINE: You know, with the serve, I think it's just a matter -- I'll talk tonight with his coach, with Brian, about that, about maybe a few key things to talk to James to on the court if the serve goes off again. That's the thing for me coming in here, I'm not James' coach during the year. I'm not these guys' coach during the year. They have their own coaches. It's important, even if I see something out there, it's very important that you make sure you tell the player the way they're going to understand it. Every player understands certain things differently. Maybe you're trying to say the same thing, but it's a different way, you can confuse them. You have to be really careful about that. That's the one thing I think this team, between when Patrick is out here, now this week with me, have constant contact during the week with Brian, with John, with these guys' coach, David, so I know if something is going wrong, they'll kind of say, "Well, you know, maybe Mike on his serve pulled his head down." If I go out there and say, "Mike, you're pulling your head down," maybe he likes it when you say, "Mike, keep your head up." I'll say, "Mike, keep your head up, you're doing great." A lot of that is just with me making sure I don't say too much and say the right things out there so it sinks in with the guys and they're able to do it out there on the court. As far as James being aggressive, he knew it yesterday. In the first set, he came out, was a little nervous, wasn't as aggressive as he needed to be. But then I felt he did better as the match went on. Q. Dean, when Andy became ill at La Jolla because of the stress, have you got a physician monitoring him? DEAN GOLDFINE: We have our team doctor and our team trainer (indiscernible). This only happens to me. You bring somebody new in, something happens. No, these guys, I think they're obviously kind of looking at Andy during the match, that's their job. If they see something, they'll let me know while I'm out there on the bench. Again, Andy also has a good feel on what kind of temperament he needs to have out there. These guys, they're the ones who let me know if they think there's a problem. Q. What happened to your trainer? DEAN GOLDFINE: This morning he came here, he just all of a sudden started feeling really dizzy and he almost passed out. They had to put an IV in him. I thought it was just because he doesn't eat breakfast in the morning, he just comes out and drinks Coke. They told me -- that's his breakfast every morning, Breakfast of Champions. He said they think it's a virus that's been going around here in the valley, that he might have that. Nobody else is having these symptoms yet. I hope my theory is right. Q. It's still a long ways away. What would it mean to you to win the whole competition? THE BRYANS: It would mean a lot. We came on tour, we said we wanted to win Davis Cup. We came so close in Spain. We've done a lot of things in tennis, but we still haven't reached the Davis Cup. Andy says if he gets Davis Cup, he'd feel complete. We're all on the same page here. The team really wants to win this cup. We're going to put everything into it. We've still got a long way to go. It would be the best feeling in the world to win it. Q. In the past, it took you a while to attain some of your goals. Do you think that will help you ultimately get the cup, the title? THE BRYANS: Yeah. I think we have a lot of experience now. We've done pretty much everything except win Wimbledon and win the Davis Cup. Winning these matches are the sweetest thing in the world. Winning for myself, my brother, my teammates and my country, the four things right there, it makes it so much more sweet, even sweeter than winning a Grand Slam. Winning Davis Cup would be awesome. The USTA has one (indiscernible). It's going to be cool. I don't know what we're going to get, new cars or something. It's going to be pretty awesome. Q. Dean, Hans said yesterday come Sunday it would be the US team that would be feeling the pressure. Could you react to that? DEAN GOLDFINE: I think probably everybody's going to be feeling the pressure out there. Davis Cup, you're playing for your country. Obviously our guys will be feeling the pressure. Their guys will be feeling the pressure, too, especially if they get in position to win those matches. I think obviously it's easier playing well when you're playing from behind. I think Fernando showed that yesterday. Once he got behind, he started letting a few shots just fly. But then when he went to serve for it in the fifth set the first time, I think the nerves showed up a little bit. Pressure I think is on everyone. It's just the people who come out on top are the people who handle it the best. Q. What did Patrick say about Hans' animated behavior yesterday during the match? Did he have any choice words when you talked to him? DEAN GOLDFINE: I don't think I can say it here. No, no, no. I mean, hey, it's a part of Davis Cup. Obviously, everybody's trying to do what they feel is best for their team, be it to pump their team up, to maybe gain an advantage. There's players on tour that will argue with the umpire just for the sake of arguing with the umpire, just to try to gain an advantage. That's probably magnified a bit here from the standpoint that now you're not only playing for yourself, but you're playing for your country. If Hans feels that he can maybe gain some sort of advantage by doing that, that's his call. Q. In college hoops, if you're going against a coach like Bobby Knight you better do something to counter that. Do you think you'll have to sort of counter that in some way if Hans is obviously a very animated coach and does that again tomorrow? DEAN GOLDFINE: I hope not. I'm not so worried about what Hans does. I have to worry about what is best for my guys. If I feel my guys are getting the short end of the stick out there, I'm going to make a stink about it, just like I did yesterday. I'm not really a very excitable guy, I don't have a bad temper. I was pissed yesterday because I felt they abused the rules, took advantage of it. I was upset about that. I talked to Paolo today about that to make sure that doesn't happen again. I'm going to worry more about my guys, what I feel is the best for them out there on the court tomorrow and not worry so much about what Hans is doing. Q. What did Paolo say? DEAN GOLDFINE: The thing I said to him is basically if there's an injury timeout, I think we need to make sure for the rest of this tie, if there's an injury timeout, at the beginning of the timeout it's stated what it's for so there isn't a misunderstanding like there was yesterday. That was the thing, supposedly the first one, which Paolo wasn't there because he was off kind of I guess tending to some unruly fans, he wasn't there and didn't know exactly what that first injury timeout was for. When the second one came around for cramps, they said the first one was for a strained muscle, he couldn't argue with them. I just said maybe next time I think it's more important for you to make sure you stay here and to let one of the other chair umpires there or somebody else go and take care of the unruly fans and you stay here in case there's a problem here because that's obviously I think the most important thing. THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
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