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ROGERS MASTERS

August 13, 2006

TORONTO, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: The Bryans capture their sixth title this season, their fourth in a row, going back to Wimbledon, Los Angeles, Washington and now here in Toronto, their second Canadian title. They've now won 18 matches in a row.
Questions for the Bryans.

Q. How did this match differ from the one in Washington?
MIKE BRYAN: It was straight sets. It was pretty much the same. It was a hard-fought battle all the way through. Got a break in the first. In the second set, it was tight all the way through. Yeah, just didn't go to a super breaker. It came down to a few points here and there, a few 3-All points went our way. I thought we played a good match. I thought we did everything pretty solid.
BOB BRYAN: Got to play really solid and tight against a team like that. Right now they're the second hottest team. They could be the first hottest team if we don't win the 3-All point today.
The breaks are going our way. We're actually playing really clutch on the big ones right now. That has to do with our confidence.

Q. You had 18 straight wins. I think four titles in a row. Even allowing for the fact you're the best pair, that's a good streak. Any special reason why that should happen now?
MIKE BRYAN: Best streak of our career. It all started at Wimbledon. Down two sets to one and a break, toughed that one out. Went on an amazing run to win our first Wimbledon title and complete the career Slam. Feels like all the pressure has been lifted off of us. We're just having fun playing tennis now. We don't have that burning desire to win that last Grand Slam title. We got them all. Now we're just trying to pile them on top.

Q. You say you have fun playing tennis. Do you think anybody has fun playing tennis against you guys?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I think they do. We had some smiles out there with Kevin, when I caught him in the lower region (smiling). He wasn't smiling right then, but we were laughing about it after.
All the guys out here are great guys. Our locker was right next to those guys. We were just talking for half an hour right before the match. We're all friends. We're just going to reshuffle the draw next week and suit up again. We'll probably see those guys again.

Q. Is it a different dynamic from what happens to the singles guys?
MIKE BRYAN: The doubles are kind of like a fraternity. There's not a lot of doubles specialists out there any more, probably 20. We play each other every week. Played those guys four time, Knowles-Nestor four times. Got to get along. We are practicing week in, week out. It's a little different on the women's tour. I think the women sometimes get a little bitter, hate each other. The doubles guys, we've been picked on the last few years. We filed the lawsuit together. Now we're being promoted. Fighting for our share.

Q. Do you consider yourselves the most dominant force in American tennis today?
BOB BRYAN: In American tennis? In American doubles, yeah, definitely. We got Andy and James and these guys that I think are due for some big results coming up. Watch for them in the next tournament in the US Open. I think they're due. They've been knocking on the door, but haven't quite got to the top.
Yeah, American doubles, we got it taken care of (smiling).

Q. Do you still feel sufficiently positive about the new scoring system, the way that's helping to promote the game?
BOB BRYAN: I do.
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah. I mean, it shortens the match and it allows tournament directors to put it on the stadium. Today was a little different because of the TV. Tennis Channel had to put us way out in front.
You can theoretically put a doubles match out there and know it's going to be done in an hour and a half. Directors can put more doubles matches on stadium and people can see us play.
We're liking it from that standpoint. And the scoring, it's going well so far. Still the best teams are winning most of the time. If you look at the statistics, it's probably the same as last year. We've lost some heartaches, but most of them are going our way. The good teams are rising above, being clutch. They win the big points.

Q. You said you'd give it a year and review it. Is that still your position?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah. We're all pretty positive about it, all the doubles players are really positive. I think we'll probably sit down in Shanghai after the year and all talk about it. Right now it's good feelings all the way around.
I've seen a great response from the fans. Maybe a couple hecklers that say, "Play the third set out." I heard someone yesterday. Pretty much I feel gaining momentum. We actually have more fans now than we did at the beginning of the year.

Q. How long have you been doing this flying chest pump that you do?
MIKE BRYAN: We started in college back in '96. Jensen brothers were the first guys to do it. When they retired, we loved watching them play. We decided to just carry it on. At Stanford, it can get rowdy. We had a lot of fraternity guys come out to the matches. We liked to pump them up. We threw that in. Kept doing it all the way onto the tour. Maybe did it a little early before we established ourselves and people gained respect. They didn't like it at first. But now it's kind of our trademark. The Bryan bump. It's fun. It's fun for us. As long as we don't get hurt.

Q. A lot of people say tennis is maybe too stoic a sport. Does that not add maybe a little bit of color and entertainment?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, this is an entertainment industry. We want to put on a good show for the fans.
I know we were signing autographs yesterday. They were like, "Where was the chest pump? We didn't see it." We're like, "Okay, we'll give you one tomorrow." We don't want to get Nestor's fans riled up. We wanted to keep then down.
People were asking for it yesterday. We decided to put in a couple today.

Q. Speaking of fun and entertainment, Mike, you also made a little history by teaming with Martina Navratilova in Wimbledon. You made history by losing because Israel got its first Grand Slam championship. At the US Open, are you planning to play with Martina again? If so, how does mix doubles differ? Why do players like yourself, Andy Ram, seem to always get towards the final or semifinal round?
BOB BRYAN: I'm playing with Martina.
MIKE BRYAN: Bob is playing with Martina. I played with her last year at Wimbledon. Yeah, Bob is going to be playing with her in her last Grand Slam tournament. He actually played with Venus Williams at Wimbledon this year and lost to Andy Ram in the finals.
Dumping Venus and going to Martina.
BOB BRYAN: Not dumping Venus. Martina asked me, I thought it would be an honor to play the last Grand Slam with her.
Mixed doubles is fun. You can't take it too seriously. Anything can happen out there. You're losing serve all the all over the place. Just kind of got to smile and have fun. If you take it too seriously, it doesn't go your way.
Mike and I always play the Grand Slams. Sometimes it can get to be a lot of matches. It can sometimes hurt your doubles, your men's doubles performance. In the end, it's a good time. A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam.

Q. Is all this winning turning into new endorsement opportunities for you guys?
BOB BRYAN: It's helping out a little.
MIKE BRYAN: It's up to John Tobias, our agent. He's got to start working. Yeah, it does help when you're winning, Countrywide signed us up early in the year. They're happy when we win. They get more TV time. Yeah, we're working on this sleeve now. This one is empty.
BOB BRYAN: It does help a lot when you're No. 1. You get bigger appearance fees. Like our agent goes to the US Open. They sign deals for next year's tournaments. Those numbers will come up a little bit. It does help a lot.

Q. Playing with Martina, will you give her a Bryan pump if it gets down to set point?
BOB BRYAN: I gave Venus one.
MIKE BRYAN: She'll knock you over.
BOB BRYAN: I don't know. She runs the show. If she wants to do one, I'll give it to her. Yeah, she tells me what to do out there. She wears the pants (smiling).

Q. What about the instant replay. Seems like people get into watching that. How is it for you guys?
BOB BRYAN: I was loving the instant replay out there.
MIKE BRYAN: I love it. A couple bad calls out there. I think we were three for four on challenges maybe. Maybe we're perfect. Those little calls can influence a match. You hate to lose a match because of a few calls, especially in a big Masters Series final. I think it's great for the fans. They love looking up on the screen, wondering if it was in or out. Yeah, it's great.
BOB BRYAN: Then the screen they're showing replays of the points also. I actually was looking up there and watching some of those replays because we had some great points.
Yeah, I like what they're doing with the calls and the replays. Turning into more of a basketball-type atmosphere.

End of FastScripts...

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ROGERS MASTERS

August 13, 2006

Bob Bryan

Mike Bryan