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WIMBLEDON

July 8, 2006

Mike Bryan

WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND

THE MODERATOR: One half of the Bryan brothers. Mike.

Q. You were deliberately hurrying that along at the end?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, he's got the mixed left with Venus. He's got a good shot. A Wimbledon title is a Wimbledon title, so he can leave here with two.
You know, I'd love him to put some furniture in our house, too. There's money on the line.

Q. Where's that?
MIKE BRYAN: We just got a house in Florida. Gonna furnish that puppy.

Q. Is this the most special of the titles?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, yeah, I think so. It was the last one. We've been thinking about this, you know, Career Slam for, you know, since we won the US Open and the Australian back-to-back. This was the last one to get.
This is the one we've dreamed about our whole lives, the one that we have probably the best shot to win from serving and being, you know, pretty athletic around the net. And from the disappointment last year, losing to the qualifiers, Huss and Moody, it's good to come back and take it home. It feels great.

Q. Bigger than the US Open? You would put this bigger than the US Open?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we just won it, so, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, this one, it's going down with all the legends on that board. You know, everyone knows about Wimbledon. And, you know, when I meet people, they say, "Have you won Wimbledon?" They don't say, "Have you won the US Open?" I hate to say, "Yeah, lost in the finals." It's gonna be pretty sweet to say, "We're Wimbledon champions."

Q. Did you leap into Bob's arms?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, he's the big one. I always jump on him. He's sturdy. He's 20 pounds more. I fly up there. I think we did the same thing after the US Open, jumped in his arms again.

Q. How disappointing is it not to do the Bryan bump at the end?
MIKE BRYAN: We don't even know what we're gonna do. At the French we both went down on our knees. The Australian Open was kind of messed up. I don't think we've ever done a bump after winning a Slam. We save that one for Davis Cup.
Yeah, we just hug, share the love.

Q. How did Bob and Venus get together? When did that happen?
MIKE BRYAN: Uhm, right before the tournament, actually. Venus texted Bob. I think Bob was set up with Martina but they weren't communicating too well.

Q. Martina?
MIKE BRYAN: Martina thought she was playing with Bob. Bob thought she was playing with Leander. It kind of all get messed up. Bob committed to Venus and Leander committed to Sam Stosur. So it was kind of messy there. I don't think Martina was too happy for a few days.
She just texted Bob last night and scooped him up for the US Open. But then Venus asked Bob last night to play at the US Open, so now he's already committed to Martina, so I might be playing with Venus.

Q. So he's committed to Martina now?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, her last Slam.

Q. He's playing tonight's final with Venus?
MIKE BRYAN: With Venus, yeah.

Q. Without her knowing?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, Venus doesn't know that he's playing with Martina yet for the US Open. I wouldn't tell her. They're going on pretty soon.

Q. Mike, you guys sort of feasted a bit towards the end on Santoro's serve. That was the target sort of?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, yeah. I mean, he serves 10 miles an hour less than Zimonjic. You can see it a little better. You know, we got kind of lucky. I mean, Nenad missed a couple volleys that he usually wouldn't miss. We just made him play and scrambled and won a couple reflex points, then got that double break, which was, you know, security break. And, you know, just once we got that break, just our energies went way up through the roof. We could just smell that Wimbledon title and we went hard at the end.

Q. What's it like in the Royal Box?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, pretty awesome. Pretty awesome.

Q. What were your thoughts just at the moment of matchpoint?
MIKE BRYAN: I told Bob, right when I hugged him, I'm like, "We got 'em all, man, we got 'em all."
It's the best feeling in the world. If someone would have said when we started out that you are gonna have all four Grand Slam titles by the time your career is over, I would have said you're a pathological liar. I mean, there's no way.
You know, it's so hard to win one. To have all four, and they've happened so quick over the last two years, uhm, I mean, it's pretty cool. Especially to share it with your twin brother.

Q. How surprised are you that this is the last one you won?
MIKE BRYAN: The biggest one. Save the biggest one for last.

Q. With the surface and your style.
MIKE BRYAN: It's pretty surprising actually, yeah. We won the hardest one on clay, the French Open, first, which was kind of a fluke. We weren't really at the top of the game.
And then, you know, this one just, you know, we saved the best for last, I guess. I mean, this is, look, the one that we should have won last year, and finally grabbed it. Pretty surprising that we saved this one for last, but now we're just gonna try to stack some more on top.

Q. Last year in the final you were a little surprised by, you know, qualifiers.
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah.

Q. This year, one of the top teams were not there. How did you build yourself up so for sure this year you wouldn't take anything for granted?
MIKE BRYAN: I mean, just learning from the past, learning from the experience of losing, all those heartaches. We've won four but we've also lost six. Those sting. You know, bringing Dave Macpherson on board has really helped. You know, can't take anything for granted. You got to go out there and you got to win the match.
We kept telling each other during the match, One point at a time, don't even think about the finish line. You got to throw the toss up to the right and hit the serve. If you take anyone for granted like we did last year, the qualifiers, we thought, Okay, finally we got a good draw in the finals and it's just gonna happen. But they went out there and they played tough.
So this year, we just went hard from the first point on, and, you know, earned it.

Q. The official seemed to be asking you at the end of the game, asking Bob if he's up for playing tonight. I thought I overheard him say, I have to ask my girlfriend.
MIKE BRYAN: His coach. He's gonna ask his coach. He said, I want to go out. He's playing so well. Bob played, you know, I think perfect tennis all the way through the grass, and, you know, he's feeling on a high right now. He wants to go out there and just cap it off with a mixed title.

Q. It was a tough Wimbledon for the singles players from the States. Do you feel any extra pride that you guys helped salvage Wimbledon for the States?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, yeah, we got a title for the USA. Bringing home a title for the Americans. Yeah, it feels good to, you know, get a title for those guys. I mean, they had a, you know, shocking Wimbledon to their standards. We stepped up, which is pretty school. Pat Mac was at our match and supporting us, saying, Do it for the U.S. After we saw him, he's like, You guys got one more to win now, and that's Davis Cup.

Q. Would you bear with me for a second and just real quick give me a word association on the four Slams. Just a phrase or single word. Starting with French. French Open, your first?
MIKE BRYAN: The toughest one. Just one word?

Q. Yeah.
MIKE BRYAN: Gritty.

Q. And Australian?
MIKE BRYAN: Uhm, it's first tournament of the year. You know, I don't know.
You want it for our experience?

Q. Yeah, uh-hmm.
MIKE BRYAN: You know, hot.

Q. And then the US Open?
MIKE BRYAN: Loud.

Q. And here?
MIKE BRYAN: Special.

Q. On the US Open Series, are you guys fans of that format? Do you like it?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I like it, yeah.

Q. Coming into its third year, getting some traction. What are your thoughts on it?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I love the US Open Series. You could see the road to the US Open. You can keep track of the guys, how they're doing in the summer. You know, to have that big check, the possibility of making two mill at the end is pretty cool. Gives the fans, you know, just like a buildup to the Open.
And then, you know, a crescendo there. Wish they'd do it for doubles, too. Talked to Arlen Kantarian, and they're gonna shoot to do that in the next coming years. It's cool, and it's great for TV, too.

Q. How many more titles you think you guys have in you? How many more years do you want to do this, how many Slams do you want to add on to what you have now?
MIKE BRYAN: Doubles, I think we can -- if we stay healthy, we can play until mid 30s. You know, we're only 28 now. Hopefully, I don't want to say, but maybe seven years. Throw in another one a year, two a year for seven years hopefully. That would be a lot. That would be a lot.

Q. All four in a year?
MIKE BRYAN: Too hard, yeah.

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