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WIMBLEDONJuly 8, 2006Bob BryanMike BryanWIMBLEDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Could I have the first question, please. Q. Bob, can you describe winning your first Wimbledon doubles title means to you, since Mike already told us? BOB BRYAN: It's the most amazing feeling ever. You know, this is the big one, and this was the last piece of the puzzle to complete the Career Slam. Yeah, I mean, it's so satisfying, you know. It still hasn't sunk in. I just got off the court and lost the mixed final about five minutes ago. So, yeah, it hasn't settled in yet, but I got a big smile on my face right now. I think when we put the sticks down, whenever it is, we can look back and say, We did it all. Q. Were you able to actually stop thinking about the men's final in the middle of the mixed or not? BOB BRYAN: I actually might have made a bad decision to go back out there right after winning the doubles, you know. Was on such a high, and to go out there, maybe I was a little flat. But, you know, nothing can really bother me right now. Nothing's gonna really knock me down off the pedestal right now. Feel great (laughing). Q. Mike tried to explain to us how you and Venus got together. Can you explain, and what's gonna happen at the Open? MIKE BRYAN: I spilled the beans. BOB BRYAN: Uh-oh, jeez. Venus called me couple weeks ago and I jumped at the opportunity to play with her. You know, she's an awesome player. You know, Martina, me and Martina have been going back and forth with some text messages. I've committed to play with her for her last Grand Slam at the Open. But, you know, Venus asked me the other day to play the Open, too, and so they will we'll probably have to slide her over to Mike. Q. Slide Martina over? BOB BRYAN: Slide Venus over to Mike. I owe it to Martina. We got in a little miscommunication here over what we were going to do. She really wants to play her last Slam with me. It's an honor to have that. Q. Worse than prom dates, huh? BOB BRYAN: Little bit. Q. Do you guys think now that you've done, it will change your attitude at all about the way you play the game? MIKE BRYAN: It will take kind of the edge off. Uhm, if we ever lose any big matches, we'll say, Hey, we got them all. I mean, it kind of releases a little bit of pressure. We're gonna go out to the practice court and be happy smilers. Q. Bob, did they give you the choice of whether you wanted to play? It was totally your call? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I had a call. I felt like I could keep it rolling. And, you know, they played really well. I was a little flat. Didn't work out. But I probably made the wrong decision, but I wanted to keep it rolling, and it didn't happen. Q. Any message from your dad? MIKE BRYAN: Talked to mom. BOB BRYAN: I haven't talked to anyone. I guess Andy called. MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, actually, the first three guys that called were Andy, Mardy and James, which was pretty cool. They all watched it back at home. They're excited. Could kind of tell Andy's fired up to get back on the court. Kind of watches it and he wants to be here. And I'm like, What are you playing? He's like, I'm playing everything this summer. I'm playing Indy, LA, Washington. He wants to just beat up the summer. Q. He took a wildcard into LA? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, that's what he said, he's playing all of them. BOB BRYAN: They're holding one for him. Q. You've won the Career Grand Slam. Would you like to chase the records the Woodies have set? MIKE BRYAN: Pretty far out of our reach. I was looking at the board, it's Woodies straight down. BOB BRYAN: I think we got a late jump on those records. Those guys started, you know, 21, 22, and just started knocking them down time after time. You know, I think Todd's won nine. You know, if we can play nine, that would be great. MIKE BRYAN: See if we can walk. BOB BRYAN: Those records are untouchable. We'll try to make our little mark. Q. Bob, you think this one came last because it meant the most, or do you think there was another reason maybe in terms of grass court tennis it might have caused it to come last? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I can't really explain why it came last. I know, well, we've won three of the last four, so they just came kind of quick here. We won our first one in '03. I thought we were ready to win the lot. It just got really sticky. Took us ten Slams to win our next one. You know, we've won every Slam, we've lost in the finals of every Slam. We know how it feels to be heart-broken. And, you know, lose five Slam finals in a row, we've been through it all. It's not all sweet, you know. This night is because, you know, we just kept working through it, staying positive. Q. What turned it for you? Can you put your finger on anything? Things started to click? MIKE BRYAN: Probably that US Open match. Went out there, uhm, after losing five in a row, and woke up, played that 11 o'clock match, and just played our best match ever against Bjorkman and Mirnyi. You know, I think something clicked in us that day, and we've been trying to carry that feeling out onto the court every time we play a Grand Slam final. We know it's not gonna happen every time, but we're gonna put our best foot forward. A month ago we were sitting here, we lost the French Open final. Today we came out here, weren't scared to lose another one and just went out there and went for it. Q. How jazzed were you to play in front of a big crowd? BOB BRYAN: Wimbledon has the best crowds in the world. Every court's packed. Yesterday we played on Court 1 and it was just juiced, atmosphere was awesome. You know, the French Open, uhm, you know, has a little bit of that but, you know, like if you watch the doubles final, it's half empty. Q. Stumble into dinnertime, you know? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I know. Everyone's getting dinner. But, uhm, yeah. Q. Are you gonna push guys to have the time of the doubles final at the US Open changed? BOB BRYAN: We've been talking to Arlen and Jim about that, and this year it's set in stone. It's 11 again with the TV contracts. But he's working on next year changing it and maybe doing a prime time final on a Saturday or, you know, Sunday. Q. You guys were dismissive about getting the record here, which is understandable. You're on a roll now. Do you think you can see you guys being dominant, sort of to make a phrase "the new Woodies," that just dominate? BOB BRYAN: The Woodies, that name -- MIKE BRYAN: It's tough to compete. BOB BRYAN: It's tough to compete with those guys. MIKE BRYAN: We're on a roll. Finals of seven in a row, and the Woodies never did that. You know, as Bob said, we're making our mark. We're doing the best we can do. It's, I think, we got to be considered one of the -- BOB BRYAN: Better teams (laughing). MIKE BRYAN: Better teams. Q. How has it helped having David Macpherson on board as a Kevin? MIKE BRYAN: It's been awesome. He came on board before the US Open. He's three for four, had a final. He brings a lot of energy, a lot of positive, you know, outlook on the whole thing. And he's played against us and knows our strengths and weaknesses and works his butt off every day. Stays in between us, doesn't let us battle each other. BOB BRYAN: I mean, he played over 15 years, too. He brings a ton of experience. He's been at all these tournaments, knows the ins and outs, how everything works. He's no rookie, he's been around the block. Q. What was the first Wimbledon each of you guys remembers? BOB BRYAN: First one we came to that we played in the pros we actually had -- Q. No. As a kid, watching. BOB BRYAN: As a kid? Q. Yeah. BOB BRYAN: I just remember Agassi winning that first one in '91. Q. That was '92. BOB BRYAN: '92, sorry. That's in my mind. We were huge Agassi fans. We'd watch every one of his matches. And when he got over the hump here and won that first Grand Slam, I'll never forget that one. Q. Mike? MIKE BRYAN: I just remember watching all the matches back at our tennis club because we didn't have TV at our house. BOB BRYAN: Watched Becker for the first time. MIKE BRYAN: I remember watching Becker for the first time. I think he beat Curren. Yeah, just watching on TV, sitting right next to the screen and saying, Hey, I want to be there one day (laughing). Q. Watch doubles when you were kids? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, my dad made sure we watched a lot of doubles. He'd take us out to college matches and, uhm, down to the LA tournament, to the Forum. He made sure that we were, like, immersed in tennis and being motivated like that, not just being told what to do and pushed out on the court. He was showing us what the highest level was. Q. Andre stepping out, you have a best Andre story where he just stepped up and impressed you as a guy. MIKE BRYAN: He impresses us every day. He's so kind and generous. He's invited us over to his place many times. We were just, you know, decided to make it a little boys trip to Vegas last December. I mean, he just took care of us from the moment we got there all the way till the end. Hooked us up with a hotel, got us free nightclub passes, hooked us up in his Pure bar, took us to his school. He doesn't have to do that. He's a pretty busy guy. BOB BRYAN: The school is what he's most proud of. I mean, we mentioned, we're like, Andre, can we see the school. He was like, Yeah, okay, when do you guys want to go? He was so pumped to take us and show us what he's built there in Las Vegas. I think he's most proud of that. Like we said. He's a great guy. He kind of took us under his wing when we came on the tour. We came out on the tour just jazzed and pumped from college. A lot of players thought we were a little too amped (laughter). We were just excited to be out here. Andre always took the time to hit with us, give us advice, make us feel comfortable.
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