US OPEN

September 6, 2006

Tomas Berdych

THE MODERATOR: First question.

Q. Tomas, all the breakpoint opportunities today, when you look back at them now, do you blame yourself for not getting them, or do you give credit to James Blake for not giving them up?
TOMAS BERDYCH: So like you said, I had many of many chance to break him. In the second set, it was, I don't know, more, more than five for sure. So I didn't made it.
I think that was the key of the match, because then he won the second set, and then he was up, and his confidence was high, and he was playing so well.
But anyway, if I, let's say, made one of them, everything can change and be different.

Q. Have you ever had a match where you were unable to convert so many breakpoints?
TOMAS BERDYCH: I think so, but I don't know which one. But it happens. It happens sometimes in tennis. It wasn't nothing special, but unlucky for me that I didn't make any one of them.

Q. You know Federer's game. You know Blake's game. Does James Blake have the weapons to beat Roger Federer?
TOMAS BERDYCH: I don't think so.

Q. What weapons do you need to beat Roger Federer as a player?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Be better than him. I don't know which special weapons, but you have to play much better than him and then you have chance to win.

Q. What did you have on the day that you beat him? Was there something you had that day?
TOMAS BERDYCH: I was better than him that day. I don't know what was special. But I don't know, we hitting same forehand, same backhand, serving. But this day, I was playing all these things better than him.

Q. You and James are both really big hitters. Can you talk about, you know, you yourself being a big hitter, the power that you saw from Blake. How powerful is that forehand of his?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, that's his weapon. He's just trying to play short, short rallies, just to make one big hit. If he made it in the court, that's finish of the rallies. If not, then the mistake is like somewhere hitting the people in the first row.
So he had just to think if he hitting well, then he can beat anyone. And if he not feeling well on the court and hitting the balls bad, that's no chance for him.

Q. Now, obviously
TOMAS BERDYCH: He don't have anything in between. He just have he is too high or too down.

Q. So when his game is on, he's hitting it.
TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, yeah.

Q. When his game's not on, it's over?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Yep, yep.

Q. He has that fan cheering section. How was that affecting you?
TOMAS BERDYCH: I was expecting that because I already play here with Andre, and it was the same. Everybody wants that win, he's their guy. So it was same today.

Q. You personally, obviously, you had that big win against Roger last year. In matches like this, in a Grand Slam, playing a guy like Blake who's the No. 5 player, how disappointing is it when you can't have that next breakthrough win, especially in a Grand Slam? It looked like you did have a breakthrough obviously against Federer last year. How frustrating is it for you?
TOMAS BERDYCH: So with Federer it was two years ago and it was in Olympic Games. And then, I don't know. I like, like all the games, to play these guys. Is really good. When you know how to beat this guy, that's the more important thing, then you can improve and be higher in the ranking.
But anyway, on the other side, all the matches is so tough. Then you can lose so many of these matches.

Q. What do you believe you need to do to take that next step? Is it a mental game? Is it something physically in your physical game? What do you think you need to do to make that next step maybe into the top 10?
TOMAS BERDYCH: So maybe more consistent in the game and then could be better.

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