DAVIS CUP FINALS, USA vs. SPAIN

December 4, 2004

Patrick McEnroe

Bob Bryan

Mike Bryan

BOB BRYAN: For us or for them? We were coming in all the time. We were coming in behind our serve.

MIKE BRYAN: They didn't serve and volley.

BOB BRYAN: We never stayed back on our serve once. We knew they were going to stay back on their serve. There's a lot of teams that do that these days.

MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, it feels good. But, you know, it's not going to be as good if we don't win two tomorrow. You know, it feels good to give those guys another shot. Spain has to go sleep on that. You know, everything went according to plan. Won that first set 6-0. It went pretty smoothly. We played more doubles than they have. We exploited their doubles skills. I think we rose to the occasion, played well. It feels really good.

BOB BRYAN: It's sweet. But it's always better clinching the third match. But, you know, we still feel good. You know, Andy came up to us, he was like, "Thanks for giving me another shot." Andy's excited to have another shot out there on the clay. I'm really confident in Andy winning that first match. Then, you know, anything can happen in the fifth match.

BOB BRYAN: I think Georgia's a little tougher. This is louder. But in Georgia, they get personal. They're hanging over the fence.

MIKE BRYAN: Spilling beer on you.

BOB BRYAN: Spilling beer. They're frat guys, they're tailgating before the match. They're calling you every name in the book. I don't want to repeat what they're calling us. We were wearing black shoes. They were calling us... They were riding us. We were ready for this crowd. We watched a couple sets yesterday. We knew they were going to be loud. We just wanted to keep them silent. We jumped out to a lead. You know, they didn't really have a chance to get in the match, the crowd.

BOB BRYAN: I think we're more comfortable playing hard and grass. But, you know, doubles is less movement. You know, we just try to keep those guys uncomfortable. We feel good on clay. We didn't feel great until we won the French Open (smiling). But now, you know, we love it obviously. But there's just less movement. We just try to take as many balls out of the air as we can, just try to make the other guys play doubles because they beat us in singles.

MIKE BRYAN: We sat down last year -- we were struggling on clay, we sat down. We played a couple teams that stayed back and ripped groundies at us. We decided we were going to hit every ball at the net guy. We also said we needed to use some variety, use some dippers, some lobs, keeps them off balance.

MIKE BRYAN: I said let's do a chest bump, just in case Bob forgot (laughter). That's basically it.

CAPTAIN McENROE: I think, obviously, Andy played a real good match yesterday, and I think if he plays up to that level, he's got a good chance the way he matches up with Carlos. I mean, we know it's going to be tough. But I think, you know, if he continues to take his chances when he gets them and plays aggressively... You know, obviously Mardy is an underdog in his match. But he learns pretty quickly. He got to see the way the match was played with Andy yesterday. You know, he knows he's going to have to be aggressive. He knows he's going to have to take some chances. As the guys said, if it gets to 2-All, he can get sort of the start he got against Carlos, where he came out and played great for the first few games, you know, really try to force the issue, then who knows what could happen. You know, he has to process what he saw in the matches yesterday and then try to use that to his advantage. And I think he's going to do that, going to try to do that.

BOB BRYAN: We mix it up. But, you know, last year I think I switched at Scottsdale. You know, in the Juniors we played differently. When we came on the tour, we played two years and then switched. Then we started flip-flopping every other tournament just to try to find a groove. Then something clicked at Scottsdale. We've kept playing this way ever since.

BOB BRYAN: Scottsdale of last year.

MIKE BRYAN: I think on a faster court we want the back ends in the middle. But today these courts are so slow, especially on the dirt, you can run around. Have you more time to run around, hit inside-out forehands. We try to take as many forehands as we can. Then, you know, if I hit a good return, Bob's still in the middle with a forehand volley, which is our strongest shot, our forehand volleys. We have more reach and everything with it, so... We just want our forehands in the middle. It's our weapon.

CAPTAIN McENROE: I mean, look, we know what we're up against. But by no means do we think we're out of it. We didn't think that last night. We didn't think that this morning. We don't think that now. It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility to beat these guys. As I said, we're the underdog. We've been the underdog from the minute we landed here. But we believe we can do it. There's not a lot I need to say to them. I mean, they know they can do it. It is possible. And if we do, you know, play smart, we're going to have to pour our guts out there, and we're prepared to do that. I mean, Andy did that yesterday and came up a little short. But, you know, a swing or two here or there, we could be up 2-1. But we're not. So, you know, to me there's no reason why we can't come out tomorrow, if Andy can win, it's 2-All, we're in with a shot.

CAPTAIN McENROE: You know, I'm sort of torn on that one. I think as part of the strategy and the tactics of what makes Davis Cup interesting to have the decision that I have, which is to go with two players that obviously are a great doubles team. I mean, you could look at the Spaniards and say, if they could have had a fifth player, they could have had like Lopez play, who is a better doubles player. So it would have been tougher. I still think we could have obviously won the match, we would have, but it would have been a tougher match. So I'm a little bit torn about that. I mean, obviously for me I would like it because it would give me a third singles player. But, you know, overall I don't know if it's the right thing for the whole competition. But I'd like to hear what you think. What do you think?

CAPTAIN McENROE: It would probably help the stronger countries. So, yeah, let's do it (smiling).

CAPTAIN McENROE: We weren't surprised after the physicality of the match between Nadal and Roddick. We got our first hint when we saw Juan Carlos come to warm up just as we had finished our first practice. And then we heard officially about it I think about 2:00, a couple hours before the match. But tactically not much of a change. I mean, obviously it's a tough situation for Ferrero to be in, to come out and play a doubles match against the best team in the world, you know, without having a lot of match practice. So obviously our plan was to go at him early and often, in particular when he was at net.

MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we didn't want to break out the chest bump the first couple of sets just because they'd be riding us the rest of the match. So we saved it kind of, you know, for the match point, kind of stuck a dagger in them. You know, it's tough. But we come together, we're bouncing around, we're pumping each other up the whole match. Obviously, if we would have played in the US, there would have been a few more. We had some great points. We just said, you know, to be quiet on a few.

BOB BRYAN: I mean, we were pumped up. We were coming together more than we usually do. We were just trying to stay tight on the court, you know, take our time and talk a lot. But we were excited a lot. We were bouncing around like we always were. We just weren't giving the fist pumps and that kind of stuff, because we don't need to do that. I mean, we feel it when a crowd's behind us. Just like Nadal yesterday was doing it a lot. The crowd loves it. It actually helps him play better. We do the same thing, but today wasn't the time.

CAPTAIN McENROE: I think it will. I mean, I think it helped Bob and Mike. And I think also for them, you know, the fact that they played a lot of college tennis helped them also, playing in tough environments. So I think it will help. You just have to expect that they're going to be really loud, that they're going to clap after you miss a serve. That's just what's going to happen. So you just have to go about your business and, you know, put your head down like these guys did. Every time Bob would hit a great shot, he'd sort of put his head down, go over to Mike, come over to the sideline and just play. So having that experience has got to help us. If it hurts us, then we're pretty immature and I've done a bad job, because my job is to keep them as composed as can be. If we don't do a good job tomorrow, then I have myself to blame.