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TENNIS MASTERS CUP

November 17, 2006

James Blake

SHANGHAI, CHINA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Any concerns there about the length or duration of the match or the result, less than 24 hours before you play a semifinal here?
JAMES BLAKE: No. Try to learn from some of the best Americans, the best American probably in the past. Sampras was always one to tell me to have a short memory. And it was my first kind of venture into a tournament like this where I can have a loss and I'm still coming back to play tomorrow. So we'll see if I learn my lesson from him.
See if I can turn it around. And, you know, I did my best tonight. I just didn't have, I guess, maybe my best tennis. But I played as hard as I could. I tried. Fought as hard as I could. Didn't go my way.
Tomorrow, hopefully the breaks will go my way. I'll maybe be a little more rested. I don't know. We'll see.

Q. You haven't played David before. What are your thoughts on his game and how your game matches up against him?
JAMES BLAKE: We'll see. He's obviously got a whole lot of confidence probably right now after the way he beat Andy and the way he played here last year. We'll see.
I know he's unbelievable from the baseline, is a very, very good fighter. He's been down two sets to love probably as much as anyone on tour to come back to win. His fitness is good. He moves very well. I think his service return is incredible. I watched some of his match with Andy. And if he can return Andy's serve, you're doing pretty good.
I know I'm not gonna get that many free points on my first serve, but I got to work hard to win the points. We'll see. I know in my mind I'm willing to do that, and we'll see if I can execute.

Q. Notice you've got a bag of ice on your hamstring. You okay?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I'm fine. It's on my knee. Little tendonitis I had a few weeks ago. Just kind of preventive; make sure it doesn't come back. It's been a long year. We all have little nagging things. It's fine. It's nothing that's going to cause me any concern.

Q. Was there any element on that last shot of matchpoint of just wanting to get it over on that forehand?
JAMES BLAKE: No. I missed plenty of those forehands today, so it wasn't just that one. I was trying to take it down the line. I thought he'd be covering the backhand. Just missed it. Went for a little too much. Maybe looked up at the last second, saw him running that way. That's bound to happen. That's what guys who play really good defense will do to you.

Q. The atmosphere, less people, but do you feel that they feel tennis?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, they were very excited. I think at this late of an hour for them to still be cheering about the fact that I broke back to get it back on serve in the third set when it's just about midnight is a good feeling. To know that people still want to watch more tennis at midnight, that's great.
So I'm happy that they were here to see that, and I wish I could have come out on top. But I'm sure all those people carrying Spanish flags were happy.

Q. So the last ball, you hit a forehand outside on purpose?
JAMES BLAKE: What?

Q. In the last ball.
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. I hit it out on purpose?

Q. Really?
JAMES BLAKE: Is that what you're asking?

Q. Yeah.
JAMES BLAKE: Are you serious?

Q. Little bit, because, you know, it's too long maybe you think?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I worked really hard from 5-2 down to bring it back to 5-All and then I decided to tank? You really think what's what I did?

Q. Maybe it's a joke.
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I am joking. I did not miss that on purpose. I wanted to win that match. I don't know about you, but a $120,000 is still a lot to me. A hundred points is still a lot to me. I wanted to win that match. I just didn't have my best tennis.
I definitely did not miss one ball in this whole tournament on purpose.

Q. So next question, we know you are going to be a Harvard graduate. When could you finish the course?
JAMES BLAKE: When I'm done playing tennis. Right now I'm pretty busy with the whole tennis career. They take me back any time as long as I can give them six months' notice. And when my body starts giving out and I can't do this anymore, I'll go back and finish my degree.

Q. James, if you have a chance to finish as the No. 1 American at the end of the year, if you won the trophy, you would go over Nikolay Davydenko as the top three? Have you noticed that?
JAMES BLAKE: No, I didn't notice that. That's not something I really think about right now. I just got to try to win matches, try to put this match out of my mind, and try to worry about beating David Nalbandian.
I didn't really look at the rankings. I'm pretty proud of the way I've done, I've improved this year, whatever I was ranked at the beginning of the year, 20 something, to get up to already number 8 in the world. I'm not ever going to say I'm content with where I am, but I'm proud of the effort I made to get here. Now it's icing on the cake. Hopefully I can keep moving forward and maybe beat David tomorrow and then see what happens in the finals.
But right now I'm just worried about David. The rankings, they'll take care of themselves if I'm playing my kind of tennis.

Q. Did you feel like it was a luxury in any way to know that you'd already qualified for the semifinals and against the No. 2 player in the other group before you went out there?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, absolutely. It's definitely a good feeling going into that last match knowing that no matter what happens, you already know your opponent, you know what time you're playing, and you know that it's not Roger Federer (smiling). That's definitely a good feeling. Not to take anything away from David, because he's definitely not a No. 2 player by any stretch of the imagination. He's an excellent player. What he did to Andy was pretty amazing. So I know we're all very, very close, except for Roger, I think, who's playing some of the best tennis ever.
So it's a good feeling to know your opponent and to know when you're going to play going into this match. Unfortunately, I didn't take that positive energy and turn it into a win, but tomorrow's another day.

Q. James, tomorrow you will face David Nalbandian, who, two weeks after, will have the final against Russia for the Davis Cup. You have faced this season against Russia with your team, United States. About that, what do you think that will happen in the final, Russia against Argentina?
JAMES BLAKE: I don't know. I haven't really thought about that too much. I'm kind of focused on this tournament.
I know it's gonna be very different than our match because we played on clay there, and I have a feeling against Argentina they never even considered playing on clay.
It's going to be on a faster hard court. Marat is very mercurial. He can be one of the best players in the world. He can have an off day when he's not playing so great. I think lately he's been playing great, so he's gonna be very tough to beat at home. And then Nikolay Davydenko has got a ton of confidence. He's gonna be tough.
Nalbandian has proven he can beat anyone in the world on any given day. I'm not sure who their No. 2 player is going to be, but they've got a lot of guys to choose from - Calleri, Chela, Gaudio. They've got a great stable. It's gonna be interesting.
I'm not sure who the favorite is. Since it's so close, you probably give the little nod to the Russians since they're at home. It will be fun to watch. And I'll be sitting at home on my couch watching it with some popcorn and something nice and cold to drink.

End of FastScripts

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