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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 14, 2007

James Blake

CINCINNATI, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Did it take you a little bit of time to settle down and figure out how you wanted to play him?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, just making a few too many unforced in the beginning. I think mainly I was actually thinking about -- I pulled a stomach muscle last week and I was just kind of testing it. I was testing it in practice but it's always different in a match.
So just kind of trying to be careful and figure out what I wanted to do. Realizing it felt good by the end of the first set. Second set I was able to swing a little bit more freely and go for my shots, especially with the confidence of I didn't play my best tennis but to still win that first set gave me a chance to go after my shots a little more in the second and it felt great.

Q. Was the week off good for you at all?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, it was good for me in terms of getting here early. I was able to get outside and do other, like, training stuff. I couldn't hit serves or anything, but I could do other sorts of training in the heat. It was obviously very hot here last week, especially towards the end of the week.
It was good for me to hopefully get used to the heat and get my body adjusted and get ready for this week's heat and then the US Open. It gets pretty toasty as well.

Q. When you initially got hurt last week were you concerned that this could be a lingering thing?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. A pulled stomach muscle seems pretty benign, but at times it can be a little dangerous. If you keep doing it and don't let it heal all the way -- which is definitely a temptation especially with the big tournaments coming up in terms of here and New Haven and the US Open.
If you keep doing it it just stretches more and more and keeps pulling and you run the risk of actually tearing it, and then it could last a long time. So think most guys have done it the a some point in their career. You definitely need to take a little time off and make sure you're careful with it, and that's what I've been doing.
If it's not too bad it'll heal pretty quickly, but when you keep doing it over and over again it can linger and it can be dangerous and do it more.

Q. Heading into your next match do you think you'll forget about it and play normal?
JAMES BLAKE: I hope so. My main goal is to still be careful about it and make sure that I'm ready for the US Open. That's the biggest tournament of my year, the one I always look forward to. I love playing here and I would love to win here, especially after having so much success in the doubles here winning a title with Todd Martin.
I'd love do great in singles, but I do need to be aware that one tournament isn't going to make or break my career. I need to be ready for the long term and I need to be healthy. So it'll affect me, but I'll be smart enough to worry about the tennis and if anything is affecting me negatively I' need to be cautious.

Q. Were you a ball boy in New Haven?
JAMES BLAKE: No, never in New Haven. I was a ball boy for most of the town tournaments. I never made it to the big time of New Haven.

Q. What kind of tournaments?
JAMES BLAKE: Like I said, the town tournaments. The ones where everyone in Fairfield would play. And I think I ball boyed for my dad a few times.

Q. What was that experience like for you?
JAMES BLAKE: Ball boying was a lot of fun. I felt like the fact that I played tennis was an advantage. You can usually tell the kids out there that play tennis because they know when to run, when to toss the ball, and when not to. They usually have an advantage over the ones just learning to be out there.

Q. I've spoken to a lot of the ball kids here and they say that you say, Thank you a lot. Do you take pride in being polite on the court? Does that come from having been a ball boy?
JAMES BLAKE: I think it comes from just the way my parents raised me. I think people sometimes think it takes an effort, but it just comes very natural. It's just as easy to say, Thank you as it is to say, Give me a ball or anything that might be considered rude. For me it's easier to just be polite.
It's tougher of course when you're losing, but I still try to make sure that they know they have nothing to do with the reason or the fact that I'm losing. It's not their fault. It's nothing they're doing. They're still doing their best, so just be polite to them.
I try to be the same way to the umpires, but I have a tougher time with that. It's just an attempt to be polite and make sure that the kids know that they're doing their best and be thankful for the fact that they're doing it and we don't have to pick up our own balls.

Q. When did you decide to become a famous author?
JAMES BLAKE: It was an idea that I kicked around when I was sick, when I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to play again. Just thinking of ideas outside of tennis of what I'd want to do. I thought about writing and then I got back into tennis and started being healthy again and started training and everything else kind of took a -- went to the back burner.
And then when I started doing well and started getting press conference after press conference and TV shows and things where they wanted to know about my story, or other people kind of approached me and said, This is a great story. It would be a great idea to write it down and let everyone hear about it.
So I started writing then. Took about a year to complete, and I'm really happy with the way it came out and the fact that so many people are reading it and so many people are telling me it inspired them or they have a personal connection to it or been influenced in a similar way or in anyway that they think definitely of they and hopefully think positively of me and all my family and friends.

Q. You said it took about a year. When was the start to finish time?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, it came out July 10th of this year. I probably started it June, yeah, around June of '06, so just about a year. We were editing right up until that deadline.

Q. Anything in particular you hope people get from it?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. I mean, the biggest things I hope people get from it are the fact that when you see athletes on TV you tend to think their lives are perfect or you think everything is just boiled down those two hours you see on TV.
I wanted people to understand that we're human beings the rest of our lives. We have family troubles and relationship issues and we have friends and good times and bad times that aren't even related tennis or whatever sport you're playing in.
I wanted people to see that there are human beings behind the players out there. And I also wanted people to understand that I'm out there very isolated and I get tons of credit and adulation when I win, but there's a lot of people that got me there. I wanted people to understand how many family and friends were around me and how many picked me up when I was down and how many are there when I'm winning as well.
It's just a great feeling, and I want people appreciate the fact that I haven't done this alone.

Q. When you play in Rome or Hamburg or Stockholm do you still say thank you?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. Earlier in the my career I tried to say it in the language of the country but that just confused me, so I just say thanks. I hope they understand that I am saying thanks instead of something else.

Q. What is you hope for this week? I know you want to prepare for the Open, and be healthy for that, but what's your hope for this week?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, like I said, I hope to be healthy. That's the main thing. But a good result, I don't put it based on what round I get to. I put it based on the fact that I'm getting better and feeling healthy and feeling ready.
If I play great tomorrow and lose, I can still go into the US Open confident. If I play badly and still win, somehow I'll try to gain some confidence from that too. I'll still have another match to play, so I'll be excited about that.
Mainly just try to keep gaining confidence and getting better and better and being ready for the US Open.

End of FastScripts

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