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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 15, 2007

James Blake

CINCINNATI, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Some of the top guys are falling like flies. Weren't you supposed to be the one coming in here banged up?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah. I guess maybe no expectation is good. You don't know what to expect, what's going to happen with my injury. Maybe yesterday after I got a match under my belt I felt like I could swing out a little more, playing a little more free.
I did that and felt like I played great and felt like I played pretty smart and executed everything I planned on doing. I even served quite a bit better. Before yesterday I hadn't really served much at all in the last week. That's probably why I wasn't serving so well yesterday.
But today I had adjusted a little bit to the way I was serving and felt better.

Q. Now it's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the third time here, fourth time in your career. What does he do so well against you?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, he's one of best baseliners in the world. He served great against me at Wimbledon this year. It was not totally unexpected. He's a great player. But he just served unbelievable. I think he probably served about 75% first serves and was hitting corners. So that was tough for me to deal with.
This time maybe I'll get some more looks at second serves and take some chances. His backhand is one of the best on tour. He moves great. Last year against me here I kind of got just got bombarded. He was pushing everything forward and I was on my back foot the whole time.

Q. Speaking of the backhand, a lot of the players, notably Federer and Gonzo are going to the slice backhand more. Is this something that you would want to do with your game?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, for me I try to come over it more often, but if you have to slice it, Gonzalez uses it very effectively basically to get forehands. Federer uses it because, to be honest, I think he's so talented he could do just about anything. He slices it when he needs to and keeps it low on grass courts.
Still more effectively he's able to come over it and it hurt you with that. I don't feel like it's his slice that's actually hurting you. It's keeping him in points and he's great at it defensively.
For me I've gotten better at it defensively, but I don't think it'll ever be a planned shot for me in terms of starting out a point or offensively using my slice.

Q. What affect is there upon players like yourself when other top seeded players throughout the bracket, like Djokovic and Nadal, lose on a day like today? Is there a feeling that the tournament has opened up at all?
JAMES BLAKE: Honestly coming into this one I really wasn't looking at that. My main goal for yesterday and today was to make sure I was healthy and make sure I get through it without reinjuring my stomach or making it any worse than it is.
I wasn't really that concerned with the other guys. I really didn't even look too far ahead in the draw. To me it doesn't make a big difference. If you get far in one of these tournaments, no matter what the name of the person is you're playing, they're going to be playing great tennis.
Carlo beat Djokovic and Monaco beat Nadal. If I were to meet either one of them late in the tournament I know there's a reason they're late in the tournament. Carlos has won here before. Monaco has already won a couple tournaments this year.
They have the ability to be playing great, and if they're in the quarters or the semis of a tournament like this they're beaten great players. They're just as talented and just as good during that week. So it doesn't affect me really that much. Because I know whatever matchup it is, if it's Friday or Saturday in one of these tournaments, it's going to be a really tough match and I'll have to play my best tennis to get through it.

Q. How frequently are you assessing your physical health right now? Can you say you'll feel great for tomorrow's match?
JAMES BLAKE: It's tough to say. Right now I'm actually very excited about the way it felt today. I think it's getting better every day. So I'm really excited about the fact that I haven't reinjured or done anything and kind of proud of myself not being stupid and going for too on some of my serves and not really stressing it and actually being a little more mature and realizing it's more important to be healthy.
It's working out so far, and the fact that I'm getting better and better, hopefully by the end of this week I'll feel like I'm completely 100% and hitting every serve I have and able to feel comfortable in that scenario.

Q. Given the success you had last year, the tournament wins and your ranking, I was wondering, how would you assess how this year has gone for you?
JAMES BLAKE: If you stack it up side by side with last year it's definitely not as successful. But if you stack it up with some of the other guys or some of the other years I've had on tour it's still pretty good. It's been a little up and down.
I haven't performed as well as I would have liked in some of the hard court tournaments that are generally my favorites, like Indian Wells and Miami. But I still had a win and a couple of finals and feeling confident right now and playing well. I think I got a lot more tennis left throughout this year, so the verdict is still out. But I'm playing confidently and I feel good, so I can't complain. I feel like I'm getting better.
I've had some tough luck in some big tournaments, but I'm not going to concern myself too much with that right now. I'll try to salvage the rest of this summer. I don't feel like salvage is a fair word because I've played well. So I'm just look to we've keep improving.

Q. When you play someone like Ferrero, Carlos, is it your goal to end the points quickly?
JAMES BLAKE: My goal is to end the point with me winning them. Doesn't matter if it's quick or long. Generally my game style is more aggressive so I am trying to end points. But I think I play my best when I'm not necessarily in my mind trying to end points, they just end quickly on their own.
Where I'm trying to hit a corner and not thinking about trying to hit a winner, and it ends up turning into a winner. I know my mindset going into playing Juan Carlos there really aren't going to be many quick points because he moves so well and plays defense so well. So I'm not going to be expecting quick points at all tomorrow.
I'm assuming he won't either since I like to think I move pretty well. I think we both will know we're in for a match. It could be long with how well we can both move.

End of FastScripts

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