|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
PILOT PEN TENNIS PRESENTED BY SCHICKAugust 23, 2007James BlakeNEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How was your day? JAMES BLAKE: Not bad. How was yours? That's a long workday. A lot of work for me. Luckily my work is fun. Q. Obviously part of playing at your level is when you can be, you know, that really far down and come back to here so quickly. JAMES BLAKE: It's crazy. Guys are so close out here and guys are so talented that if they get a second chance they can really take advantage of this. That's why I think a lot of people get kind of spoken about in a negative way for choking or anything like that, but it's so close that it's not easy to serve out a match and it's not easy to close out when a guy feels a little loose and they start going for their shots the way I did after I got it back it 5-All. It makes it really difficult, so I think people need it understand how difficult and tough that is and how difficult the rest of us try to make it to do that. I felt great once I came back. When you give someone a second chance like that and you're out there with the best attitude and feeling like you easily could have been -- I easily was just one first serve from being out of here and on my way to Flushing Meadows. Now I'm still in it I feel great and I feel kind of lucky to be still at the tournament and still alive. Q. What's your thought process when he goes 40-Love, three serves to win the match? JAMES BLAKE: Maybe I'll do better at US Open. No, I mean, he was serving so well that I really -- I didn't want to get my racquet on it and miss that return. If he aces me, too good. But I wanted to get the ball back in play, give myself a chance, and see what happened. Like I said, it's tough to do that sometimes. And even when it's 40-Love it can seem easy, but it can change -- I mean, you saw how quickly it changed today. It changes so fast that you don't want to beat yourself at any time. Sometimes it's just a matter of trying to make a guy serve it out or just make him play a couple more balls. And that's what I did at that time, and I came up with some a couple actually really good shots once I got into the point. Was excited about that. He clearly got a little down on himself, and that's going to happen when you do that. I was able to take advantage right away in the third set. Q. Watching you between the two matches today you seemed like two different players from the start. Did you feel that way? JAMES BLAKE: Well, like I said, the kind of the attitude changes a little when you're so close to losing and you come back. You're just so happy to be playing that this is icing on the cake. I was really happy actually to get this kind of a day in once I won that first one. Because if I didn't win that first one I was going to go out to the practice courts and work quite a bit more, because I wanted to have one really long day -- I kind of do that before a Grand Slam to make sure your body's ready for a long match, for a five-setter possibly. I was going to go and do plenty of working out, so this actually is easier. It's a lot more fun playing matches than going out to the practice court and just beating up your body. So this is a perfect day for me. Now hopefully two more matches here and hopefully a couple days of rest for the US Open. Q. We talk a lot about the J Block and the support they give you. But this afternoon when you're facing match point like that and they're still cheering for and you willing you on, can you talk about that and how that got you going, I would think, in the third set? JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I think it's great. I'm, again, proud of them for being so positive all the time. Whether I'm up or down they always seem to be cheering positively for me. That's a great feeling. Like I said yesterday, a lot of those guys have played and know tennis so they know the right times to say things and the right times not to and when is guy getting ready to serve to be quiet and all that etiquette. So I think they did a great job again today. It's a lot of fun. They're getting warmed up for the US Open as well. Q. He wasn't willing to talk about the altercation at the end of that first match. Was there something that you can tell us about that happened during that match? Was he getting some coaching from his coach? JAMES BLAKE: I don't know if he was getting coaching. I just wanted to clarify the rule with the umpire. And I never said a word to Agustin. I think he's a great guy and great competitor. We've played twice before and never had any sort of a problem. I don't foresee one in the future. I was having a conversation with the umpire and having nothing to do with Agustin. I don't know if he took it personally or got offended or whatever, but he brought it up three games later and said something to me. I don't know if it had to do with the score or with what I was actually saying, but I was never directing any of it toward him and I would never do that to him or to any guys that I have a lot of respect, for like him. I talked to his coach afterwards and everything is just fine. I'm sure it was something that was said in the heat of the moment and will pass quickly. Guys have plenty of adrenaline going in the matches and cooler heads always prevail seems like. Q. Verdasco is a very dangerous player. Can you just talk about the way you were able to almost take it to him almost from the getgo? JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, he's extremely dangerous. He can change the pace of play very quickly and he can stay in points. That's why he plays well on clay, and on hard he can just air it out. I think everyone saw some of those forehand he hit tonight that are just monster forehands. So it's very dangerous. Any time you hit a ball to his forehand he can create a winner out of nothing of, so I was trying to keep it away from that and kind of attack using my forehand. I was able to get a few more forehands and gets into the net a little more. I think that was important. Not letting his set up and run me around the baseline. Luckily when I was running around the baseline one of the things that improved the most since I've come back in the last couple years has been my defense. I've been able to scramble a little bit better and make him have hit one or two more balls. That really helped me I think in the first set when I did get that one break. A lot of it was just scrambling. Q. Does the J Block rattle some of these guys? JAMES BLAKE: I assume it does. But over in Paris some of those fans will rattle the Americans. In Davis Cup anywhere. I'm sure in Sweden in a few weeks they'll have their Swedish chants and they'll be cheering every mistake we make and every winner they hit. Fans everywhere are going to support their hometown favorites. I'm sure it does rattle some of the guys just the same as we get rattled overseas. So it's part of the game, and I actually really enjoy that situation, the Davis Cup scenario, whether they're for or against me. Because to me to feel more like a team sport with a home team and away team, and there's a little advantage for the home team. I feel like I have a little advantage here and it's great. But like I said, about my J Block, they seem to be always under control in terms of doing it in between the points, never yelling out during a point, and never being negative to the other person. They're cheering me on and they make a difference. I don't think I've ever come back from triple match point to win a match before at this level. I think it has to do with the fact that they're still here still being positive at that point when it looks really bleak and they're still cheering every shot I made at that point. Q. Talk about having two Americans in the semifinals on the hard courts and how this hard court season is going into the US Open for the Americans. JAMES BLAKE: Great feeling, especially with Mardy. He struggled with injuries a little lately and he's had some trouble with his knees, and I don't think people have realized maybe how painful that's been for him. The fact that he's healthy and he's playing well, he's a dangerous player. Very dangerous. In the US Open, if he gets hot he can beat anyone in the world. He's got a huge serve and is playing well now. He's my best friend on tour and it would be fun to play him in a final. We've only played twice, even though we played all the same tournaments. We've practiced at least a million times together down at Saddlebrook. So we would have a great time in the finals and whoever wins would take the other guy out to dinner. We already have that deal about every tournament. I'm really happy to have him confident again also happy to have me confident again to be playing at well I did in Cincinnati and here, and hopefully carry it on to the US Open, and hopefully we'll both be pretty deep in the US Open. Q. It seemed like you've almost brought the Americans together. Do you sense that at all? JAMES BLAKE: Well, I think we all do that. I don't know how it's been in past generations. I've heard stories and articles about the fact that they weren't as cordial to each other. The guys now, we get along so well. Like I said, Mardy and I, if we play in the finals together we will be out to dinner together that night. We're just good friends. We live around the corner form each other in Tampa. We play golf together all the time. I think my brother is actually doing his laundry tonight because he can't get it back. I mean, we're buddies and we do just about anything for each other. Same with Andy and Robby, and I'm really hoping Robby gets his confidence. We give John Isner a hard time now since he's a rookie. We did that with Sam Querrey for the last year or so, and Donald as well. For me it just makes it a more fun place to be on tour when all the guys get along. We're so passionate about Davis Cup, and it's just so much easier to walk through a locker room when you have a whole bunch of smiling faces and a bunch of friends instead of no one to turn to and no one to just go play cards with and no one to just hang out with. I'm really lucky that it seems like it's a great group of guys and we have a ton of fun together. Q. You first match today was very similar to Mardy's: Struggled the first tow sets and then the third set just a runaway. Did you talk about that at all? JAMES BLAKE: No. But I'd like to take credit for his since I got her at 3-2 in the second set and I saw him only lose one game. So I think, of course, it had a lot to do with me sitting in the stands and my support. Now, it's a good feeling to see him playing that well. I think he had a tough time in the first two matches, and that's no better sign of confidence when you can be down and turn it around. He was down a set and a break in his first two matches. To be down and come back and win so convincingly in the third set, that is a great sign of confidence. I know he's fit and ready for long matches and just playing great tennis. That kind of confidence can just take you far, especially in the locker room. The guys notice you're down a set and a break like that and you can keep fighting back, it makes it even tougher to serve matches out and hold against guys that you know are going to keep fighting. Q. If Simon or if it's Mathieu, can you give us a little run through if you have to play those guys in the next round, the strength of each one? JAMES BLAKE: They're two of the very few guys on tour I've never played before. It will be interesting. Either one will be a first time. Mathieu I practiced with a few times. He hits the ball great off both side. Can be very dangerous. He can definitely be a little hot or cold. So there are times when it looks like he's unstoppable and times when it look like he's back down to reality. But so I know that would be dangerous if I play him. He just has great eye-hand coordination and can strike the ball very clean. Simon I don't know that much about him to be honest. Luckily my coach is out there right now watching so I will know something by tomorrow. I expect a great match since I beat he great player in Davydenko today. I know he's got a lot of ability. Q. Today Mardy mentioned that he was okay with not being put into the box of American tennis. Why do you think he feels that way, and why is that the case? JAMES BLAKE: Well, I think because he was hurt for a little while and hasn't put up the result that he expects of himself. To get to the level we're at in this profession, you have to have -- you have to be a pretty harsh critic of yourself. And I know he's no different. He's very hard on himself and want it excel at this and wants to be -- I think he wants to be back up with Andy myself. He has the ability, it's just going to take time. So I think he's just kind of letting you guys know that he's not exactly happy with the way he's been playing the last few months. That can change very quickly. He's in the semis. He could win a title here very easily and go to the US Open and be playing great and be right back into the minds and on the lips of all the writers and the critics about American tennis. It would be a joy for Andy and myself to have him back up here and back in the mix in terms of a top player from the United States. Also just happens to be one of the best guys out here. So I think he's really just being hard on himself at that point. I think he's still on the radar. I mean, he beat the young American, Sam Querrey, a few weeks ago in L.A. when he is healthy and he is playing well he is definitely a factor in every tournament. Q. When you have a day like today and you have two matches and a real long match first one, how big is it to get the second one of over in an hour like you did? JAMES BLAKE: Well, a day like today is not normal for me. This is the first time I've ever played two matches in a day on the pro level. So I can't really speak to what it's like on these kind of days. This is the first one. It's a great feeling. Winning the first set and taking advantage when he played one loose game I really wanted to get up early in second because I know how tough it would be to come back after playing the first match in the in the second match to come back and fight hard for a third set. I was going to do my best to not give anything away and not let him get back easily. If he was willing to work really hard and get back in the second set and the third set, then I was going to make it difficult for him. But I want to make sure in my hands I was going to make it difficult. Q. Were you worried that J Block wouldn't be able to sustain themselves for a whole day? JAMES BLAKE: No. I'm not worried about them. They got plenty of energy, and by the night session they've got a little help from Michelob Ultra. Q. Did you discuss with golfers how they go against Tiger, and you guys with Federer? You kind of have that in common. Does it cast the same shadow? JAMES BLAKE: I would say they're very similar. I'm friends with JJ Henry a little bit, but I haven't talked to him lately about that kind of thing. I assume it's very similar. Golf and tennis you have a lot time out there to think on your own. You're isolated. At least they have their caddie, but there's still so much time to sit and thinking, and that's why I think both tennis and golf are so important mentally to be strong. Tiger obviously is and Roger obviously is, but all the guys this are chasing them are as well. It's very similar and dealing with possibly the greatest of all time in both sports it's tough. I also sympathize with the Patrick Ewings and the Karl Malones of the world that were around when Michael Jordan was dominating. Each day you go into it thinking you're going to work harder, you're going to get to that level and be able to beat them the next time. And unfortunately so far for me that hasn't happened. Sometime it's disappointing when you can't reach that goal. All I can do is my best and I'm happy with that. Q. Do you feel any pressure coming into it tournament specifically because you are kind of the poster boy for the Pilot Pen? JAMES BLAKE: It's a certain kind of pressure, but it's fun because I know I'm going to have the crowd support so I'm not worried about that. Being the poster boy I understand the pressures that are put on me with that situation. But it's not something that I worry about. It's no surprise that I've had some of my best results here and at the US Open where I have a ton of friends watching me. It really makes a difference having those people there and around me and staying at my own house and being home to get home-cooked meals tonight and everything like that. It's a great feeling. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|