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DAVIS CUP FINALS: RUSSIA v U.S.A.

December 2, 2007

Bob Bryan

PORTLAND, OREGON

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Bob.

Q. No sweep, but that's a mere formality. Talk about last night's celebration, how you felt today. Seemed to be pretty into it actually.
BOB BRYAN: Yeah. I mean, we had a blast celebrating. You know, the match finished, I don't know, like 3:00, so we had a long, drawn-out celebration.
We spent a couple hours here just dumping champagne all over each other. We were drenched in champagne, beer, Coke, everything. We took it back to the hotel, played cards, watched TV, ordered pizzas, burgers. Had all our friends and family come to the hotel and celebrated with them for another three, four hours.
Then went out to McFadden's, a local spot. There were at least 200 of all of our buddies. Danced, did everything. I mean, it was a blast.
I left around 1:00 because I knew I was probably going to be on the card today. But I guess, you know, Robby Ginepri got back at 5:00 in the morning. Some guys went a little deeper (smiling).

Q. Did you draw lots to see who played today?
BOB BRYAN: Well, we wanted to put Mike in there, but he was crying gimp from like 6:00 p.m., so I knew I was going to have to jump in there. He was just kind of whining. He vowed if I played this one he'd play the next one, so...

Q. So who is the best dancer?
BOB BRYAN: Andy's pretty good. I guess his maid had some rhythm when he was growing up and she taught him a lot of good moves. He's got like Jackson 5 moves down. Yeah, he was dancing. I was dancing. Mike was dancing. It was a full dance floor. A lot of people were out of their mind last night.

Q. How does it feel to be back on the singles court?
BOB BRYAN: Doesn't feel that comfortable to be on the singles court. You know, I don't play any singles all year. I don't practice it. So when I jump out there, I'm just kind of winging it.
You know, my serve, with the lefty serve, I can stay competitive. But it's just a matter of the movement and getting my legs under me on the shots. I just can't -- I can't get out there anymore. I mean, if I trained a little bit I think I could, but it's just tough to get balance.

Q. You and Mike have been on the team for five years now. How does it feel to finally have the monkey off your back?
BOB BRYAN: Oh, it feels great. I didn't feel like it was a monkey. I just felt like it was an incredible goal of the team. You know, I didn't feel like we were so much favored to win the Cup for the last five years.
You know, we had great teams, but it comes down to a little bit of luck with the home matches and surface and balls and fans.
I feel extremely lucky to have had a chance to play a home tie in a final. You know, that's the bottom line. Still hasn't, you know -- still can't really describe how it feels, you know. It's been a whirlwind since we won.
Now that I'm done with this singles match I'll be able to really enjoy it.

Q. Is your stomach better?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah. I was on the toilet all last night, but I'm actually feeling a little better (smiling).

Q. Thanks for that.
BOB BRYAN: You're welcome (smiling).

Q. I can't get a real read on Andy and James. Seems like you and Mike are Davis Cup lifers. Would you agree with that? Is that where your commitment is as far as the team goes?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah, we're definitely lifers. It's so pivotal, and the doubles is huge. I feel like in Davis Cup it's doubles' biggest stage, so why wouldn't we want to be out here playing for our country. It's the most fun we have in tennis, period.
Like I said yesterday, we're turning 30. We're going to taper town and try to peak for Davis Cups and Grand Slams. That's where our focus is going to be. We're going to be out here for this team forever, I think.

Q. It's the day after, but do you have any sense in terms of the impact this would have versus you winning a slam or one of the other players on the team having a big result individually?
BOB BRYAN: I said this morning when I looked at my phone, I had -- when we win a slam, I have 10, 12 text messages, 30 emails. And I had 65 new text messages this morning and hundreds of emails. So, I mean, this touches a lot more people.

Q. It's a little early to look ahead. You have next year, 2008, Austria on clay, maybe France at home, then a semifinal if Spain makes it there. Is this team capable of winning two years in a row? There hasn't been a team go back to back since '97/'98.
BOB BRYAN: I think this team is really dangerous, and we saw that this week. When James plays like that it's going to be tough to beat this team. James is the X factor. We know he can beat anyone, and he showed that this week.
Youzhny I thought played incredible and James just stepped up and beat a really tough player.
You know, if we're winning that No. 2 singles it's very tough to beat this USA team. We could win a few of these.

Q. How much of it was getting the clay away, the clay monkey off your back in away ties? Do you think you're capable of going abroad and playing a good clay court team and taking one?
BOB BRYAN: It's going to be tough to win two singles matches against a Spain or an Argentina. That's pretty obvious. I mean, they've got some incredible players, monsters. You know, if we get one of those teams we're probably going to be severe underdogs.
But I know that those guys will go down there with an open mind and give it 110.

Q. Can you reflect a little bit what it's been like to experience all this in Portland specifically. Any different than other U.S. cities where you've played ties, and would you want to come back here?
BOB BRYAN: Definitely. I thought Winston-Salem was an awesome city to play. It was the best time we've ever had. I mean, Portland has even matched and exceeded that. They're extremely patriotic here in Portland. The crowd has been the loudest I've ever heard. It's a beautiful city. The hotel we're at is awesome. Everyone has been so nice to us. I couldn't have asked for a better tie.

Q. You spoke yesterday about the nerves going into the doubles with your brother. How surreal was it going out today into a dead match?
BOB BRYAN: I think dead rubbers are probably the worst thing in sports, period. You know, having to come back. Imagine Jordan coming back after winning an NBA title and having to play a pickup game with the guys that he just beat. It's ugly, but I'm there. I'm there to do it, you know.
I think the ITF should allow, you know, like a guy like Donald Young to get some experience and get out on the court. They should make it a rule where if a player is top hundred in the world he should be eligible to play, or a top five ranked junior.
I think there's a lot of opportunity to give some guys some good experience in a big crowd like that. I don't need to be out there.

Q. Could you estimate of the crowd yesterday how many you personally knew?
BOB BRYAN: I probably knew 500 people, yeah.

Q. The scene after was pretty touching. How many people from your family were here?
BOB BRYAN: Just making that walk up to the second level, my grandma was crying. Then just making the way up to each family member. To see my dad, I mean, my dad was choked up. He's never seen us win a Davis Cup match live. Gave him a great hug.
My grandpa, you know, he couldn't make it down. He's got some bad knees, so I made it up to him after about 20 minutes of climbing the stadium. You know, he was really touched.
It was a beautiful scene.

Q. You really couldn't have scripted it any better this weekend with Andy and James both winning on Friday. Did it almost surprise you that you had that opportunity to clinch yesterday?
BOB BRYAN: No, I wasn't surprised. You know, Andy set the tone for this tie. He came out calm, focused, and I think he gave us all confidence. You know, it's great to see your leader, I mean, the first guy out there, your leadoff hitter, be so relaxed in a big moment.
He looked so good out there. It gave James confidence. Up 1-0. And James was due, you know. He's had a few tough ones. This is a perfect surface for him to just explode. He was due. He played awesome.
You know, then Mike and I just started thinking, Clinch time. Actually, we took the van over for our match. We saw the champion T-shirts and hats getting loaded into another car. That put a little extra pressure on us (smiling).
You know, it's tough being like the gimme point. Those guys, James and Andy, were laughing before the match. You could feel like they knew we were a lock. You actually have to go out and do it. That adds a little extra pressure.

Q. Your dad was here yesterday. Obviously had something in Chicago. Usually doesn't come that close to the court when you're playing. Did you talk about that with him the night before, special occasion, exception could be made? How did that break down?
BOB BRYAN: I haven't had a chance to talk to him. Talked to him before. Gave us some space. I think he kind of surprised us. I think he just wanted to do it for himself, kind of get over the hump and see us win a big match. It's awesome that he was able to do it.
I know my parents live and die with every match we play. When we're in Europe, they're up at 3:00 in the morning watching the matches. They have jetlag when we come home. They're calling us at 4:00 in the morning saying, You guys ready for breakfast? They're so into it.
For my dad to step up to his fears and sit there and die with every point was pretty phenomenal.

End of FastScripts

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