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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2008

James Blake

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Pretty comprehensive win out there in the game. Do you know Michael's game pretty well?
JAMES BLAKE: Very well. I never played him in the juniors, but I played him in challenger. He beat me every time. In fact, for many years I thought he was unbeatable, the way he used to play against me.
And I finally got a win over him last year at the US Open. But it was a tight three-setter. I actually had the benefit of knowing the fact that he's a great player and can play well. He's had a lot of injuries, some sickness issues in his career. It's been unfortunate, because I know how good of a player he is and can be.
I think a lot of people saw it last year against Lleyton here, up two sets to love. He has a ton of ability, so I went in with the mindset of playing a top player.
I played as well as I needed to, about as well as I could to get that win so comprehensively. I think a lot of people might look at his ranking and kind of look past him, but I knew better than to do that. And I think that's a big reason why I got the win so convincingly.

Q. What do you think about your next opponent, Sebastien Grosjean?
JAMES BLAKE: He's an excellent player and another guy kind of like Mike. I'm 0-fer against him. I've never beaten him. I think he's beaten me three or four times.
I had match points against him I think last time I played him and lost. An excellent player, serves really well under pressure. His forehand's one of the best on tour, I think. Moves very well. He's kind of crafty around the net.
So, he's an excellent player. It should be a good matchup. I know his game pretty well since I played him quite a few times. He knows mine really well. So it should be a good match, and hopefully I'll break the streak and finally get a win over him.

Q. Do you think the surface can be an advantage for you, because you played him only on clay and grass?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I'd like to think so. I mean, I had match points against him on grass, so I'd like to think I could have won that match.
Here on the hard courts, it's definitely my favorite surface. He's had success down here as well, though. He's one of the guys that can play well on every surface, I think. For me, this is definitely my favorite.
So I think that is an advantage for me. I hope I can bring my best tennis. But I know he's got no fear and can beat any of the top players on a given day, has had a very successful career, especially in the Grand Slams. So I definitely can't take him lightly. I'm very, very excited to play a good match.

Q. You seem to be getting more and more comfortable in Melbourne. How is your tournament going so far?
JAMES BLAKE: I love it here. Once I get off the plane -- it's a long trip, but once I get off the plane, I love being here. It's a lot of fun. For some reason, the crowd seems to like me a lot. I've had a lot of fun.
I think possibly -- it's a fun-loving crowd, and they see me having fun on the court and kind of feed off that. I feed off them. They feed off me. It's just a great feeling. Being out there on Margaret Court Arena, it seems like you could almost have a conversation with the people in the front row. They're so close. It's a really intimate setting, but it still fits about 6,000 people. It's a great atmosphere out there.
On the Vodafone the other day, it was a good feeling to have so many supporters. I really like it here. Everything seems -- wasn't it Roger that called it -- what did he call it? The Friendly Slam or something like that?

Q. The Happy Slam.
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, the Happy Slam. The people are so friendly down here that it makes it a lot of fun. I'm still, of course, partial to the US Open, being that I grew up near there and have even more fans there. But I love it down here. Aside from the long flight, it's a really fun place to be.

Q. You don't find the relaxed atmosphere distracting at all?
JAMES BLAKE: No, I don't find that at all. We all have to deal with the distractions and things during practice. It's great in matches when the crowd's quiet and everyone is behaved well.
We should be professionals. We should be able to deal with whatever is going on in the stands and just take care of business on the court.
Davis Cup atmospheres are much more rowdy. You deal with those away. You deal with them at home. You deal with a lot worse in practice, for sure. So it's, for me, I don't have a problem with it at all. I like it. I think rowdy atmospheres are a lot more fun.
I know -- you know, being an American, I'm a fan of basketball and football and baseball where the crowd's going crazy the whole time. I've always enjoyed that.
I don't know if it will ever fit or ever go that route in tennis, but I enjoy an excited and sometimes a biased crowd.

Q. How important was the Davis Cup win for your career, that experience?
JAMES BLAKE: That was the highlight of my career, for sure, so far. It was something where I'll draw back on that experience, that memory any time I'm in a close match I think because I really think every close match is different. But I don't think anyone can match the pressure of a Davis Cup final.
Playing that match against Youzhny was so thrilling, three tiebreakers, and to come out and win that, know I can get through tough matches, hopefully it will help me throughout the rest of my career.
But whether or not it does, it's a memory that can never be taken away and it's something that I'm proud of and will continue to be proud that I can always say I'm a Davis Cup champion and that I was teammates -- I'm even more proud to say I was teammates with Andy Roddick, the Bryan twins, Mardy Fish, Robby Ginepri, and those guys that I care so much about, and that we all did that together.

Q. Will you be in Austria, the whole team?
JAMES BLAKE: I hope so. As long as we're healthy, we'd love to be there. We'd love to defend our title. It's not an easy first round. Koubek is playing some great tennis. I practiced with him a few times this week. He's playing really well. Saw him playing against Moya here. Looks like he was playing top-10 tennis. That's going to be tough on clay in their home arena. Jurgen Melzer is a dangerous player, as well. Even to put in Julian Knowle in the doubles, they're not going to be a pushover in the first round.
It's not exactly a dream draw after being the champions. So we'll know it's going to be tough from the first round. We had some tough ones last year. Our first round being away in the Czech Republic, as well. We know we're going to have to work for it again. But it would be a great feeling to defend it.

Q. The Davis Cup, there seems to be a team spirit in America at the moment that hasn't been there for a while. Does that make it harder to play another American in a Grand Slam?
JAMES BLAKE: No, it's tough to play Mike because he is one of my best friends on tour. He's a great guy. You won't find a much more genuine person out there. But we're all professionals and we know once we get out there we're going to do our best to win. There's no hard feelings.
I wasn't gonna let up in any way because I have too much respect for him, for his game, that he can come back. He did his best tonight; I did my best. I came out on top this time. There's going to be another time he'll come out on top, I'm sure.
To be honest, I think it's easier with the fact that we're such good friends. I think it would be tougher if you're kind of acquaintances. You don't know if someone is going to take something personally, if there's going to be hard feelings.
These guys, I know no matter what happens on the court, we're going to be friends afterwards. I could easily go and have dinner with Mike right now. Same thing with when I play Andy or Mardy or Robby. Once we're done, we're done. You know, you wish the other guy luck. You hope he goes on and wins the tournament, and that's it, you're done. We're back to being just good friends.
You know, that's the way it was tonight. Mike and I played our hardest, and now we're good friends again.

Q. Looking at some five-set records, not to bring up a touchy topic, but it's a strange stat. You see Federer is 10-10. It doesn't go in sync with his career. You don't have a great five-set record. What do you think are the elements that go into it? Do you put much stock into it as a stat? If so, what makes someone a good five-set player?
JAMES BLAKE: I think those are similar to a lot of the baseball statistics. I always hear of this team is 16-2 on Tuesday afternoon games. This guy is batting .380 with a runner on third, one out, against this pitcher. I mean, I think a lot of them are just kind of silly to bring up because you also have to look at how many times they've won final sets in two-out-of-three-set matches. If they have a problem in those, as well, then maybe they're someone that gets a little tight. If someone has a terrible five-set record and every time it's because they're cramping or because they're too tired, then maybe it's something noticeable. But otherwise there can be so many different factors involved.
You know, I know in mine, you know, I've lost a couple fifth-set tiebreakers to guys like Agassi and Haas where I feel I didn't do anything wrong. I lost two five-setters to Lleyton Hewitt. One time my body did fail. One time he played unbelievable. I think those were the years, one year he went on to win the Open, the other year he went on to make the semis, was playing great tennis. There's so many different things that can happen.
For Federer, maybe a lot of those were early in his career. I don't know. Maybe some of them were on clay, his least favorite surface, it seems like.
I don't really think too much about that. I never, going into a match, have once looked at a guy's five-set record. I've never gotten into a fifth set thinking, I wonder if this guy has a good record, I wonder if I can beat him, anything like that. It's something that doesn't really enter into my mind.

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