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WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2008

Bobby Reynolds

LONDON, ENGLAND

F. LOPEZ/B. Reynolds
6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4

Q. Was it weird to be the last American man in the tournament?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, you know, I guess at the beginning of the tournament I wouldn't have thought that it would be me, last one standing for the men. You know, James and Andy had a tough match yesterday.
You never know out here, especially with the wind and the guys serving well. You never know what can happen.

Q. Was there much awareness of that back in the States that you were the last one standing, as it were?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: I don't even know, to tell you the truth.

Q. You didn't have many friends on the phone saying, Wow, look at that?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: I know some of the guys here were saying, You're the last one. But back home I don't know how much news made it out. I'm not even sure.

Q. What do you think about the state of American men's tennis?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, I think obviously we didn't do too well on the clay, and then obviously this year we did a lot better. And then, you know, like vice versa: We did well last year on the grass and not so well this year.
You know, obviously we like to play on hard is the number one surface that we usually do well on. But the good thing about tennis is there's always next year to come back.

Q. So it's not in dire straits or anything?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: No.

Q. Picking up on that point, I think to people in this country it's a real surprise. We've been used to Sampras and Agassi dominating here, and this year there's been a real slump with what's happened this week. Has this been coming, such a slump in a slam back home, or has it taken everyone by surprise how the results have gone?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a surprise. Andy does usually really well here, and I didn't really get to see much of the match yesterday. But obviously you've got to tip your hat to Tipsarevic. He played really well.
In the men's tennis, if one of the guys is serving well, you know, look at the states and it's two points maybe is the difference between winning and losing.
Obviously back with Agassi and Sampras, they were unbelievable players. I think that certainly -- obviously around the world tennis is a huge sport and maybe not number one over in the States. You have a lot of unbelievable athletes playing tennis.

Q. Do you think maybe that's the problem actually? Because that's maybe the problem in Britain actually, that maybe tennis isn't maybe the No. 1 sport and the talent isn't feeding into the game.
BOBBY REYNOLDS: I think obviously the No. 1 sport around the world is obviously soccer, Europe, South America, everywhere else. Whereas in the States you have basketball, baseball, football, tennis, golf. I mean, you have so many avenues that people can try out. So, you know, I think that might have something to do with it.

Q. If you were an observer rather than one of the participants, how do you think you would view the American performance here at this Wimbledon?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, you know, like I said before, with -- I don't even know how many guys, nine guys maybe in the draw, nine or ten guys in the main draw. You wouldn't think that the last one would be the third round.
You know, that's tough to look back and see that. But, you know, you look at some of the guys, Querrey and those guys, had tough matches. He played Juan Carlos, just guys that maybe do well on the grass. Whereas for us it's three weeks out of the year that we play on this stuff.
You know, it's obviously tough getting used to, and, you know, I don't know.

Q. What, if anything, do you think the broader significance is, if there is one, of the American performance here?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Obviously I think, you know, the guys, we're going to have a couple weeks off here before Indianapolis and LA and Washington, and then obviously leading up to the US Open.
So you know, it's -- even though it is a Grand Slam, the year is so long. Obviously I imagine all the guys are going to go back and start training again. They have a couple weeks off and get ready for the hard courts again.

Q. If you were to assess, encouraging, discouraging, that sort of scale, what would be your feeling right now about what happened?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: I mean, obviously it's discouraging, you know. Like I said, I was the last one and it's only the third round. You know, that's not something we like to tip our hats to. You know, that's -- I guess, worse things can happen.

Q. What needs to turn around, do you think, for more encouraging performances from the U.S. contingent?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: I think, like I said, we had nine guys in the main draw here, so...
You know, this obviously being my first time in the main draw at Wimbledon, you know, some of the other guys obviously -- if we can make, you know, eight or nine guys in the top hundred and we can play this consistently, and consistently, over time, we're only going to feel more comfortable.

Q. How about the level of surprise? How do you feel about being here at this moment, considering the fact that, A, you were the last guy around; and B, everybody is gone now?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, you know, you look in the locker room and, you know, some of the Americans basically left as of yesterday. And, you know, looking at the draw, you know, you would think that it would have been maybe Andy and James playing in the fourth round I think they were going to meet.
You know, obviously, like I said, stranger things have happened. Djokovic loses second round; who would have thought that? With the amount of talent that's out here, any guy 175 and above I think on any given day can play well and beat anybody.

Q. Are upsets contagious?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: I don't know about upsets, you know, but obviously this game is so mental. You know, when you have a lot of confidence things just seem to go your way. You think you're down a break point, boom, you get the ace.
Whereas if you're not so confident with how you're playing you kind of slump your shoulders and maybe hit the let cord and it goes out. Every little point just seems to build on each other.
You know, I don't think it's so much upsets being contagious, it's just more of, you know, being mentally prepared and, you know, feeling good about how you're playing.

Q. What do you enjoy most about the one-on-one aspect of singles tennis when it's just you against your opponent?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: You know what, I think obviously you don't see -- I've obviously never played Feliciano or a lot of these guys. So just going out there and feeling it out, you know, maybe the first set, you know, it's 3 all. I like the battle of basically, you know, trying to take my strengths against his weaknesses.
It's kind of like a chess match, finding out what he's not doing so well, how I can attack that, exploit that. And also, vice versa, what he's doing to hurt me and how can I combat that? I like that aspect.
But then obviously I like the doubles aspect, too, you know. You've got a partner there with you and you can joke around and keep each other calm.

Q. Can I just ask about the setup back in the States? Are there sort of like the elder heads, like Courier, Sampras, Agassi? Are they sort of involved in American tennis? Are you able to feed off them for advice?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, I guess Patrick McEnroe just took over player development. He's only been in there two months or so, so obviously he's very well established. I think good things will happen from him being at the top and kind of just filtering on down.

Q. So there is optimism for the future?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, I think so.

Q. I don't know if I've got this right, but I don't think the U.S. have won an individual slam since 2003. Can you see one in the next, say, five years? Can you see a slam winner from the U.S.?
BOBBY REYNOLDS: Yeah, we obviously had Robby in the semis of the US Open in 2006 or '05 or somewhere around there. Guys are playing well.
Obviously I think the US Open is our best chance, but then, you know, you're going up against Roger and Rafa, who are, as you can tell, probably will go down as some of the greatest players to play.
It's tough, you know, with those guys, you know, and how well they're playing.

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