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XXIX OLYMPIC GAMES

August 15, 2008

James Blake

BEIJING, CHINA

F. GONZALEZ/J. Blake
6-4, 5-7, 11-9

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Could you describe what the issue was you were discussing with the chair umpire at 9-8.
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, hit a shot that hit Fernando's racquet and then went out. The umpire didn't see that it hit his racquet. Playing in the Olympics, in what's supposed to be considered a gentleman's sport, that's a time to call it on yourself. Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it.
I've tried to play this game for as long as I can, you know, I make mistakes, but I try to do it with integrity, so my parents would be proud of the way I played. If that happened the other way, I never would have finished the match because my father would have pulled me off the court if I had acted that way.
I've spoken all week about how much I've enjoyed the Olympic experience, how much I love the spirit of it, how much I love the other athletes, what they've sacrificed, and you appreciate that. And the guys go out and compete their hardest, win fair and square, lose fair and square. That's a disappointing way to exit the tournament when you not only lose the match, but you lose a little faith in your fellow competitor.

Q. Do you know GonzÃ¡lez very well? Have you played him before? Have similar things happened in the past or have you heard things from other players playing against him?
JAMES BLAKE: I know him very well. I've played him many times on tour. He does everything in his power to win. Usually it's in the rules. It's within the rules. Sometimes it's bordering on gamesmanship. Whatever, that happens out there all the time.
But he's too good of a player to do something like that and to act like that. That's why it's disappointing, because he is a great player. I can't take away anything from the fact he won the match. Came from back from three match points down, served really well, hung in the whole time. I'm not going to take anything away from the kind of tennis he can play.
But there's still a level of disappointment in him.

Q. You played a great game yesterday. How did it feel doing these two games back to back?
JAMES BLAKE: It's tough. But that's what we train for. I don't feel drained physically. I feel good. Going to have to come back and play for the bronze. Hopefully represent myself well there, get onto the podium in one way.
But it's part of the experience here. We're all playing a lot of matches that we're not used to as much in normal tournaments. But we're in good enough shape to handle these kind of things. And I feel healthy and ready to go.

Q. How much did it affect your game after that incident?
JAMES BLAKE: You know, I tried to put it out of my head. I think I won the next point. But I really didn't want it to affect me at all. I don't think it did. But it's got to be there in the back of your mind, thinking that he kind of took one that you deserved. And that's disappointing.
But that's the way it goes. I need to put it out of my head and compete the rest of the way. He just did that a little better than me after that.
I made a couple of errors. I still fought back from 40-Love on his serve. I wish I had made that forehand at deuce that missed by about a centimeter. Who knows, we might still be playing.

Q. Looked like you also had an incident earlier in the match where he hit a smash right at you, tried to apologize, maybe you didn't want to hear it. Can you describe what happened there, what was said? Do you think it might have played into what happened in the third set?
JAMES BLAKE: No, that was heat-of-the-moment stuff. He hit it right at me. Hit me. Probably didn't want to hear an apology right away because I thought it was intentional. When we changed sides, he said, Sorry, it's part of the game, you were on top of the game.
I said Okay, that's fine. It's part of the game, you're right. Move on. And we did. That wasn't an incident. That was, like he said, part of the game.

Q. Nadal's playing against Djokovic next. Who do you think will win and why?
JAMES BLAKE: I have no idea. Rodney and Jay, our coaches will watch that, give me a scouting report. I've played Nadal a bunch of times. I've never played Djokovic. So we'll see. They're two great athletes. I'm sure it will be a great match. I'm not sure who's gonna come out on top.

Q. In a tour event, if that situation happens, are there mechanisms to correct it? In this scenario, is it realistic to expect him -- because it's an Olympic event, it's a gentleman's game, is it realistic to expect him to change gears like that?
JAMES BLAKE: Unfortunately there aren't any mechanisms to change it, I don't think, because I asked if Hawk-Eye could show that the path of the ball was changed when it hit his racquet. But they said they can't do that. They can only do that for lets.
So there's nothing that can change it, which is why it does sort of need to be on the person and on the player. If you touch it, you know you touched it. And that's where -- I feel like tennis and golf, you call those things on yourself. It's one thing if you're relying on the umpires on line calls, because it happens so fast. We think we're right a lot of the times and we're not. But we know when it touches us. And he knew that. So that's where it comes into calling it on yourself because it's the right thing to do.
Should I expect him to do that? Maybe not. Maybe I shouldn't expect people to hold themselves to high standards, sportsmanship. But, yes, I did expect it a little more so in the Olympics when we're all competing under the banner of this event being to promote sportsmanship, to promote goodwill amongst countries.
So, yes, maybe I did expect a little more out of the Olympics. Maybe I wouldn't have expected this at the US Open or something. But to be honest, if the roles were reversed, I'd call it on myself because I know, if I ever didn't, I came off the court -- I'm still the same little kid, if I came off the court and my parents saw me do that, I wouldn't have the racquet. They wouldn't let me pick up the racquet for weeks. They'd punish me for not playing the game the way it's supposed to be played.

Q. You've talked about how much you've appreciated this Olympic experience, how much it's meant to you, especially given when you went through around the last time this was being held. Does that deepen your disappointment, not only in the results of the match but how the match was decided?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, a little bit. I'm still gonna have very fond memories of this Olympic experience. I still have a chance to get a bronze medal. But, like you said, it's a little disappointing. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. If it's still kind of nagging at the back of my head or if I've moved on. I do need to move on and just think about my next match.
But that disappoints me a little bit more in my competitor than the whole Olympic spirit because I haven't seen anything else like that in these entire Olympics.

Q. What has been the best part of the experience for you? Jason Kidd said you shared some texts with him. What has been the most fun?
JAMES BLAKE: Just the overall theme, like the atmosphere in the village, just amongst the athletes. I got home last night and there was a sign on my door from the team that's right next door to me in the village, just saying congratulations, signed by all of them. Jason Kidd and all his teammates were going crazy in the locker room when I was on the phone with them yesterday. I've been congratulated today and yesterday by so many more athletes that have probably never seen tennis before, are not real fans of tennis in general. But they just saw the match and they saw someone excited to be representing their country, and they're proud of it.
Just as I went and watched badminton, am excited for them. Went and watched swimming, which I don't normally do during the course of the year. I'm proud of those athletes. If I get a chance to see any of them, I'll go out and congratulate them. Just the whole feeling of pride that you're a member of a greater team, not just yourself, especially being in an individual sport where you're forced to be selfish often.

Q. Which team left the sign?
JAMES BLAKE: It was Team Bermuda actually.

Q. Despite what happened today, given your victory over Roger yesterday, does this feel like any sort of a breakthrough for you?
JAMES BLAKE: It's too close to say right now. In a week or two when I hopefully have plenty of confidence going into the US Open and do well there, maybe I'll think this is a steppingstone, to beat the No. 1 player in the world.
Right now it's too soon to say.

Q. Did you confront Fernando at the handshake? How did that go after the match? We can predict he'll come in here and say it didn't touch his racquet. The umpire clearly didn't see it. Can you be a hundred percent sure?
JAMES BLAKE: First of all, the handshake, I said congratulations. That's all I said. He said thank you.
If he comes in here and says it didn't touch him, I would implore you guys and, implore him to go and watch the tape 'cause, yes, I can be a hundred percent sure it hit him, it hit the racquet. It's already been confirmed for me by texts from friends back home and people that watched it on TV.
Whatever he wants to say is fine. Whatever is gonna get him to have some sleep tonight, then that's fine.

Q. Look like you were moving well, really focused. To what do you attribute today's loss?
JAMES BLAKE: Clearly it was one or two points here or there between hopefully what's considered two great players that are fighting hard for the same goal. And it came down to one or two points that could have changed the entire match. If I make that forehand at deuce, we could still be playing. If I make that forehand at Love-40 after 5-6, I could have been off the court 45 minutes ago with a win.
So it was really one or two points and who played those one or two points better. Today he did at the end.

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