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U.S. OPENSeptember 5, 2008Bob BryanMike BryanNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK BRYAN-BRYAN/Dlouhy-Paes 7-6, 7-6 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Talk about the tournament, just overall. MIKE BRYAN: I mean, it feels really sweet to get the last Grand Slam of the year. You know, it's been a while since we've been in a Grand Slam final. Last year at Wimbledon we were in the finals, and I think our last Grand Slam was early last year. So it feels really good to win, especially in the U.S. after, you know, a long, long summer going over to Beijing. So, I mean, this ranks, you know, as one of our top achievements, especially playing against those guys. The level of tennis and the crowd was spectacular. I mean, it felt like a Davis Cup crowd out there. I mean, I was really surprised that everyone showed up. I think it helped to play at 12:30 instead of 11:00. BOB BRYAN: Yeah, we got better every match, and we played an awesome semi. I thought we even played better today. Leander was magical, as always. In a big match you know he's always going to bring his best stuff. He was hitting some crazy shots, and Lukas was ripping away. We had to play our best stuff to beat those guys. Q. Couple of bumps in the road. Some tight spots early on in the tournament, and then maybe a double fault here and there, which wasn't the best timing. MIKE BRYAN: Yeah. Q. Talk about that, overcoming those setbacks in the course of the tournament? MIKE BRYAN: We didn't really have too many setbacks during the tournament. I mean, didn't lose a set, and, you know, I think one of the key moments was winning that 16-14 breaker in the third round. BOB BRYAN: Quarters. MIKE BRYAN: That was third round. BOB BRYAN: Quarters. MIKE BRYAN: Okay, quarters. Yeah, I mean, there's always some sticky moments during the tournament. You know, you just hope luck is on your side and you stay tough mentally. You know, obviously here in that last breaker, you know, I threw in a double. The pressure is mounting. It could have gone either way there. Luckily, you know, they gave it right back, but, you know, I think everyone kind of rose to the challenge and played great tennis there. Obviously Leander, you know, loves the pressure and comes up with great shots at the end. But, you know, I'm really proud of the way we played, and I think we had to play our best tennis to win today. Q. Do you think the finals should be best of five? MIKE BRYAN: You can make an argument for best of three or five set final. You know, for T V and fans and all, you know, it might be a little long. BOB BRYAN: I think this was perfect for, you know, a TV spot with a big crowd. They can only take so much doubles. (laughter.) We only could play with that much energy for so long. MIKE BRYAN: We're used to the superbreaker now. We're taking out fitness down a little bit. (laughter.) We get tired, actually. Q. A big picture question, if I could. And both of you can answer. What's the best part of traveling the world with your brother in this sport and making a living out there on a doubles court? MIKE BRYAN: It's just a lot of fun having a built-in best friend to travel the world with, and, you know, work with and share all these experiences with. You know, I love this guy, and, you know, we've been doing it together for a long time. You know, it would be kind of a -- kind of a little bit boring if I was out here by myself. I don't know if I would still be playing. If he gets hurt tomorrow I'll probably stop. We just love doing it together. BOB BRYAN: Yeah, we'll be talking about these wins for the rest of our lives. We've been through all the highs and lows together, and that's what makes our bond so tight. It's not just the DNA, it's all the ups and downs we've been through our whole life. Q. You've talked before about your respect for the Woodies. Do you think you can reach some of their numbers? MIKE BRYAN: If we play long enough, stay healthy, you know, they're sort of in sight, but... BOB BRYAN: What they did was... MIKE BRYAN: What they did will never be matched. I mean, what they did at Wimbledon, they won the gold medal, I mean, all the records are way out there. And, yeah, I mean, I think they're going to go down as the greatest of all time. Hopefully we can be in the mix in some way if we can run down one of their records somewhere. But, Yeah, we haven't done enough to equal the Woodies. The Woodies are the Woodies. Q. Would you be happy to be Avis to their Hertz? BOB BRYAN: We'd be happy to be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys. They're the greatest of all time. We're just a squirrel trying to get a nut, you know. (laughter.) We're trying to take one at a time. They won 61; I think Todd won 83. We're 30 years old. If we play until another five years, you know, we could maybe track that 61 down, but I'm not going to start talking about it yet. Q. Does a win like this make you hungrier for more or make you feel like, yeah, I can wind things down a little bit; we've accomplished a lot? MIKE BRYAN: Definitely make us hungrier. Feeling that feeling we just felt 10 minutes ago, yeah, it's going to whet our appetite for more titles. We're gonna work harder. I mean, we still love playing the game of tennis and still love doing what we do. It's going to take a catastrophic ACL or something, you know, to take us out. Knock on wood. (laughter.) Q. You had a huge win in Spain a while ago in Davis Cup. Are you guys looking forward to that, something that really gets your juices going? MIKE BRYAN: We've been talking about that every day in the locker room with Pat. We look forward to that match as much as we look forward to this match, a Grand Slam final. That's just as much fun, hanging out with the guys all week, just practicing really hard for one spurt, one sprint. If we could give our team a point on that Saturday, we'll be happy guys. Q. Describe our chances. MIKE BRYAN: I think on paper we're the underdog, playing on dirt, but anything can happen, you know. James is capable of playing unreal tennis; Andy's got the biggest serve in the game and can hold against anyone on any surface. If we can do our job and get, you know, that one point, I think the doubles point's mandatory. We can't lose that. We're putting a lot of pressure on ourselves. Q. Who do you think it will be? BOB BRYAN: Lopez/Verdasco. That's who we think. MIKE BRYAN: They've been playing together all year, good results. Q. You came out of Spain in 2004 with that one point. MIKE BRYAN: That's one of the best matches we ever played in Seville. If we can play anywhere near that we'll be in good shape. Q. The guy who's sat at this podium many times, Andre Agassi, sort of famous for having the big fund-raiser. You're going to be starting a fundraiser of your own. What made you guys decide to do that? BOB BRYAN: We saw what Andy, James, and Andre got out of their foundations off the court, and we've been helping them out for years. We decided to start our own and ask for favors from these guys. We want to -- we just passed 30 and we want to do some good off the court, as well. I think we can make a difference. Now we've made, you know, a mini name for ourselves in this game, and hopefully we can draw some fans. Andre is helping us out September 27, which is probably going to carry the event. We're making a little 3,000-seat stadium, hoping to sell tickets and tables. We're having dinner, a pro-am; James will be there, Lindsay Davenport. It's the Sherwood Country Club. MIKE BRYAN: Thousand Oaks. Q. And the beneficiary is? MIKE BRYAN: Most will go to City Impact. A bunch of it's going to go to the Bryan Brothers Foundation, and we're going to help Andre's charity out. BOB BRYAN: Write checks -- MIKE BRYAN: Write checks to different charities, but mostly it's going to go to kids in our area, underprivileged kids for after school programs and that sort of things like that. Q. Did I miss the part of you reflecting on how good the match was? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, you missed that. Check it out. The transcript is right over here. Q. They said it was a piece of cake. You obviously wanted the gold and you got the bronze. Did you take a little sting off that? BOB BRYAN: The bronze, we don't feel any sting from getting the bronze. We had the biggest smile on that 14-hour flight back just looking at the medal the whole way. You know, going over there we might have thought it would have stung, you know, bringing back a bronze. But coming back, being a part of the whole experience and seeing how pumped all the coaches were, you know, our coach was crying, it was just an unbelievable experience to be on the podium with those guys and to not leave with two losses in a row. We've never had to bounce back the next day after a disappointing loss. MIKE BRYAN: It feels good -- it's been show and tell every time we bring it out to the site. Everyone's passing it out. We actually gave it to a fan for a few days and they showed it to everyone else on the grounds. BOB BRYAN: Yeah, we brought it out of our bag at the airport and it was almost a riot. People were going crazy. MIKE BRYAN: Our coach was crying. I don't see him crying now. Q. So we can expect to see you guys in London? BOB BRYAN: Absolutely. Q. Where will you put the medal? MIKE BRYAN: Right in the front. It's tough to say which is more special, this or an Olympic medal. Olympic medal, it's an unbelievable feeling to get something that's kind of bigger than the sport. Yeah, it's going to go right next to this. We'll have to build another trophy case. I think we're starting to fill that one up. If you build it, they will come. (laughter.) End of FastScripts |
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