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U.S. OPEN

September 3, 2009

Jesse Witten

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

J. WITTEN/M. Gonzalez
6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Kentucky is not known for its tennis program exactly. How did you end up going there in the first place?
JESSE WITTEN: Well, I had a lot of relatives there, to begin with. My mom's sister and I had an aunt, uncle, grandma. My sister was playing there already. At the time I didn't really want to do a lot of recruiting trips because I was traveling a lot with the junior tournaments and stuff towards the end of my junior career.
So I went there, liked it. I knew the coach, Coach Emery, and his son who would play in -- we traveled a lot in juniors. It was a great fit.
Then when the assistant coach came in, Greg Van Emburgh and couple guys that were in Naples that I grew up playing with decided to sign there. It fell right into my hands and it was perfect.

Q. Are Kentucky tennis fans, do they travel as well as Big Blue basketball plans?
JESSE WITTEN: I don't know. I got my five. I don't know. I don't have my 50,000. I don't know if we're that far along yet. We'll try to get there.

Q. Seems like more than five fans were there today. What do you have to say about the fan block that you had?
JESSE WITTEN: They were just loud. No, no, there were more than five. I mean, we had a good group. I had Coach Emery. He made it for the match. Usually he doesn't get to make it to a lot of the matches.
My sister and my mom made it in this morning. So I mean, I had a good crowd, and they pulled me through it because I think they were really getting the other guy down and really got in his head a little bit. It gave me more energy, because it was hot out there and a long match. I definitely used that, and to my benefit.

Q. Are there benefits to playing through qualifying, especially early in a tournament? Do you feel like you see the ball better? You have a better feel for the court?
JESSE WITTEN: Yeah, early in the tournament, of course. I mean, you qualify, you're obviously playing well, you're hitting the ball well. Now that it gets a little deeper, I start getting a little tired. I felt sluggish early on, but I was able to work through it, luckily.
But, I mean, I've never had the opportunity in a big tournament where I haven't had to qualify. So, I mean, I'm used to that and playing a lot of matches. It's nothing new to me.

Q. Can you talk about the opposite end of this? What is sort of the little, smallest, dinkiest lowest moment in tennis?
JESSE WITTEN: Lowest moment for me or just for tennis?

Q. Yeah, for you. I'm saying your experience. This is the height. Talk about the other end, the journeyman who has to go through the stuff every week, all the qualifiers.
JESSE WITTEN: I've completed the spectrum, I think, this year. Beginning of the year I was playing futures events where it's a total purse of 10,000. The winner gets $1,200 or something and it's a long week. You have no ball kids. You don't change balls, so the balls get this big.
We're in some places that you probably have never heard of.

Q. Like what? Give us some examples?
JESSE WITTEN: Mansfield, Texas. Brownsville. I don't even remember them, because half the time I didn't really want to know. I mean, there's a lot of little places that you don't get any recognition. I mean, it's tough. You just have to go out there and put the time in and get through it so you can get to here.

Q. So I was going to say what keeps you going at those moments?
JESSE WITTEN: I really don't know. I mean, I was doing well, I was winning matches, so it was nice. It was nice to be winning. I was travelling with a couple of guys I went to school with. We had a little team within itself, which definitely helps it move along and get through those long weeks that maybe aren't the best places.

Q. What kind of hotels do you get in Mansfield?
JESSE WITTEN: I actually stayed in some housing with a family at a couple of them. The other ones weren't so nice. The families really help you out. They give you some food and makes you feel like you're at home every once in a while.
But it's tough to do every week, obviously, so...

Q. Have you in a serious way confronted the question of whether you need to stop tennis at some point and start another career?
JESSE WITTEN: I was there at the beginning of the year.

Q. This year?
JESSE WITTEN: Yeah, well, I mean, I lost my sponsor who was helping me with expenses. It's expensive to travel the world and play tennis, especially if you're not playing this level tournament and if you're not winning every match.
So I was there. I was looking at it hard. That's when I was fortunate to -- I played a couple more tournaments and started winning them. I won a few and got on a roll, and it just kept building.
I figured I was going to give it six months at first, and then I was going to play through the end of the year when I started winning some more. I guess after this year we'll have to see where everything is at.

Q. And if you had made a different decision, what would that have fork have looked like?
JESSE WITTEN: I don't know. Probably not very pretty. I don't want to think about that if I don't have to, teaching little kids how to hit tennis balls for now probably until I can figure out what to do with my exciting major.

Q. Did you get your major?
JESSE WITTEN: Yeah, in kinesiology. So it's sports related. I'm always going to be around sports. Anything with sports I love.

Q. End of the third set, you were a lot more vocal, seemed more frustrated than you had in any of your qualifying matches. Were you feeling the pressure of realizing maybe you were going to get through to the next round? Were you feeling tired? You guys had traded a few breaks. What was going on with you at that point in the match?
JESSE WITTEN: I think I was just grumpy. It was hot, it was long, and I was getting a little tired. I've played a lot of matches just to get to this point, where it's the beginning of the tournament for most guys.
So, I mean, I was playing a guy that wasn't a seed. It's a guy you think maybe you have a chance against, because, I mean we kind of play a little similar.
So, I mean, just from that standpoint I felt like I should be playing a lot better, and that actually puts more pressure on myself. I didn't play as clean and he took advantage of it.
So fortunately I was able to get a few more balls on and use the crowd and try and spur it along a little bit. I think I tired him out a little bit and got it going and the crowd helped me out.

Q. Have you looked ahead at your next match?
JESSE WITTEN: I think I play the winner of Djokovic or Carsten Ball. They play later tonight. That's -- somebody just -- McEnroe just told me that. He said I play somebody that I wouldn't know.

Q. How long have you been in New York? When did you arrive?
JESSE WITTEN: The 22nd. I don't even know how long that is.

Q. Are you staying in a hotel?
JESSE WITTEN: I'm in the tournament hotel, the Waldorf. It's a pricey one, but I was starting to worry about it at the beginning when you're playing quallies. If you lose a match, you're like, Oh, I don't know if it's going to be good.
I think they'll extend my reservation for another couple days.

Q. In tennis, the common names used to be Pancho, and now maybe Andre. Not too many Jesses, but this summer has been a great summer for Jesse Levine taking out Safin. Have you ever talked to him? What's your head to head?
JESSE WITTEN: Yeah, we practice a little bit down there in Boca. We were both in the SEC, so we obviously both know each other wells. We're good friends. I mean, all the American guys, basically.
I'm pretty excited about what he's done. He's a young guy coming up, did his college time, and used it to his advantage. So, I mean, I think that's the way to go, and he's proving that's the way to go, along with John Isner.
They're kind of leading the way for the younger guys. I don't think I'm very young anymore, unfortunately. But what he's done and what they've done is great.

Q. Talk about your money situation. As you said, it's really tough, really expensive.
JESSE WITTEN: Or lack thereof?

Q. Yeah. But what's the dough going to mean to you?
JESSE WITTEN: It's great. I love winning tennis matches. If I get more money for more matches I win, that's why we play. I'm trying to prove to some people that I can play a little bit. It's been a long time and a lot of guys doubted me, so it's nice. It's nice to get money for what you love to do.

Q. Perhaps Coach Calipari could help. Maybe he could sponsor you.
JESSE WITTEN: I think he has his own money. I don't know if that's going to come to tennis.

Q. Who was the sponsor that dropped you?
JESSE WITTEN: It wasn't really -- we had an agreement basically. It was ASG, a company down in Naples. They do software security, and then another local guy that helped me out with coaching. Just little stuff here and there.

Q. But it was important income.
JESSE WITTEN: Yeah. It was huge help where basically I didn't have to worry about some of the travel. Anything I did win at that low level I kind of got to use it for my other expenses.
So, I mean, they definitely helped me. I probably wouldn't be playing if it wasn't for them right now.

Q. Tell us about your family, what your parents do? Were you born in Naples?
JESSE WITTEN: I was born in Naples, yeah. My mom is an optometrist. She actually just showed up. My dad does construction. Kind of has his own company. My sister actually made it up. She's a school teacher. I think she called in sick, so let's leave that out of the papers. (laughter.)
My brother, I have a younger brother that's out in California. He wanted to be a surfer dude, so he just drove out there last summer. He's like a chemist ever since.

Q. Where in California?
JESSE WITTEN: Ventura area. Oxnard, somewhere up there.

Q. The pressure that you feel when you're playing on a big stage like you did today, how does that compare to the pressure of being in Brownsville, Texas, and wondering if you should be doing what you're doing?
JESSE WITTEN: It's easier to play out here actually. You have fans and you have something to kind of play for. When you're out there, there is a couple of people watching and it's all on you. You have to kind of motivate yourself to get through it, even though you don't want to be there and you don't really want to put in that time.
Here, I have the fans. You have a big setting. You have people that love tennis and love USA tennis. Definitely makes it easier, and you get amped up to play.

Q. What's your brother's name and sister's name?
JESSE WITTEN: Ben and Sarah.

Q. Are you a Miami Dolphins fan?
JESSE WITTEN: Unfortunately, I am. Last year we had a good year.

Q. Serena and Venus are partners now.
JESSE WITTEN: Maybe I can get tickets now. Dolphins and Heat.

Q. Who is the best player in Kentucky tennis history?
JESSE WITTEN: I don't know. There's -- we've had a couple of good ones. Every four years there is a guy that comes along that we've kind of been lucky in that sense. Last year they had a good year. I mean, they had a lot of guys. They have a lot of good young guys this year, so next year they should be good.
We were always top 10. So even though it's not known for its tennis, we were always pretty good and competitive. Unfortunately there is that basketball thing that's holding it down.

End of FastScripts

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