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U.S. OPEN

September 13, 2009

Leander Paes

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

PAES-DLOUHY/Bhupathi-Knowles
3-6, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First and foremost, congratulations. How do you feel having this cup?
LEANDER PAES: I'm a little numb at the moment, because it's just been a mammoth effort over the past two weeks.
I just have to say I'm blessed with a great partner in Lukas. He seems to play on the big moments, you know. That's the important part, is when you have a partner that recognizes that I was injured today and I was hurting and he just stepped up to the plate and just said, I'm going to do it.
You just be solid with me today, and I'm just gonna take over and do it for you. And he did. That's the beauty about doubles, is that you have another brother there to rely on.
Today this Grand Slam, I think especially today, was just Lukas' match. He played MVP for sure.

Q. It didn't look like you were out of form. Can you just tell us what was wrong?
LEANDER PAES: I'm glad it didn't look that I was injured, but I hurt my elbow te days ago during mixed doubles out on Grand Slam court. I've been nursing a really, really sore shoulder, elbow, triceps.
When I woke up this morning I didn't know if I could continue playing, to be very honest, because every time I touched the ball there was so much pain that I didn't believe that I could actually go through the match and finish.
It's amazing when you surrender to the good Lord up above and put a little bit of belief in yourself and a little bit of hard work, at the same time recognize what my job for today was. My job was today just to be solid. Just to bite the pain and embrace it and just be solid and I let Lukas do his magic.
I'm really pleased and very humbled and thankful that it worked today.

Q. Lukas, how do you feel? Tell us what it means to you.
LUKAS DLOUHY: It's really amazing to play with him such a big tournament, finals. I have been in two finals already here before, and today was a special match. We were like fired up and we were playing well and like a team. Doesn't matter if I play good or he's playing good, we are like team, and we won it like team.
That's it. It's amazing feeling for me to win second Grand Slam in the year. What can I say? It's perfect.

Q. Leander and Lukas, what do you think you did differently from last year?
LEANDER PAES: I thought we played excellent tennis last year as well. In the finals last year the Bryans came out and won an excellent second-set tiebreak. That's what kind of made the difference.
This year, what we did differently was we actually played a lot smarter mentally. We actually played doubles points when we needed to. We both stepped up to the plate when the other was kind of a bit reluctant.
And I just -- I just think that the maturity of our team as a team, like Lukas just said, the team's maturity has grown a lot this year compared to last year. It probably has come because we won a Grand Slam at the French Open. It's probably come because we've accepted each other's strengths and weaknesses.
We are just about a year and three moths old now as a team. I think that the longevity of our partnership, we just keep getting better, which is a wonderful thing.

Q. You were in Washington for a lot of the summer for the World Team Tennis. I know there is no ranking points and that type of thing, but seemed like you took it seriously. You got to play with Renae and Serena and you won the title. Did it help getting matches? Did it do anything for you?
LEANDER PAES: Yes, for sure. Team tennis helped me recognize big situations, big points, because in team tennis, the scoring system the way it is, it just infuses pressure situations. There are some players who succumb to that pressure and others who kind of rise to that.
Team tennis definitely helped me prepare for the US Open. Especially the fact that I only played one ATP event before this, and we lost in the first round there, too.
So it's amazing when you look at Lukas and myself. Our teamwork is amazing. When we get to the big tournaments, we recognize the big tournaments and we play great.
At the smaller events, we have not been as solid or as good. Maybe that's something that's a blessing. Maybe that's something we need to improve on. Who knows?

Q. It was very interesting to watch, Leander and Lukas both, in the second set when there was a sudden turnaround. Can you just talk a bit about what happened there with all those deuces after each other in the second set?
LEANDER PAES: He's a bit shy.
The beauty of today's match was that I was struggling today, because, like I said, I've been carrying a really, really sore shoulder. I didn't hold serve once in the whole first set. I was struggling to win points.
Lukas actually stepped up to the plate today right in the beginning of the second set and he said, I'm serving. And I said, Are you sure? I'm not going to tell you the rest of the sentence, but he just said, I am serving. I said, Okay.
The fact that he actually went on and persevered, held his service game, didn't lose serve the whole two sets after that. I lost serve once in the second. I think it was more a mental battle, and I think that that mental battle Lukas won today.
Today he's shown amazing maturity to lead the team. Normally he likes to follow in the team. I have no problem leading the team, but I was good today but I followed him today. I think that's the beauty of the best doubles teams in the world.
One player leads sometime. And like today, Lukas led and I followed. I think that's the beauty, is that in our understanding, it doesn't matter who leads or who follows. We both kind of are together. That's why we won today, really.
LUKAS DLOUHY: I agree with him. (laughter.)

End of FastScripts

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U.S. OPEN

September 13, 2009

Lukas Dlouchy

Leander Paes