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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

November 25, 2009

Bob Bryan

LONDON, ENGLAND

BRYAN-BRYAN/Dlouhy-Paes
6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. On Friday a big match against the Austrian and Polish team. What do you expect?
BOB BRYAN: Those guys are playing well. They're 2-0. Yeah, they've been looking good, serving really well, returning.
I mean, bottom line is we have to, you know, improve and need to get better than today. Every match here at the World Tour Finals gets tougher and tougher. So we're expecting good stuff from those guys.

Q. Can you describe Oliver Marach in one short sentence?
MIKE BRYAN: A fun-loving guy. Everyone likes the guy in the locker room. After what happened a couple days ago, maybe not a couple guys like him (smiling).
We get along well with Marach. Is that one sentence or is that too long? He's a great player. He does a lot of things well. He's improved rapidly at doubles over the last couple years.

Q. Your governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is from the same hometown as Oliver Marach. Are you afraid of getting in trouble with him if you win on Friday?
MIKE BRYAN: I don't know. I'm scared of Arnold Schwarzenegger's muscles, but I don't think he can do anything to us.

Q. You play many World Tour Finals, sometimes with the singles, sometimes without. What is better for the attention, publicity?
BOB BRYAN: I think it's better to be with the singles players. It's the biggest showcase. As you can see, the crowds are huge. Doubles is getting better. I don't know if doubles would draw this sort of crowd by itself. So it's great to be grouped with those guys.
Any time you can be around Nadal, Federer, these legends, you know, we're fans of the guys just as the people here in the stadium. We like to see the tennis as well. Yeah, I think this week right here is probably one of the best experiences of a lot of the doubles players' lives, just with the crowd, the stadium, the atmosphere. Everyone's really excited to have it here for five years. It's something to look forward to.
It's always a long year. A lot of players want to go home, don't want to travel. But players were really looking forward to coming here.

Q. Do you have the feeling that the public appreciate the doubles players or are you in the shadow of the singles players?
MIKE BRYAN: I think it complements the show. It's the undercard. It's not the main attraction. But I think the fans are appreciating it. There's been some really good points out there. It's been a positive reception for all the doubles guys.
You know, as you see, they show up early, come to watch the doubles. So it's great. I mean, we're shocked by the turnout. You know, it's a huge showcase for doubles.

Q. I was listening to your album. It's really good.
BOB BRYAN: Thank you.

Q. Did you write the music and lyrics yourself?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah.
BOB BRYAN: We have a friend, David Baron, who you probably saw in the picture. We've been writing music on the road the whole career. We send lyrics to him, he sends music back. We write different chords. Mike plays guitar and drum. I play bass and piano. David is obviously the singer, except that one song Autograph, the newest song on the album, with Andy Murray.

Q. Why did you choose Murray and Djokovic in particular?
BOB BRYAN: We wanted to get a couple stars, top-10 guys. We asked Andy Roddick. He was a little embarrassed to do it. We asked Murray, and he said yesterday. Djokovic said yes. They were the first two guys we asked. They said, Okay, anytime, guys.
We took the computer with a microphone to their rooms at the hotel. They did it. Andy Murray was actually getting a massage. He was like a little bit asleep. He was like, Okay, let's go for it. Took him three times. He was a little off for the first couple times. He eventually started getting the rhythm and nailed it.
Then Novak was loving it. Anytime he can kind of show off, he was dancing. He actually hasn't heard the song yet, Novak. We're looking forward to playing him the song.
It turned out pretty good, I thought.

Q. Did you write the raps?
BOB BRYAN: I wrote the raps for those guys, showed it to them. They said, Yeah, that's okay, let's go for it.

Q. Where can we find this album?
BOB BRYAN: iTunes.
MIKE BRYAN: iTunes and Amazon.

Q. Are you impressed with Andy Murray's voice?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah. He didn't have time to practice. You know, I don't think anyone can critique Andy because, like I said, he was getting a massage. I gave him my iPhone with the lyrics. He's like, All right, let's give it a try.
I want to thank the guy because not a lot of people would do that for us. We're going to be fans of the guy for life, obviously friends for life for him doing that for us.
MIKE BRYAN: His voice sounded pretty good, I thought.
BOB BRYAN: He did an okay job.

Q. Is this a career thing after your tennis is finished?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we love music. It's a huge part of our lives. I mean, maybe one day we'll transition into music. Hopefully later than sooner. But, yeah, I mean, we're having fun with it. It's not going to make us rich, I don't think. But, yeah, we have a lot of fun jamming back in the room.
BOB BRYAN: These five songs we have on iTunes I think are some of our best stuff we've done. We've been writing songs for 10 years. But this is some of our best work. It really kind of -- the lyrics kind of talk about our lives, traveling the tour. I think not Autograph. That's just a funny rap. The other four songs I think sportsmen can relate to the lyrics.

Q. Of the top ATP players, who do you think would be the best singer?
BOB BRYAN: Novak, obviously he enjoys it, really gets into it. We have a video on YouTube where he's actually dancing where he was singing. He was loving it.
I think Roddick, he's actually a really good raper. We'll convince him maybe next time. This time we couldn't get him to do it. I don't know why.

Q. Federer?
BOB BRYAN: Federer, I don't know. He's a great guy. He's a good friend of ours. But we didn't want to ask him. We asked his agent. He's like, Oh. I don't even know if he presented it. We actually wrote a verse for him and wrote one for Nadal. We got to make it past the agent, you know.

Q. This was a Band Aid, sort of Live Aid song with top tennis players?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah.
MIKE BRYAN: We asked Venus, Serena, Johnny Mack. It's tough. We kind of rushed it. At the US Open, we were asking a lot of people. They're still worried about their tennis. It's pretty embarrassing if they've never done it, to rap on a song. Novak and Andy did a great job.
BOB BRYAN: We'll maybe extend the song if we get these guys to agree.

Q. Can you talk about the verse for Federer and Nadal?
MIKE BRYAN: A funny four lines.
BOB BRYAN: We try to make it personal to their lives. Andy, we were talking about Wimbledon. Yeah, you know, Novak, we talked about him being a joker, laughing.
Each one was personal. I think something that Roger was the best of all time. Nadal, something having to do with the bull. I don't know.
MIKE BRYAN: Clay.
BOB BRYAN: Clay. Clay court master. I don't know.

Q. What's the biggest venue you've played as a band?
BOB BRYAN: We had a couple good gigs in Shanghai. The fans didn't know what the hell we were playing, but they were enjoying it. They had signs, which was great.

Q. Was this outside of the tennis?
BOB BRYAN: Yeah, outside. We played Arthur Ashe Kids Day this year. We played some music venues, the Viper Room in L.A., the Mercury Lounge in New York. We're also playing the Viper Room again in February. Where else? We've played some stadiums, like the stadium in L.A. around tennis tournaments.
MIKE BRYAN: Our biggest was playing with the Counting Crows.
BOB BRYAN: That was 25,000 people in Tampa, Florida. Got on stage for one song.
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah.

Q. One of their songs?
BOB BRYAN: One of their songs, yeah.

Q. Do you remember which one it was?
BOB BRYAN: Hanging Around. You can find that actually. Mark Knowles had it on his iPod. You can find that.

Q. The live version?
BOB BRYAN: The live version.

Q. The Masters is almost as important as a Grand Slam? What do you think about the super tiebreak? It's not frustrating?
MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, obviously this is a huge tournament. For it to come down to a super tiebreaker in the finals, yeah, it's a little unnerving. It makes you a little uptight sometimes, all that pressure coming down to a 10-point tiebreaker.
We're used to it now. We're comfortable playing this way. Obviously at the Grand Slams we appreciate it and we like the longer format. There's a little bit less luck involved.
But, you know, to play on these big courts, I think a shorter format is better for the tournament, better for the fans.

End of FastScripts

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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

November 25, 2009

Mike Bryan

Bob Bryan