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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 29, 2009Max MirnyiAndy RamLONDON, ENGLAND BRYAN-BRYAN/Mirnyi-Ram THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Very close match. Where was the difference? Must be very disappointed. ANDY RAM: Very disappointing, yeah. Get to the finals and lose in the final, it's tough. Especially when we play the Bryans, we like playing against them, we beat them three times this year, once this tournament. We feel like we have the game, the right game to beat them. Well, also today we showed that we had few chances, few break points. We didn't convert them. Then in the tiebreak, one point here and there. Close match. I guess they needed it more, and they showed it after in the second set. They were much more energetic. They pushed themselves to No. 1. That's, yeah... Q. Max, what do you think about the whole doubles week here, what it's done for doubles generally, the crowds? MAX MIRNYI: Well, I certainly think that the fact that it being at the same venue at the same time with the singles tournament certainly benefited the tournament. We got an incredible exposure. I trust that no matter where we would play in the world, we would never get crowds like this to watch a doubles match, no matter who plays. So here I believe the promotion, everything was done in the right way, so that every match, towards the end of the match of doubles, we had 12, 13, 14,000 people watching, which is certainly a big boost to the doubles game, to show new personalities. I think more people in London learned who Cermak and Mertinak are, learned who Mirnyi and Ram are, learned new names that they never would have found out otherwise. Q. Andy? ANDY RAM: Well, obviously I didn't have the chance, unfortunately both of us, to thank the crowd, first of all, the organization, everybody, the ATP staff, which they did a great job. Unfortunately, obviously, our box, people supporting us, but maybe now it's the time. Obviously the ATP did a great job. The organization, organizing committee, they did a great job. We never played in such a venue with, like Max said, 15,000 people every match. It just showed that people, I mean, support doubles. They enjoy it a lot. The energy that the Bryans bring, Nestor/Zimonjic, it's a high level. They appreciate it. They clap their hands every point. They're getting into it. It's fun to be on the court playing every match with such crowd. Hopefully, I mean, it's going to give a boost like for other tournaments, different countries. Just shows that doubles can be popular and people can buy tickets, if you do it right with scheduling. Yeah, it was fun. For me, once in a lifetime experience, except Davis Cup obviously. Q. This was your last tournament together as a team. You're both going your separate ways. How do you feel about splitting up? What do you think about the future? ANDY RAM: You answer first. MAX MIRNYI: I'm sure that even though we're not going to be playing as partners next year, we're still going to be living the same type of life, seeing each other, staying close friends. ANDY RAM: Don't be sure (laughter). MAX MIRNYI: But anyway, you know, your life moves on. Andy is still 25. I'm 33. ANDY RAM: I wish I was 25 (laughter). MAX MIRNYI: We have different priorities in life. I have a young family to attend to. We take on some business opportunities that I also have to dedicate some time to in Belarus, my father and I. I'm going to be playing a bit less. I thought that it was not fair for Andy to share that lifestyle with me. That's why we spoke after US Open and made it clear. But we're still buddies. ANDY RAM: Well, first, I got started to play with Max unfortunately because Jonathan, my ex- partner, was injured. We kind of started last year one tournament. We did well and decided we were going to continue. It worked well for us. First started playing together, doing great results on the hard courts, Indian Wells, Miami, Montréal, US Open, here. On the hard court, we really dominated. We didn't play many tournaments, like Max said. We talked about like I want to play more tournaments, he's going to play less, so we kind of split our ways. He's going to go with Bhupathi. I'm going to go with Llodra at the beginning of the season. We'll see how it goes. Like he said, we had a lot of fun together on the court, outside court, off the court. Yeah, we're going to stay buddies, I guess. MAX MIRNYI: Maybe when he catches up to me with the amount of kids in the family and starts his business, we'll get back together again. Q. What are you going to do in the off-season? ANDY RAM: Oh, that's a good question. Rest, rest, and rest with my family, friends. We don't get to see them a lot, traveling so much. So December is a good time to be home in Israel, Tel Aviv, relax, go to the beach, be with my friends, family. It's my favorite time of the year. MAX MIRNYI: Andy lives in a very touristic place. So am I in Florida. Everybody at this time of year tries to go to warm places. We base ourselves at those locations for that reason, too, because when we have our time off, we want to make sure we combine the training, which requires prior to a new season, and also going to the beach and doing stuff that all tourists like to do in December. I'll be doing that in Florida, checking Andy out via Skype in Tel Aviv. Q. You made history in terms of Israeli players. How does that make you feel making history for Israelis? MAX MIRNYI: I feel privileged. I'm happy to have contributed in any way. My prior partner, Jonas Bjorkman, for 15 years he was on tour and wasn't able to win the French Open. The first year we played together, we won one. That was a special addition to his career. I was fortunate and privileged to be part of it. It's a good history to make with Andy. I'm sure he's capable of achieving much more. Maybe his next year partner is going to overtake our achievements together and make new history for Israel. End of FastScripts |
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